History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 48

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 48

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HON. GEORGE I. POST.

HON. GEORGE I POST, son of John G. Post, was born in the town of Fleming, in this County, April ?d, 1826. His ancestors were descendants of four nationalities,-German, Hollander, Scotch and English. His great- grandfather, Christopher Post, came from New Jersey in 1796, and took up a large tract of very valuable land on the west shore of Owasco Lake, and the farms, into which it was afterwards divided, are still occupied by his descend- ants, and are among the most fertile and productive lands in the County. Their occupants have always been men of honorable character, substantial and thrifty. *

The subject of this sketch received such early instruction as the public schools of the time afforded ; was brought up in habits of industry, and sub- jected to the wholesome discipline of farm-life, thus developing his naturally vigorous constitution, and rendering him capable of enduring, with impunity, great physical and mental labor. His public school education was supple- mented by that of private schools and by attendance at the Lima Seminary. At the age of seventeen he engaged in teaching. At twenty-one he married Miss Esther C. Wyckoff, daughter of Peter Wyckoff, and bought, and for eight years cultivated a farm, engaging also in land surveying. A friend and intelligent advocate of popular education, he was called to the superintendency of the schools of his town.

In the general legislation of the body, to which his time and energies were assiduously devoted, he was a close and careful participant.

At the close of his legislative term he renewed the railroad agitation, and in the Fall of 1865 called a public convention to consider the question of organizing a Company to construct the Southern Central Railroad, for which he had drawn Articles of Association. The result of his efforts was the or- ganization of the Company and the building of the road. Mr. Post was one of the Directors, and the Secretary of the Company on its organization, and subsequently in turn Vice-President and President thereof. He resigned the latter position in the Spring of 1872. He had the merited honor of driving the last spike on the completion of the road in 1871. From 1859 to 1871 he devoted himself to the enterprise, in public meetings, reports in the legisla- ture, and wherever the interests of the road could be promoted, by an active interest in its behalf.

In the Autumn of 1867 he took an active and a leading part in the organi- zation of a company to construct a railroad from Oswego to Lewiston, 145 miles in length. entitled the Lake Ontario Shore Road, which is completed and in successful operation Of that Company he was a Director, and a member for four years of the Executive Committee, of which he was the Chairman for two years. He was also for two years the legal advisor of the Company ; during which time the legal and financial condition of the road were firmly established.

His mental aspirations were not fully satisfied with the routine of farm-life. He engaged in a thorough course of general reading, and his retentive memory grasped and held the facts thus brought to his knowl- edge. Procuring elementary Jaw books, he began at home their st. dy, not with a view to making law his profession, but for personal culture. The study pleased him, and he continued it. In 1854 he en- tered the law office of George Rathbun. and afterwards that of Porter, Allen & Beardsley, and was admitted to the bar in 1855.

In 1857 he went to Kansas on a tour of observation, as president of an organization. whose object was the promo- tion of the settlement of that territory. While there he saw the efforts of pro-slavery men to retain control of the region and the violent measures to which they resorted to drive out the Free-state immigrants. He was threatened with mob- violence, and his impressions of the barbarities of slavery were deepened by observation and personal experience

Having taken up his resi- dence in Auburn in 1855, he represented the Third Ward in the Common Council in 1858-'59, and was Chairman of the Board in the laborions and difficult work of revising the charter of the city.

In 1859 he was elected Dis- trict - Attorney, holding the position for three years. That year he commenced his long and eventful railroad career in behalf of the Lake Ontario. Auburn & New York Railroad Company,work on whose road was suspended for want of means to prosecute it. He procured an extension of the charter, by which the corpor- ate rights of the Company were continned, and was inde- fatigable in his efforts, through the press and in public meet- ings, to secure the construc- tion of the road, devotiog thereto, it is believed, more time than any other friend of the enterprise. He abandon- ed it only when there was no hope of success, when he transferred his energies to the construction of the Southern Central Railroad.

[ Photo by Squyer & Wright. ]

Geo & Post

Mr. Post represented this district in the Convention which nominated Gen. Grant for the second term, in 1872. In the Autumn of 1875, he was agam elected to the As- sembly, and took his seat on the first day of January fol- lowing He was placed on the important Committees of Ways and Means, General Laws, and Privileges and Elections, of the latter of which he was Chairman. Dur- ing this session he drafted and secured the passage of the act which placed the State Re- formatory at Elmira under a Board of Managers, con- sisting of Louis D. Pilsbury, a thorough expert io the man- agement of penal institutions ; Sinclair Tonsey, one of the committee for investigating the prisons of the State ; Rufus H. King, a talented and honorable lawyer ; and William C. Wey, an eminent physician .- thus combining in the Board just the variety of talent to secure the most in- telligent and upright adminis- tration. This was the first important step in prison re- form. The managers were non-partisan and served with- out pay.

The prisons of the State, at that time, had become notori- ous leechers upon the public treasury, demanding large an- nual appropriations to meet their deficiencies. Mr. Post, during this session, devoted himself to a careful considera- tion of the important and en- grossing question of prison reform. As he had, by the unanimous assent of the As- sembly and nearly so of the Senate, secured a Board of Managers of the El- mira Reformatory of rare and admitted fitness, so he sought to place each of the prisons under the care of sim- ilar Boards of Managers, and supported his proposition by a carefully prepared argument. The result of the discussion was the appointment of a com- mission to minutely investi- gate the prisons of the State and report the result.

In the Fall of 1862 he was elected Member of Assembly from the first dis- trict, and was a participant in the three weeks' struggle for the organization of the House. Mr. Seymour was then Governor. The darkest clouds of the Rebellion were hovering over us, and intense and bitter party feeling actuated the Members. The famous tie of 64 and 64 was maintained for weeks, and when 65 and 63 were reached. filibustering and anarchy interposed. The vote was finally reached, and the House duly organized.

During this session, Mr. Post made an elaborate speech, in review of the Governor's message, especially criticising his war-policy and that of his ad- vocates, in the course of which he said :-

" We must have war or disunion, that is the issue. Is peace desirable at such a price? God forbid ! Peace at the price of disunion? No! never ! never ! never ! Better perish than submit to disunion. War is the only way to peace. Let us then have war upon war principles ; war until treason is discomfited ; * . war until the union is completely restored."

Of this speech the correspondent of the New York World, a political opponent, thus wrote :. -

"Mr Post made a vigorous speech last evening in favor of the policy of the President. Mr. Post is strong and earnest, and the President ought to be a grateful man, that he has friends so bold."

. Six male descendants I enring the family name are now settled in that locality, occupying and cult vuting over sevin hundred Lo.ca

Mr. Post was elected to the Assembly, for the third time, in the Fall of 1876. As he represented a district in which was located one of the most important State prisons, he was made the Chairman of the Com- mittee on that subject, and continued on those of " Ways and Means," and " General Laws." As Chairman of the Committee on Prisons, he prepared the legislation necessary to give effect to the constitutional changes in their official management, and which have already resulted in an annual saving to the State of nearly $500,000. Mr. Post was a leading Member of the Assem- bly, in which he was recognized as a power. All his public undertakings were actuated by an exalted sense of justice. He was a clear, consistent worker, frank and above-board, voting on all occasions with a boldness evinced only by independent men.

During the Winter of 1877 was organized the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel & Western Railroad, in which Mr. Post took a lively interest, and is one of the Directors of the Company. This is the last and most important railroad en- terprise in which he has been engaged. He may with propriety be denomin- ated the " Railroad-builder," for he has devoted thereto twenty of the prime years of his life. Physically, Mr. Post is large, being over six feet in height, and finely formed. He is remarkably vigorous, and ceaselessly active. He is indomitably persevering : a great lover of liberty of thought, speech and action ; and candid almost to bluntness. He is honorable in a high degree. He is hopeful, expectant and buoyant. In politics he is a Republican. He has three sons and two daughters: Jane Elizabeth Hawes, T. Benton, Henry C., Cora W. and George 1., Jr.

253

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.

The underlying rocks are the Medina sand- stone, which covers the northern half of the town, and the Oneida conglomerate and the series of the Clinton group, in the south part. An inter- esting locality showing the super-position of these rocks is at Bentley's quarry, on the road from Martville to Hannibalville, where the red sandstone and the Clinton group are within a few feet of each other, having a gray sandstone in- tervening, intermixed with the green shale of that group. The junction between the red and gray sandstone is concealed by drift, &c. The two former have been quarried for building stone .*

The red sandstone is well exposed in the bot- tom of the creek at Sterling Center, and in its sides, extending along the creek a mile south, the mass exposed being twenty-five feet thick. It appears again in the road near the place formerly owned by Robert Hume, about two and one-half miles from Sterling Center, and four from Mart- ville ; also at the quarry between Martville and Hannibalville, where it is of two kinds, the hard and variegated, which shows the diagonal struc- ture, and the more coarse and friable, of a darker color. The red sandstone is geologically the lowest rock of New York which contains brine springs of sufficient purity and quantity to be manufactured into salt. From this fact and its red color it was for a long time confounded with the red shale of the Onondaga salt group. At Ster- ling Center a brine spring rises by the side of the creek, through a fissure in the sandstone ; another exists a mile further south, and a third near Little Sodus Bay. The salt from all these springs was said to have had a sharper taste than common salt, owing probably to a more soluble muriate with an earthy base.

Conglomerate appears at Bentley's quarry and at the farm formerly owned by Robert Hume, both previously referred to. In the former locality it is a light greenish-gray, fine-grained sandstone, in places mottled with green shale, and in a few places with reddish purple spots of ferruginous shale. It was quarried for the mill at Martville, the thickness excavated being four or five feet. The latter locality was opened for Wolcott furnace.

The Clinton group, so well characterized by its iron ore beds and its marine plants, rests upon the conglomerate. At Bentley's quarry it ap- pears on the top of the sandstone, which corres- ponds with the Oneida conglomerate, showing a series of their grayish-green sandstone and shale, the former containing numerous fucoids and other forms, with the Clinton lingula, besides some other fossils, the mass exposed being about ten feet thick. It appears again on the creck, ex- tending from the village of Martville to the mill about half a mile below. At the village are seen alternations of shale and calcareous shale, the latter somewhat solid. The whole is fossilifer- ous, the Clinton retepora being abundant. Here was found a specimen of the Niagara delthyris, and, in the green shale of the higher part of the group, a nearly complete specimen of the Caly. menc Clintonii. At the mill, in the bed of the creek, rising for about eight feet in the bank, is a yellow-green shale. It contains some fossils among which is the Broad agnotis, and an Avicula yet unnamed ; above which are thin layers of limestone composed entirely of Shining Orthis, (Orthis nitens.) This mass is covered with about fifteen feet of alluvion, at the bottom of which were fragments of light-colored hard lime- stone with ore adhering to it, showing that a de- posit exists in the vicinity.

Lenticular clay iron ore, also called argillaceous exists on the land of Peter Van Petten, a little south of Hume's quarry, and a little west of Ster- ling Station, from which latter place considerable quantities of ore have been taken.

This ore consists of lenticular or flattened grains of various sizes, which apparently have been made to cohere by the pressure applied to the mass. It frequently contains joints or disks of the cncrinite, and fragments of other organic remains. Its usual color is brownish-red, its powder being more red. It is very friable, soils the fingers, has but little lustre, and is often stud- ded with minute grains of iron pyrites. All the samples examined effervesce freely in acids, which is probably due to the admixture of carbonate of lime. By some its formation is ascribed to the decomposition of carbonate of iron ; and by others to that of iron pyrites. The infiltration of water, acting in a slow and imperceptible man- ner, is supposed to be the cause which has pro- duced this decomposed form of the ore. It yields

* The Medina sandstone is much used for under-pinnings of houses and farm buildings. It has been observed that hogs are very fond of licking it whenever they have access to it, that it causes them to fuam at the mouth, and renders it difficult to fatten them. Franklin B. Hough, A. M., M. D., Gazetteer of the State of New York, 1872.

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TOWN OF STERLING.

an iron which is highly valued for various pur- poses, especially for castings ; and when mixed with other ores, it greatly improves their quality .*

The soil is a sandy and gravelly loam, and in some places is stony and difficult to cultivate. We noticed a good deal of sorrel growing in va- rious localities in the town.

The town has an area of 26,748 acres; of which 18,343 are improved ; 5,017, woodland ; and 3,388, otherwise unimproved.

The population in 1875 was 3,042 ; of whom 2,668 were native ; 374, foreign ; 3,038, white ; 4, colored ; and 605, owners of land. f

The Southern Central R. R. crosses the town diagonally from south to north, its northern ter- minus being at Little Sodus Bay. The Lake Ontario Shore R. R. crosses it in the northern part from east to west.

STERLING CENTER.

Sterling Center, (Sterling p. o.,) is situated on Little Sodus Creek, in the central part of the town, and is two miles north-east of Sterling Junction, and one mile east of Sterling Valley station on the L. O. S. R. R. It has a popula- tion of 237, and contains three churches, (Baptist, M. E. and Reformed Presb.,) a union school, three stores, one hotel, one grist-mill, one tan- nery, a furnace, three blacksmith shops, a har- ness shop, tin shop and shoe shop.

WM. BYER, who keeps a general stock of mer- chandise, commenced business in Sterling Cen- ter, about thirteen years since, in company with James D. Church and Nicholas Byer, under the firm name of Byer, Church & Co. About three years thereafter he bought the interest of his partners, and has since conducted the business alone. The building he occupies was erected in 1848, by John P. Hunter, who opened a general store at that date, and failed ten years after. It stood idle till about 1863, when Plumb & Duel opened it. They sold out in the spring of 1865 to Wm. Byer.

James Green occupies the store built by Sam- uel Crawford about fifty years ago. Crawford put in a stock of goods and kept it till about 1832, when he rented the store to William Graham &

Co .; Bonesteel, of Oswego, Graham's partner, furnishing the goods. After two years it was again kept by Crawford, who, in the fall of 1835, sold his stock to John Gilchrist, who had former- ly been his clerk, and who took in as partner Franklin Southwick. About a year after, John Hunter bought a portion of the stock and kept the store some two years, when a Mr. Jenkins, for whom Hunter had acted as clerk in Penn Yan, became associated with him. About 1840, Wm. Bruce became a partner with Hunter. About 1837 Crawford died, and the store went into the hands of his father-in-law, Liva Peck, who sold it to Wm. Kevill about 1848. At this time Hunter built the store now occupied by Wm. Byer, and moved into it. The store now occu- pied by Mr. Green was used some eighteen months as a dwelling, after which he and Wm. Kevill used it for a boot and shoe store. In the spring of 1852, it was occupied by Wm. Longley as a general store. Longley, being the postmas- ter at that time, kept the post-office there. About two years after he sold to his brother Freeman, who removed the goods to the store now occupied by J. B. Chappell. About 1854 James Green, Wm. McKnight and James D. Church, (Green having previously bought the building,) put in a general stock and continued about two years, when Church sold his interest to the remaining part- ners. About a year later Mcknight sold to Green, who still carries on the business.

In 1839, there being then but one store in the village, the citizens formed a stock company, with a capital of about $400, the shares being $25 each, and built the store now occupied by J. B. Chappell. It was finished in the spring of 1840, and sold to Chas. Comstock, brother of Judge Geo. F. Comstock, of Syracuse, who put in a general stock of goods. In 1847, he sold it to Luther and Wm. Longley, who occupied it to- gether about five years, when they dissolved, Wm. opening a store where James Green now is. About 1853 or '4, Freeman Longley, from Adams, Mass., a brother of Wm. Longley, bought out Luther Longley, his cousin. Wm. Longley made an assignment, his stock eventually coming into the hands of his brother Freeman, who re- moved them to his own store, the one now occu- pied by J. B. Chappell. Wm. Wood, a brother- in-law of Freeman Longley, subsequently became his partner, the two continuing the business two

* Natural History of New York,-Lardner Vanuxem, Geology; Jas. C. Beck, Mineralogy ; James Hall, Paleontology; E. Emmons, Ag- riculture.

¡ Census of 1875.

RESIDENCE OF HUGH DUGAN STERLING CAYUGA CO. N. Y.

RESIDENCE OF JAMES C. HUNTER STERLING VALLEY CAYUGA CO. N.Y.

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STERLING CENTER - FAIR HAVEN.

or three years, when they sold the goods at auc- tion and the building to J. B. Chappell. Wood returned to Albany, whence he came, and Free- man Longley removed to Wisconsin.

The Cayuga House, Ethan Allen proprietor, was built in 1833, by Samuel Crawford, and was first occupied as a hotel about 1838, by Samuel Beattie, having been used previously as a dwell- ing. It was the first hotel in the village. Beat- tie kept it three or four years, and was suc- ceeded by several individuals who kept it only for a short period. In 1876, Jno. C. Shaw, uncle of the present proprietor, bought the property and put it in good condition.

The grist-mill, owned by Edwin Clark, and run by James Mizen, was built in 1813, by a man named Ireland, whose sons, though not practical millers, managed it several years. He built a saw-mill about the same time. The grist-mill and some three acres of land were bought by Samuel Crawford, who operated it several years, and in 1835 gave it a thorough over-hauling and put in new gearing. Soon after it passed into the hands of Liva Peck, and others. Edwin Clark is the present proprietor. It contains three runs of stones. The saw-mill and 225 acres of land were bought by Asa Cary from Vermont, who came into , the town in 1831, and whose son Nathaniel C. Cary, now resides here. Edwin Sanford, now owns it, and has converted it into a shop for cutting out stuff for cabinet ware.

The creek, which furnishes the motive power for all the manufacturing establishments in the village, except the foundry, has a fall of ten and one-half feet, but the supply is not constant of late years.

The tannery which is owned and operated by Wemple Halliday, was built in 1859, by John Halliday, father of Wemple, on the site of one built in 1832, by Vilas, White & Co., and burned about 1852.

The foundry owned by Nathaniel C. Cary and Alex. C. Sturgis, was built about 1846, by Wm. Kirk and A. C. Sturgis, who, in 1848, finding it too small for their business, erected an addition. About 1861, Kirk sold his interest to Sylvanus Ferris, who, about 1864, sold to Nathaniel C. Cary. It has since been conducted by Sturgis & Cary. Plows and cultivators are the principal articles manufactured. The works are operated by steam.

FAIR HAVEN.

Fair Haven (p. o.) is situated in the north- west corner of the town, on Little Sodus Bay, and is the northern terminus of the S. C. R. R. It contains two churches, (M. E. and Reformed,) a district school, two hotels, eight stores, two saw-mills, a planing-mill, brick-yard and a popu- lation of about 700. The village extends the whole length of the Bay and to some distance above it. It is prosperous, and new enterprises are being rapidly undertaken. The gently slop- ing shores of the Bay, which is a pretty sheet of water, presents many fine sites for residences.

The Barrus House was built in 1875, by Giles C. Barrus, who had previously, for about six years, kept a hotel at the head of the Bay, in a build- ing now in a dilapidated condition and used as a dwelling-house, and erected about fifty years since by Abijah Hunt, who kept in it for a good many years the first hotel in Fair Haven. Hunt was succeeded by Emer S. Sayles, who kept it four or five years, when Benj. S. Patty followed him and kept it a like period, being succeeded by James M. Crozier. Thos. Harsha kept it after- wards for five or six years, until it came into the hands of Giles C. Barrus. Barrus, who was from Hannibal, kept the present house till his death in the winter of 1877-'78, when he was suc- ceeded by his son, Giles F. Barrus, the present proprietor.

The Meyers House, a fine large hotel, situated at the " Point," was opened in the spring of 1873, by R. J. Meyers, the present proprietor.

Mrs. Jane Hitchcock opened a hotel just east of the old Hunt hotel; which she kept a good many years, till her death during the war.

The first store at Fair Haven was started by Garrison Taylor, about 1825, in the building he now occupies, on Lake street.

Seth Turner was next to Taylor. He opened a store about twenty years ago in the building subsequently used as a hotel, at the head of the Bay. He kept it some three or four years, when he went west. David Cole and a Mr. Oakes succeeded him, but neither of them continued long.

Isaac Turner and Rufus S. Welch then opened a store near where the brick block of Mendell & Hitchcock now stands. After a short time Turner went out and Welch continued it alone, but only for a short time.

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TOWN OF STERLING.

Oscar F. Miller was the next merchant. He opened the store he now occupies.

Robinson & Mendell opened a store in the east part of the village about 1873. They sep- arated in the spring of 1877, Robinson opening the grocery store in the east end of the Mendell & Hitchcock block, which was built in the fall and winter of 1876, and Mendell a stock of ready made clothing and boots and shoes, in the store in the west end of the same block. Both are still in the business.

J. B. Chappell & Son opened the central store in the Mendell & Hitchcock block in the spring of 1877, and still carry on business there.

Isaac P. Welch opened the grocery store he now occupies in the spring of 1878.

E. E. Austin and Geo. B. Knapp, under the firm name of E. E. Austin & Co., opened their store of general groceries and ship supplies, at the Point, in the spring of 1878.

The steam planing-mill, owned and operated by Knapp & Hemingway, was built by Post, Knapp & Hemingway, in 1872. It is 70 by 50 feet, two stories high, and is capable of planing 20,000 feet of lumber per day. The motive power is furnished by a fifty-five-horse-power engine. Connected with the mill property is a dock, on the Bay, 528 feet in length. The annual sales are about 2,000,000 feet of lumber. In the spring of 1875, the senior partner, Mr. Post, with- drew, his interest being bought by the remaining members.

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History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 48

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