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 26
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THE FIRST HATTER in the place was Seth Burgess, in 1803. Nathaniel Garrow came the same year, and Lyman Payne and Henry Am- merman in 1804. The latter, for about twelve years, kept the leading hotel of the place, the Centre House, in the long room of which for several years public and religious meetings were held ; dancing parties, mountebank shows and re- ligious meetings succeeding each other.
The brothers Robert and John Patty began business here in 1805. They had been traveling peddlers. They first opened a general store and afterwards engaged also in tanning, carrying on a large and prosperous business.
WILD ANIMALS .- The early settlers of Auburn and of the County at large, were both favored and annoyed by the great abundance of wild game. They were annoyed by foxes destroying their poultry and lambs ; wolves were destruc- tive to sheep, lambs, calves and other small do- mestic animals, and children and even adults were not safe from their ferocity, when they roamed in packs. Deer, bears, squirrels, and raccoons were great plunderers of the growing crops ; yet the flesh of many of these animals served a valuable purpose for food and their skins were utilized for various domestic purposes, those of the deer, bear and wolf serving the double purpose of bedding and clothing.
To guard against the entrance to their houses of the voracious wolves and the bold and greedy bears, some of their cabins were entered through high windows by means of ladders, and their domestic animals corralled in high log pens at night.
The township of Aurelius, in 1797, voted a
LITTLE
[Photo by Squyer & Wright.]
HENRY SILAS DUNNING. j
HENRY SILAS DUNNING, was born in Aurelius, Cayuga Coun- ty, New York. September 6th, 1816, on the farm were his grandfather Silas Dunning settled in 1796. When a young man he learned the machinist's trade which he followed some eight or ten years, becoming very expert and was often sent away to the Southern States and other distant places to su- perintend the erection of machinery. His health failing through overwork on one of these expeditions, he was obliged to resort to the out-door life of farming, and commenced in the year 1842, on the farm then owned by his father-in-law, Joseph Wadsworth, on Genesee street, near the western limits of the city of Auburn.
He soon after purchased other lands adjoining this farm and afterwards from time to time otheradjoining farms until he finally acquireda farm of some 300 acres, which became through his careful and successful management one of the finest in New York State. He was always foremost among farmers in introducing and employing labor-saving machinery in farming operations, and in improving his farm by a thorough system of tile draining (which at that time had few support- ers, ) and in improving his cattle and horses by the introduc- tion of improved breeds. He was very successful in intro- ducing and growing the best varieties of apples, in some years selling one thousand barrels from his orchard of twen- ty-five acres. His views were often songht by other farmers and he was an occasional contributor to the agricultural press on various topics. Mr. Dunning was prominent in many connections outside of his farm. He was the first alderman elected to represent the new territory known as the 7th ward
after its annexation to the city. He was connected with the Cayuga County Agricultural Society from its organization, and during most of the time in official capacity.
He was elected a Director in the Auburn Gas Light Com- pany in 1863 and in 1865 was elected its Superintendent and Treasurer. Through his enterprise and activity the business of the company was largely extended and improved. Not possessing a strong constitution the excessive labor again told upon his health and he was obliged to relinquish the charge of the company in 1869 to one of his sons. The death of his wife August 7th, 1869 was a severe blow from which he nev- er recovered. and his health gradually failed from that time until his death April 22d, 1×71.
Mr. Dunning was married October 7th. 1>40, to Jane Wadsworth, daughter of Joseph Wadsworth, then a promi- ment manufacturer of agricultural hand implements in the western part of Auburn. She was a person of extraordinary energy, yet of quiet and unassuming character : her influence was felt far and wide through the Church, the Orphan Asy- lum, towards the poor, always in the cause of charity and humanity, and toward the improvement of her fellow-beings. They both hecame members of the Baptist Church at All- burn, at an early period, and were always afterward among the most active and influential members thereof, contributing liberally towards its support. Mr. Dunning was a life mein- ber of the American Baptist Home Missionary Society. They both died at a comparatively early age and left a large family of children. six sons and one daughter, to mourn their nu- timely loss.
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CHANGE OF NAME-COUNTY SEAT.
. bounty of " three pounds for the head of every full grown wolf" taken in the town. This bounty was continued until those terrible and destruc- tive beasts were exterminated, to accomplish which required nearly a generation. The town bounties were, for many years, supplemented by County bounties. The hand and purse of every settler were enlisted in this work, and large sums were expended for their destruction.
Long after the settlement was made at the Corners, the bears and wolves would enter the hamlet in search of food, and the houses were not secure from their depredations. For years the settlers went armed in the woods for self-protec- tion. Venison was a common article of food, for deer were so abundant as to be easily taken. Corn and wheat fields were generally seriously damaged by squirrels. a pest which continued much longer than the larger animals, and they are yet abundant in our more wooded towns. They long furnished very interesting sport to gunners in the trial of skill in what was called "squirrel hunts ;" a neighborhood, and sometimes an entire town, engaging in the sport for a fixed period. Competing sides were chosen, compris- ing equal numbers, and numerical scales agreed upon for the heads or scalps of the different kinds of game. This done, the hunters entered the woods in pursuit of game. The grand aggre- gate of the scalps were counted by the captains of the contesting companies, at a time and place agreed upon, and the defeated party supplied re- freshments to the entire company. The quan- tity of game thus obtained was often very large, extending to several thousand squirrels, with large numbers of hawks, owls, crows, foxes, &c.
It was very fine sport for the hunters and greatly reduced the number of depredating birds and animals. Fish in the lakes, rivers, and brooks were also very abundant, and were easily taken in large quantities, largely supplying with food the tables of the early settlers.
The early pasture grounds were the unbroken forests, and the animals fed on the succulent branches of young trees and such herbage as the woods afforded. Cattle of the same herd would usually keep together and take wide ranges in search of food. The bells which were attached to nearly every cow had each its peculiar tone, and every owner could distinguish the sound of his own bells, which could be heard for long
distances. They guided the search of the owner of the herd, whose milch cows would generally return to the cabins at evening, though long rambles were frequently necessary to find them. Along the Seneca River were the best natural pastures and here the young animals were driven in the spring and remained until autumn.
The tavern long known as the Western Ex- change, was continued as such for over 60 years. It was first erected by William Bostwick, in 1803. It was two stories high and had in its second story a ball or long room, as it was generally called, which was used for all kinds of public as- semblages. Canfield Coe became the owner in 1816, and made an addition to the eastern side. E. D. Hudson succeeded Mr. Coe, and added a third story and a rear wing, greatly enlarging its accommodations. It yielded in 1863 to the march of improvement and an elegant block of buildings was erected on its site.
In this tavern was held the first public ball of the village, the great feature of which was the time at which it opened and closed. It was held in the daytime, opening at three o'clock P. M., and closing at night-fall.
The first celebration of the anniversary of the nation's birth was on July 4th, 1804. A liberty- pole was raised, and red silk substituted for a banner. The " red " was regarded as symboliz- ing England, and gave great offense ; an effort was made to shoot it down, and the excitement ran so high as to break up the celebration. The following year the effort was successfully renew- ed, and the day celebrated in a manner common to the period, by reading the Declaration of In- dependence, an oration, a public dinner, toasts and firing of cannon.
In June, 1803, the " Corners " were given the shorter and more euphonious name of "Auburn." The place had been designated as the county seat, and a more dignified name than "Corners " was desired, which, after considerable discussion they found in that of Auburn.
COUNTY SEAT .- The selection of the county seat was attended with difficulties and delays. Until 1803 the courts had been held at Cayuga and Aurora, but efforts were made to establish the county seat elsewhere. It was first changed to Sherwood Corners, but so earnest and decided was the opposition, that the local commissioners to whom was confided the erection of the court
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CITY OF AUBURN.
house, withheld action, and a new commission of disinterested men, resident in other parts of the State, was appointed to settle its location, and by them Hardenbergh's Corners was designated as the site, much to the gratification of its residents and to the disgust of rival claimants. The funds for the erection of the County buildings were re- fused by a majority of the Supervisors, and the erection of the buildings delayed. A law was then passed imposing a fine of $250 upon each Supervisor refusing to vote the tax, which was effective. The tax was raised, and a wooden court house and jail erected-the latter on the first floor of the building, the court room on the second floor. The court house was located in 1803, but not finished until 1809.
RAPID SETTLEMENTS, TAVERNS. - The popu- lation of the County at this time was increasing at a rate exceeding 1,200 a year, and the central and western counties were also rapidly settling. The main line of travel was the old Genesee turn- pike, which was constantly lined with emigrants, for whose accommodation inns or taverns were greatly multiplied. At one period there were fifteen of these public houses between Cayuga village and Skaneateles, one to a mile, and they were all liberally patronized. The canal and rail- roads of a later day destroyed the business of these country "taverns," and the patronage of the traveling public was crowded into the more imposing city and village "hotels." In 1805 there were four taverns in Auburn and the "Cen- tre House " was building, on the site of the store now occupied by Kerr & Devitt. It was built by David Horner, and, for the time, was an elegant structure. Its ball room was used for various public assemblies. It was occupied by the First Presbyterian Society as a place of worship for several years.
The County records were brought to Auburn in 1807, by the County Clerk, Peter Hughes, and kept at his residence, a Clerk's office not being erected until 1814.
In 1810 there were in operation in Auburn, five saw-mills, four grist-mills, two carding and fulling-mills, two distilleries and one oil-mill. D. M. Hyde built a dam and grist-mill in 1808 on the site of the present " big dam," and Ro- bert Dill the next year erected a dam, saw-mill and forge on the site of Barber's factory. The lat- ter were built in a thick wood. Jehial Clark
had in operation at this time, in Clarksville, a saw and grist-mill.
In 1810 Auburn contained about 100 houses and was a very active business place. There were very few idlers ; industrial pursuits engaged the active attention of nearly all the people, who were ambitious and hopeful.
The following very interesting and minute de- scription of Auburn is from the pen of DeWitt Clinton, who, in that year, visited the village, while making the tour of the State. We give it, as a very interesting description in itself, and as showing the inquisitive and careful habits of that distinguished statesman :
"Auburn derives its name from Goldsmith. It contains three tanneries, three distilleries, one coach maker, two watch makers, four taverns, two tailors, six merchants, three shoemakers, two asheries, two wagon makers, three blacksmiths two chair makers, three saddlers, three physi- cians, a Presbyterian clergyman and an incor- porated library of 220 volumes. It is the County town, and has about ninety houses, three law offices, a post-office, a Court house and the Coun- ty Clerk's office. It is a fine growing place, and is indebted to its hydraulic works and the Court house for its prosperity. There are sixteen law- yers in Cayuga County. Auburn has no church. The Court house is used for divine worship.
" It is situated on the Outlet of Owasco Lake, on Nos. 46 and 47, Aurelius. One hundred acres of 46 belong to William Bostwick, inn- keeper, and the remainder to Robert Dill. The former has asked $150 for half-acre lots, the Court house, being on his land ; and the latter has asked $300 for a water lot on the Outlet, which is not navigable. No. 47 belongs to the heirs of John L. Hardenbergh, and covers the best waters of the Outlet, a fine rapid stream. Auburn is eight miles from Cayuga Lake, three from Owasco Lake, and not seventy-five from Utica. Owasco Lake is twelve miles long and one wide. The Outlet is fourteen miles long, and on it are the following hydraulic establishments : nine saw-mills, two carding machines, two turner shops, one trip-hammer and blacksmith shop, two oil-mills, five grist-mills, three fulling mills, one bark-mill and several tanneries. At the lower falls Mr. Dill has a furnace, in which he uses old iron, there being no iron ore.
"At this place there is a federal newspaper published by Pace, the former partner of James Thompson Callender. Pace settled first at Au- rora, being attracted there by Walter Wood, and being starved out, came here and is principally supported by advertisements of mortgages, which must, if there be a newspaper in the county
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LITERARY ASSOCIATION - MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.
where the lands lie, be printed in it, and this is the only one in Cayuga County.
" The machine for picking wool, Jehial Clark's, is excellent. The carding machine is next used, and turns out the wool in complete rolls. It can card 112 pounds per day, and one man attends both. Four shillings per pound is given for wool. Carding, picking and greasing wool, the grease furnished by the owner of the wool, is eight pence per pound. There are upwards of twenty carding machines in this County, and great numbers of sheep are driven to the New York markets. The Linseed Oil Mills, Hyde & Beach's, can press fifteen gallons of oil in a day, and with great effort, a barrel. The flax- seed is broken by two mill-stones, placed per- pendicularly, like those of bark-mills, and follow- ing each other in succession. Seed costs from two to seven shillings per bushel, and each bushel produces three or four quarts. The oil sells at the mill at nine shillings a gallon. Oil is also expressed from the seed of the sunflower. One bushel makes two gallons. It is excellent for burning and makes no smoke. Oil is also made here from Palma Christi.
" At a mill north-west from Auburn, on Lot 37 Aurelius, a spring rises perpendicularly out of the level earth. It produces two hogsheads a minute and immediately forms a mill stream. A few yards below is a fulling-mill. The water is uncommonly good and cold. I found in it a honey-comb fossil, like those at the Sulphur Springs, at Cherry Valley, and near Geneva. This spring is called the Cold Spring. There are two or three others near it, and the creek formed from them, called the Cold Spring Creek, contains excellent trout ; about a mile from the Cold Spring there is a sulphur spring. From the fossil found at the Cold Spring and the cold- ness of the water, it must run over sulphur. There is a sulphur spring on the margin of Cay- uga Lake."
A Literary Association was formed in Auburn in 1812. A small library was procured and meetings held for the discussion of previously assigned topics. John Sawyer was the first President, and A. H. Howland, David Brinker- hoff and Eleazer Hills, the first trustees. A similar association was also formed in 1838, of which Stephen A. Goodwin was the first Presi- dent, William Richardson, Vice-President, S B. Dennis, Secretary, and B. F. Hall, Reader ; Dr. Frank H. Hamilton, Peter Myers, Dr. Erastus Humphreys, William Hopkins and S. S. Dennis, were the Executive Board. In 1841 the associa- tion was duly incorporated, and was efficiently continued for about ten years, and its organiza- tion maintained until the war of the Rebellion.
Lectures and the discussion of assigned topics were regularly maintained, the lectures mainly delivered by our own citizens, and the discussions were by the members of the association. They were largely attended. It was before the era of lecture bureaus or of professional star lecturers, and the main purpose of the association was the edification and improvement of its members. The debates were free and so also were the lec- tures as a rule ; but when, as was sometimes the case, expenses for foreign lecturers were incurred, a fee was charged to meet them. So untised were our people then to pay for literary entertainments that the attendance was usually so small as to discourage their continuance, even at the small admission fee of twelve and a half cents, and the interest in the association so rapidly declined when the public was charged for admission to its meetings that its discontinuance followed.
MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS .- On the declara- tion of war in 1812, the military organization of the County was very imperfect. In the town of Aurelius a regiment was enrolled, commanded by Colonel John Harris, of Cayuga. The men were unprovided with suitable arms or equipments, and undisciplined. Three of the companies of this regiment were organized in Auburn and were better disciplined and supplied than the bal- ance of the regiment. Captain Bradley Tuttle commanded an independent cavalry company, Captain Henry Ammerman an infantry company, and Captain John H. Compston a company of artillery ; the latter was supplied with two six- pounder brass pieces.
Soon after war was declared the regiment was mustered and volunteers called for, resulting in the formation of two volunteer companies, com- manded by Captain David Eldridge and Captain Henry Brinkerhoff. Those two companies and Captain Compston with his artillery, were soon after forwarded to the army commanded by Gen- eral Stephen Van Rensselaer, near Niagara. The infantry companies participated in the attack by our forces upon the village.of Lewiston, and a party volunteered to cross the river into Canada under Colonels Scott and Wool ; but so many refused to do so that those who did cross were, after heroic resistance, overcome and captured. Captain Compston did not arrive in time to par- ticipate in the battle. The battery remained about three months on the frontier and engaged
25
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CITY OF AUBURN.
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in several skirmishes, in one of which a gun was lost. Its term of service was three months, at the end of which the battery returned to Auburn.
During the war the roads through Auburn were frequently traversed by troops and heavy supply trains. The great western turnpike passing through Genesee street, which was then unim- proved, was the great line of military travel and it was rendered nearly impassable during the wet seasons by heavy truckage over it; yet the passage through the village of large masses of troops to and from the West, that often encamped here and procured supplies, made the business of the place active and profitable while the war lasted.
Buffalo was captured and burned by the ene- my in the winter of 1813 and the interior of the State was thus laid open to their incursions. They were expected to invade Western and Cen- tral New York and a wild panic seized the people. Fugitives fled eastward and spread intense alarm ; and the " loveliest village," it was expect- ed, would be one of the objects of the enemy's attention and consequently it participated in the general fear. The news reached them in the evening that the " British were coming," and a sleepless and very active night followed. Major Noah Olmstead ordered out the companies of Captains Ammerman and Tuttle, to march on the following day westward, and a general search was made throughout the village for every availa- ble fire-lock, of which, in proper order for efficient use, few only could be found. The cavalry com- pany was better supplied, and was soon formed and put under way, followed in the morning by two infantry companies, in which very many of our citizens were volunteers. At Cayuga they halted to await the mustering of the regiment, which, under the excitement of the occasion was promptly effected, and the rude, undisciplined and poorly armed force moved forward to meet the veteran red coats. A voluntary reconnoissance had been made as far as Canandaigua by public- spirited citizens, who found the alarm groundless, that there were no movements of the enemy to- ward the east and the patriotic band gladly re- turned to civil life. A company of regulars was recruited in Auburn for service in the war of 1812-'15, and also a company of riflemen com- manded by the brave and impetuous Captain John Richardson. The latter company participated in several severe battles and incited by the daring
heroism of their captain, were, at all times, distin- guished for bold and resolute deeds on the Niag- ara frontier and especially at the sortie from Fort Erie, in which the advance works of the enemy and a large body of prisoners were captured.
At the close of the war of 1812, Auburn con- tained about 200 buildings and 1,000 inhabitants. For the population of the place there was rela- tively a very large number of stores and taverns, there being some thirty of the former and six of the latter. The taverns were Demaree's, Farm- ers' Inn, the Centre House, Tracy's, the Western Exchange and Pomeroy's, and among the stores were those of Hyde & Beach, Robert and John Patty, store and tannery, Joseph Colt, Samuel Compston, Horace Hills, and George Leitch.
Between Genesee street and the Outlet, at this time, was a nearly unbroken wood, and an apple orchard occupied the space between the Exchange and the court house. State, Dill and Water streets were then a swamp and covered with shrubs and bushes, which were being gradually removed and the sloughs reclaimed by drainage. Few of the present residents unfamiliar with the condition of Water, Dill and State streets, at that time, can form any true conception of their for- bidding aspect, nor did those who then saw the morass, anticipate that, within a single life-time, neatly laid and thoroughly drained streets and large and imposing buildings, would adorn the wild and forbidding swamp.
CHAPTER XXIII.
HISTORY OF AUBURN, (CONTINUED.)
VILLAGE INCORPORATED - FIRST OFFICERS- IMPROVEMENTS-BIBLE SOCIETIES-SABBATH SCHOOLS - COTTON-MILL - PAPER-MILL- MILITIA SYSTEM-FIRST MARKET-VISIT OF LA FAYETTE - GROWTH OF THE VILLAGE- SPECULATIVE PROGRESS-EXTRAVAGANT Ex- PENDITURES ON STREETS, BUILDINGS AND PUB- LIC WORKS-OWASCO CANAL-RAILROADS- AUBURN COLLEGE-CRASH OF 1837-ITS CON- SEQUENCES-THE PATRIOT WAR-VISITS OF CLAY, VAN BUREN AND ADAMS - WOOLEN- MILL.
I N 1815, Auburn was the largest village in Central or Western New York. Rochester and Syracuse had not then been incorporated as
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CAYUGA BIBLE SOCIETY - COTTON AND PAPER-MILLS.
villages, Buffalo had been reduced to ashes and Geneva and Canandaigua were behind the "love- liest village " in population and general business activity.
Hitherto it had been under the town govern- ment of Aurelius ; but in April, 1815, it was in- corporated as a village, with ample powers for the necessary improvement of the place. The first president was Joseph Colt, and the first trustees were Enos T. Throop, Bradley Tuttle, Lyman Payne and David Hyde.
Protection of the village from fire and the im- provement of the streets and walks were among its first official acts. A fire engine was purchased in New York and shipped by boat up the Hud- son. At Newburgh the boat was ice-bound, and the engine brought thence by team, which re- quired fifteen days.
Auburn had a notorious reputation for mud. Its walks, where any were found, consisted of slabs irregularly laid in the spring, but regularly consumed for fuel in the winter, and her streets were a sea of mud during the wet season ; hence the ordinances of the trustees for the protection and improvement of the place were seconded by the hearty cooperation of the citizens. For a further view of this subject see " Village Govern- ment."
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