History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 762

USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 10

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The Cayuga Chief was commenced January 4th, 1849, by Thurlow W. Brown. It was an origi- nal, vigorous and outspoken temperance journal, continued here for eight years, when it was re- moved to Wisconsin, and there continued under the same ownership. Emma, sister of Thurlow W., was early associated with her brother in the literary and business management of the paper, for which she evinced peculiar qualifications.

The Christian Ambassador was first established in New York City as the successor of the Christian Messenger, on the 4th of December, 1850, and Rev. J. M. Austin, of Auburn, appointed editor. Early in January following, it was removed to Auburn and conducted here for about twelve years under the supervision of Mr. Austin. It was published in the interest of the New York Con- vention of Universalists, by a stock company, and was very successful.

The Auburn American, Daily and Weekly, was issued by William J. Moses in February, 1855, and continued until June 20th, 1859, when the name was changed to

The Auburn Daily and Weekly Union, Moses & Vail, publishers. The American was the organ of the political party of that name, while the latter existed, and vigorously and ably advocated its principles. The Union was continued until March 6th, 1861, when it was sold to Knapp & Peck, and consolidated with the Advertiser and Fournal.

The Northern Independent was established in August, 1856, by Rev. William Hosmer, aided by a publication committee. It had its origin in the anti-slavery zeal of its projectors, by whom the regular church journals were considered as too conservative, and not sufficiently out- spoken on the slavery question. When slav- ery died the paper was discontinued.

The Orphan's Friend was started in 1857, edited by J. W. Wilkie and printed by Knapp & Peck, and is still continued.

The Auburn Democrat, weekly, was started by Stone, Hawes & Co., in August, 1857, and con- finued about five years, until Mr. Stone entered the army. William S. Hawley succeeded and issued

The Spirit of the Times for about one year and a half, when it was discontinued.

The People's Union and Advocate of Political Reform, was published during the local canvass of 1862, the contributors to which were Michael S. Myers, Warren T. Worden, C. L. Adams and others.

The Mcclellan Banner was published during the Presidential campaign of 1864, by P. W. Rhodes and C. L. Adams.

The Semi- Weekly Herald, Democratic, was be- gun in 1865 by N. T. Hackstaff and G. E. Bost- wick, and continued for about six months.

The Cayuga County Democrat, issued in Sep- tember, 1866, by Charles F. Durston & Co., was transferred the next year to J. N. Bailey, who published it for four years, when the paper was sold to William J. Moses.

The Auburn Morning News, daily and weekly, Republican, was issued in July, 1868, by Dennis Brothers & Thorne. William H. Barnes, editor- in-chief; Theodore H. Schenck, literary editor ; and Charles A. Warden, city editor. It was dis- continued in January, 1871.

The Auburn Daily Bulletin was started Feb- ruary 16th, 1870. K. Vail & Co., editors, pub- lishers and proprietors. It is independent in all things, and liberally supported. Its local depart- ment is conducted by Charles A. Caulkins, whose contributions are often quaint and humor- ous.

The Auburn Daily News was started by the Auburn Printing Company, William J. Moses, President, and H. Laurens Storke, Secretary and Treasurer, on July 16th, 1872, and

The Weckly News and Democrat, on August 12th, of that year. The Daily News is a morn- ing paper, and is a well conducted journal. These are the only Democratic papers in the county.

The Cayuga County Independent, was first issued February 8th, 1874, J. N. Bailey & Co., publishers ; A. B. Hamblin, printer. It is published weekly, is well conducted, and, as its name implies, is independent in its treatment of men and things.

THE LATER COUNTRY PRESS.

The Auburn Daily Item was started in June, 1877, by Urban S. Benton & Co., G. H. Wheeler, editor, November 8th, 1877, the Item was merged in

The Evening Auburnian, which was then enlarged and published by a stock company, of which Homer N. Lockwood is President ; U. S. Benton, Secretary ; M. C. Cuykendall, Treas- urer : A. W. Lawton, Chairman of the Executive Committee. Its title is the " Auburn- ian Printing Company," and the enterprise has been successful.

THE LATER COUNTRY PRESS. - Since 1827 the following papers have been published outside of Auburn, namely :

The Port Byron Chronicle, in 1844, by Fred- erick Prince.

The Port Byron Gazette, in 1849, by Charles T. White, sold in 1860 to B. W. Thompson, also sold to William Hosford in 1861, and in 1862, to Charles Marsh who changed the name to

The North Cayuga Times.

The Port Byron Chronicle was started in Oc- tober, 1861. In July it was sold to Edward Clarke, and in November, 1873, to Ransom & Johnson. Charles E. Johnson is now the sole owner.

The Cayuga County Courier, was first issued at Moravia in October, 1863, by A. O. Hicks, who was succeeded in 1865, by W. M. Nichols ; and in March, 1867, by A. J. Hicks and A. H. Living- stone. In December following A. H. Living- stone became the sole editor and owner, and so continued until December 31st, 1870, having changed its name to

The Moravia Courier. At the latter date M. E. Kenyon, became the sole owner and editor, and changed its title to

The Moravia Valley Register, improving both its literary and mechanical departments.

The Weekly News, by Uri Mulford, was started at Moravia in January, 1872, and removed to Auburn in 1875, and, for a few months, pub- lished here in the interest of the Prohibition party.

The Moravia Citizen, a religious, temperance and political sheet, begun by Rev. Charles Ray in June, 1876, is still continued.

There have been two newspapers printed at Meridian, viz :

The Meridian Sun, in June, 1854, and

The Meridian Advertiser, one year after, each continued about one year.

The Weedsport Advertiser, started in 1827, by Frederick Prince, was changed three years later to

The Northern Phoenix, by the same publisher.

The Weedsport Sentinel was started in Feb- ruary, 1867, by John Gibbs & Son ; sold to S. D. Lee & Bro., four years later, and on October 12th, 1872, it was bought by George R. Nash. J. B. Rogers then purchased a half interest therein, and it has since been published by them, under the firm name of George R. Nash & Co.

The Cayuga Chief, second, started on June 16th, 1877, by Dr. I. D. Brown & Co., editors and publishers. It is independent and

" Pledged to no party's arbitrary sway ;

We follow Truth where 'er she leads the way."

The Cayuga Tocsin, first, was started at Cayuga in 1812, and has already been noticed. The Cayuga Telegraph, was started by William Clark, in 1850.

The Union Springs Advertiser, begun in April, 1865, by James B. Hoff, editor and pub - lisher, is still continued.

The Central New Yorker, started in April, 1865, by F. F. De Wolf, was continued about one year only.

The Central New Yorker, second, started at Auburn in 1878, and published in the interest of the " National" party, is still continued.

THE BOOK PRESS .- The firm of DERBY, MIL- LER & Co., was organized in March, 1848, and was the first regular book publishing firm in the County. It consisted of James C. Derby, Nor- man C. Miller, general partners, and James B. Thomson, special partner. The firm was reor- ganized in May, 1860, Mr. Thompson retiring, and Elliot G. Storke, Edward Munson and Chas. F. Coffin, becoming members, Mr. Storke as general partner. They soon established their wholesale house in Buffalo, retaining their manu- factory in Auburn. William Orton was at this time a partner, and was the head of their New York house when the latter was established, and so continued while the firm was in business.

Alden & Markham and Alden, Beardsley & Co., were also extensive book publishers here between 1852 and 1858, and their business was large and flourishing. Derby & Miller were, at one time, the largest miscellaneous book publishers of any

THE BOOK PRESS.

in the State, out of the city of New York, and Alden, Beardsley & Co., held the second place among such houses. In 1857, both firms went into liquidation.

The contrast between the sale of books in the nine years between 1848 and 1857, and similar sales now, is very striking. Notice the following sales of books made at the former period by Derby, Miller & Co. :

History of the Mexican War, 35,000 copies.

Life of General Taylor, 40,000

Life of John Quincy Adams, 40,000 Life of the Empress Josephine, 50,000

Lives of the Three Misses

Judson, 50,000 Fern Leaves, by Fanny Fern, 70,000

Cayuga County has been distinguished above any other of the interior Counties of the State, not only for the production of the greatest num- ber of books, but also for the number of local authors, of whom the following are a part only : Rev. Josiah Hopkins, D. D., Rev. Laurens P. Hickok, D. D., Rev. Henry Mills, D. D., Rev. Edwin Hall, D. D., Rev. D. K. Lee, Rev. D. Holmes, Rev. William Hosmer, Rev. J. M. Austin, Hon. William H. Seward, Hon. Samuel Blatchford, Clarence A. Seward, Esq., P. Ham- ilton Myers, Esq., David Wright, E.q, Hon. B. F. Hall, John S. Jenkins, Esq., Henry Mont- gomery, Esq, Thurlow W. Brown, Esq, Mrs. Helen F. Parker, and Miss Margaret Conklin.

The first book written and published in the County was in 1815, by Samuel R. Brown, en- titled a " History of the Late War," in two 12mo. vols., published by J. G. Hathaway, Auburn, and printed at Manlius, by Kellogg & Beardslee.

Elliot G. Storke, in 1858, edited and published at Auburn the Family, Farm, Garden and Do- mestic Animals, in one large octavo volume, and in 1864 wrote and published a complete history of the Great American Rebellion, in two octavo vol- umes. In 1869, Henry Hall prepared a “ His- tory of Auburn." in one 12mo. volume, and Henry and James Hall, in 1873, prepared " Cayuga in the Field."

We will close the Chapter on the History of the Press, with brief, characteristic sketches of a few of the " men of the press," who, by long and conspicuous connection with it, have won a place in its annals.

The Cayuga Patriot was the first paper pub- lished in the County that became thoroughly es-

tablished and continued for a long series of years, under the management, for the most part, of the same persons. The first publisher of that paper of whom recollections are preserved, was

SAMUEL R. BROWN, with whom in 1814, that veteran journalist, Thurlow Weed worked, and of whom he writes :

" Nor shall we ever forget the upper story of a wagon-maker's shop, where the Cayuga Patriot was printed ; for there we worked, and laughed, and played away the winter of 1814. Samuel R. Brown, who published the Patriot, was an hon- est, amiable, easy, slipshod sort of a man, whose patient, good-natured wife, was 'cut from the same piece.' Mr. Brown the year before had been established at Albany with a paper called the Republican, under the auspices of Governor Tompkins, Chief Justice Spencer, and other dis- tinguished Republicans, with whom Mr. South- wick of the Register, and then State Printer, had quarreled. This enterprise, like every thing in our old friend Brown's hands, failed, and he next found himself at Auburn, then a small village without a sidewalk or a pavement, and, save Sackett's Harbor, the muddiest place we ever saw. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were originals. Neither of them, so far as we remember, ever lost temper, or even fretted. The work in the office was always behind hand, and the house al- ways in confusion. The paper was never out in season, and neither breakfast nor dinner was ever ready. But it was all the same. Subscribers waited for the paper until it was printed, and we for our meals till they were cooked. The office was always full of loungers, communicating, or receiving news."

ULYSSES F. DOUBLEDAY, long connected with the Patriot as editor and proprietor, was distin- guished for the strength, originality and accuracy of his mind ; for purity of purpose, and integrity of character. His readers, therefore, were great- ly influenced by his writings, regarding him as right in the positions he assumed, because of the soundness of his judgment ; and honest in the expression of his opinions, because of the ac- knowledged purity of his character. He was one of the most prominent journalists of the County.

WILLETT LOUNSBURY, also of the Patriot, was too diffident and retiring to succeed at the bar, for which he had been educated ; but he won success as a journalist, and, for nearly ten years, was the responsible editor of the Patriot, hold- ing that position at the time of his death.

ISAAC S. ALLEN, also of the Patriot, was business manager of that paper while connected

PROMINENT JOURNALISTS.

with it, and its success was largely due to his careful prudence, of which his whole business life has furnished a conspicuous example. He lives in his green and happy old age to enjoy the fruits of careful industry, temperance and fru- gality, and is with a single exception, the only living representative of our earlier press.

THOMAS M. SKINNER, the oldest survivor of the men of our early press, at the age of nearly ninety, resides at his home on North street. Though physically feeble he has yet clear mental perceptions. His first connection with our press was sixty-three years ago. He opened the first book-store in Auburn, and was a newspaper pub- lisher here for twenty-six years.

FREDERICK W. PRINCE had a press experience here and elsewhere, running through thirty-two years. He established, on his own account, ten different newspapers, in six different localities, and his experience was the most varied and eventful of any publisher in the County. He was a good writer, and an exemplary and highly respected citizen, but an unsuccessful journalist.

THADDEUS B. BARBER has been connected with the press of Auburn for over thirty years, in the various departments of the business. For skill and artistic neatness as a printer, he has never been excelled by any one of his local compeers.

ANDREW SHUMAN, the present editor of the Chicago Evening Fournal, and Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of the State of Illinois, was a printer boy in Auburn in 1846, was interested in the publica- tion of two papers here before he attained his ma- jority, was remarkable for self-reliance and indus- try, educated himself thoroughly in a preparatory school, by his own exertions, and has won his way to success, in his chosen field of journalism, and is also equally successful as a politician.

KENDRICK VAIL, an associate printer's appren- tice with Andrew Shuman, has subsequently and creditably filled every position in the business, including that of foreman, pressman, editor, and publisher, and is, at present the publisher of the Anburn Daily Bulletin.

GEORGE W. PECK was connected with our local press for twenty-eight years, from 1849 to 1877, as editor and one of the proprietors of a very flourishing daily and weekly journal, to which he assiduously devoted his time and talents, and thereby won a liberal competence. He died on the 2nd day of July, 1877.

OSCAR F. KNAPP, senior partner of the firm of Knapp & Peck, publishers and proprietors of the Auburn Daily Advertiser and Weekly Fournal, was born in Groton, N. Y., February 19, 1819. At seven years of age he was left an orphan, and at the age of fifteen, entered the office of the Jeffersonian and Tompkins County Times, to learn the art of printing, continuing there about one year. He then spent four years in the office of the Cortland Republican, completing his trade, and came to Auburn in the Spring of 1839. Here he engaged as foreman in the office of the Auburn Fournal and Advertiser, then owned and pub- lished by Oliphant & Skinner, and continued four years. His salary was small, yet by prudence and economy he accumulated sufficient to pay for and stock a fifty acre farm, bought at the low rates then ruling for farm lands. Having married, he settled upon, and cultivated it for three years, when, feeling satisfied with rural life and farm experience, he decided to return to his case and press, and the spring of 1846 found him estab- lished in the job office of the Fournal and Ad- vertiser in Auburn, where he remained until August, 1849, when, as related, he became joint purchaser, with the late Geo. W. Peck, of the paper now published by his firm.

Mr. Knapp has been engaged as practical prin- ter and publisher for over forty years, and for the past thirty years as publisher of a leading daily and weekly journal in Auburn. He has made his art the means of the most complete and grati- fying success and secured an ample fortune. It has been no sudden gain ; but the accretion of years of patient and assiduous toil, in which un- tiring industry, prudence and economy have been important factors. The story of his life but adds force to the maxim : "Wealth arises more from the savings than from the gains of business."

JOHN S. JENKINS, was an elegant and forcible writer, the author of several valuable works which were published here, and as editor of and contrib- utor to our local press, held a prominent position.

THURLOW W. BROWN, editor of the Cayuga Chief, author of the Temperance Tales and Hearth- stone Reveries, and a lecturer of distinction upon temperance, was a bold, vigorous and effective writer and speaker, entirely devoted to his fa- vorite cause. He worked here energetically for eight years, when he removed to Wisconsin, and there continued the same benevolent work.

PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.

REV. WILLIAM HOSMER, editor of the North- ern Christian Advocate and of the Northern In- dependent, and also the author of several works of merit, was connected with our local press for about twenty years. He was distinguished for great independence, earnestness and zeal in the advocacy of his opinions. As a reformer he stood in the front ranks, and boldly confronted his opponents. Like Phillips he scorned the hissing mob, by whom the earlier reformers were assailed. He is now weakened by disease, and calmly awaits the final summons.

BENJAMIN F. HALL, as editor and author, has rendered valuable services to our local press. He has prepared many valuable works, chiefly relating to legal subjects, and is a ready and fluent writer.

Of the book publishers of the County, JAMES C. DERBY and NORMAN C. MILLER were the most conspicuous. They were partners in the business. The former was really the originator of regular book publishing here. By his pecu- liar aptitude for trade, he was well fitted to bring business to his firm, and in that way contributed largely to its success. In the manufacturing and accounting department, Mr. Miller had supe- rior efficiency, and their united efforts were, for many years, crowned with complete success.

CHAPTER X.

PROGRESS OF EDUCATION-SCHOOLS.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PROGRESS COMPARED- EFFECTS OF PIONEER LIFE - EARLY DISAD- VANTAGES - SCHOOL BUILDINGS - BOOKS- TEACHERS AND TEACHING - SCHOOL DIS- CIPLINE - ITS BARBAROUS MODES - INCEN- TIVES TO STUDY - COUNTY SUPERVISION - IMPROVED SCHOOL BOOKS-TEACHERS' ASSO- CIATIONS-INSTITUTES-NORMAL SCHOOLS- PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF AUBURN.

T HE historic records of our County would be incomplete if there were not found in them some account of the means and agencies employed for the intellectual and moral develop- ment of the people. If there has not been as

manifest and decided progress in the means for the mental, as for the. physical improvement of our people, there have, nevertheless, been very decided advances made in the former, as will clearly appear in a review of the early history of our schools.

Physical progress, the world over, has always outrun the mental. For this the reasons are obvious. Physical wants are imperious and their supply is necessary to existence. Life depends upon attention to them. Moreover, physical progress is easily seen and appreciated by the simplest observer and its necessity and import- ance acknowledged. All can see it, for it is manifest to the external senses. The millions that crowded to our Centennial Jubilee, saw with wonder and admiration, understood and appre- ciated the marvellous creations of the mechanical and artistic genius of the world. In that display, where the genius and skill of cultivated minds were manifested in external and sensible objects, all were interested, as they could appreciate the results of skill and toil applied to material things. But mental and moral progress are less apparent and the means and agencies by which they are affected are not so easily seen. They operate so slowly and so obscurely, and their results are so widely separated from their causes, as to appear only in the lives and characters of the developed man and woman.

It has been well said that "the pulsations of a nation's heart are to be counted not by sec- onds, but by years ;" and so the formative effects of culture are fully manifested only in matured lives, and those effects are so far removed from the causes which produced them that their con- nection is rarely traced except by the educated. It really requires culture to understand the needs and advantages of culture.

But our early settlers were surrounded by cir- cumstances quite unfavorable to mental progress. The country was new, the people poor, and all their surroundings demanded close attention in order to meet the absolute wants of their physi- cal natures. While nearly all of the descendants of New England ancestry in this County and in the State, and their number was relatively large, brought with them a love of learning, as they understood it, their conception of the import of the word was very different from ours. To be wholly unlettered was a disgrace ; but to be able

EARLY DISADVANTAGES.

to read, write and cipher, was regarded as amply sufficient, and all beyond that, except for the learned professions, was held to be a mere waste of time and money.

Of culture, of that discipline and training of the faculties by which the thorough student of to-day is prepared, solely by the unaided exercise of his own disciplined powers, to go on almost indefinitely in the attainment of knowledge, they knew little. Such was the popular estimate of education among the masses seventy-five years ago. It was the " dark age" in our intellectual history ; dark by reason of the inevitable exclu- sion of intellectual light. The dense trees of the unbroken forest excluded the sunlight from the soil not more fully, than did the unfavorable surroundings of the settler shut out from his children the light of intelligence ; and this was the common condition of education in the cen- tral counties of the State, where the same gen- eral causes, the same hinderances and helps operated to produce kindred results.

WHY OUR EARLY SCHOOLS WERE POOR .- The energies of the first generation were so severely taxed to remove the forests and all the other di- versified obstacles which beset them as to leave little opportunity for mental improvement. Dis- cipline of muscle, rather than of mind, was the great demand, imperious physical wants engrossed and compelled attention for many years.

The first generation in this County were, nev- ertheless, thoroughly educated in many very im- portant respects, in lessons not sufficiently taught in the vaunted schools of to-day. They were taught many of the nobler lessons of true man- hood. Their education gave them sound bodies, sterling common sense, pure minds and indus- trious and economical habits. They were thor- oughly schooled in self-denials. A sense of mutual dependence cultivated in nearly all a mutual sympathy and helpfulness. To aid the needy, was a common characteristic, whether in sickness or in the common affairs of life. They were, moreover, homogeneous, had similar habits, tastes and aspirations, and were, mainly, of simi- lar nationalities.

As communities, they were kind, social and orderly ; quite unlike the gold-hunters and other speculating adventurers of to-day, or the recent immigrants of diverse, and often opposing nation- alities and creeds, who have since thronged our

shores, filled our towns, or spread over our broad domains. The early settlers of this County and State also differed greatly both from the settlers of Plymouth and from those who have recently formed, and now form, the great bulk of our western settlers.

The settlers of Plymouth comprised a large proportion of thoroughly educated men, capable of organizing the State, the church and even the university. The leading minds in that commu- nity were men of marked individuality, distin- guished alike for boldness of thought and inde- pendence of action. They had fled from tyranny at home to seek freedom of opinion here, at the cost of privation and hardship; and New Eng- land owes to those bold, brave spirits, much of the prestige which she has always maintained in politics, religion and learning.

But the struggles and privations of a new country for a century and a half, while they did not lessen the enterprise and vigor of their de- scendants who successively tenanted new regions, took from them the means of mental culture, so that, for several generations, instead of pro -- gress, there was really a retrogression of learning. But the West was mostly peopled by those who lived at the East after the "revival of learning," and had carried with them, and planted along our western parallels, a more enlightened and liberal system of instruction, perfected during the period from 1830 to 1860.

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History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 762

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 762