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 92
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William H. Price was born in Falmouth, Mass., in 1820. He was admitted to the bar at Ithaca, in July, 1848, and returning to Moravia, remained five years. He is now living in Utica, but is not practicing his profession.
Hon. John L. Parker was born March 28th, 1825, and educated chiefly at the Moravia Insti- tute. He read law with Jared M. Smith, and af- ter the latter's removal, with L. O. Aiken. He was admitted to the bar July 4th, 1848, and has continued practice since. He was justice of the peace twelve years ; superintendent of common schools in 1851 and'52 ; and president of the vil- lage in 1870. In 1863 he was appointed engross- ing clerk in the Assembly, which office he also held the following year. He was Member of Assembly in 1865, '6 and '7, and in that body displayed superior qualities as a tactician and proved himself an effective debater. He was ap- pointed agent of the U. S. Pension Department of the Special Service Division in 1873, which office he still holds. Since 1874, he has been in partnership with Hull Greenfield, under the name of Parker & Greenfield.
S. Edwin Day, younger son of Samuel Day, deceased, was born in Moravia, January 20th, 1840, and educated at Moravia Academy. He pursued the study of the law with his uncle, L. O. Aiken, from April, 1858, till his admission to the bar June 6th, 1861, when he formed a law partnership with him, which continued till July, 1869. He has since practiced alone, with the exception of one year from April Ist, 1870, when he was associated with John L. Parker, and in Moravia, with the exception of two or three years spent in Buffalo. He was supervisor in 1869, '72 and '73, running largely ahead of his ticket, which was otherwise generally defeated. He was elected president of the village in 1868, and was put in nomination that year by his party for District Attorney. He was admitted to prac- tice in the Circuit Court of the U. S. September 20th, 1875 ; and was elected County Judge in November, 1877.
Erastus E. Brown was born in Jordan, Octo- ber 27th, 1836. Before he was a year old his father, Russel Brown, removed with his family to LaGrange county, Indiana, where Erastus re-
464
TOWN OF MORAVIA.
mained till attaining his majority, when he re- turned to this State, and in the fall of 1858, com- menced the study of law in Auburn, which he continued with some interruptions till the spring of 1860, when he entered the law school at Poughkeepsie, where he remained till December of that year. Having been admitted to practice, he came to Moravia in June, 1861, and opened an office. He was Supervisor in 1868; and in that year also he formed a partnership with R. D. Wade, which continued till his removal in the spring of 1870 to Lincoln, Nebraska, of which city he was subsequently elected mayor, and where he is now at the head of the firm of Brown, Eng- land & Brown.
Rowland D. Wade, son of William Wade, de- ceased, was born in Moravia, February 21st, 1840, and graduated at the Moravia Institute. He entered the army, and on returning home July 22d, 1862, commenced the study of law with John T. Pingree, of Auburn. He was admitted to the bar June 7th, 1867, and in 1868, formed a co-partnership with E. E. Brown, which con- tinued till the removal of the latter to Nebraska, in 1870. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1871, being the only candidate elected upon his ticket.
James A. Wright was born May 4th, 1838, and educated at the Moravia Institute. He studied law with E. E. Brown, and afterwards with Wright & Waters, of Cortland. He was ad- mitted to the bar June 6th, 1864, and removed to Waverly, where he remained till April, 1868, when he returned to Moravia, and formed a co- partnership with J. L. Parker, which continued till 1870, since which time he has been in prac- tice alone, and has held the office of justice of the peace.
Elias M. Ellis was born at Aurora, September Ist, 1846, and educated at Cayuga Lake Acad- emy in that village. May Ist, 1866, he entered the law office of Oliver Wood, of Cayuga, as stu- dent, and a year thereafter removed with him to Auburn, where he continued his studies till June 7th, 1869, when he was admitted to the bar. July 15th following he became Mr. Aiken's partner, and remained two years, when he removed to Le- vanna, where he practiced till July Ist, 1874, when he removed to Ithaca, where he has since re- mained, having charge of the affairs of the Cayu- ga R. R. Co. at that terminus.
Wing T. Parker, son of Hon. John L. Parker, was born at Moravia, December 13th, 1849, and graduated at Moravia Institute in the summer of 1867. He studied law in the offices of his father and Parker & Day, and was admitted to practice June 9th, 1871. He at once commenced prac- tice with his father. In September of that year he became Mr. Aiken's partner, and continued such till April, 1872, when he again joined his father and remained two years. He then went to New York and engaged with Messrs. Wingate & Cullen, attorneys, and remained with them till June 15th, 1875, when he removed to Buffalo, and returned thence January 6th, 1877, to Mora- via, where he is now practicing.
Hull Greenfield, only son of Hiram Greenfield, was born in Locke, August 7th, 1850, and edu- cated at Moravia Institute. He commenced to study law with S. Edwin Day December Ist, 1869, and remained with him till his removal to New York, in 1872, to the office of Man & Par- sons, attorneys, having been admitted to practice November 24th, 1871. May 1st, 1874, he re- turned to Moravia, and during that month formed a partnership with John L. Parker, which still continues. At his examination in Syracuse he stood first in a class of over twenty.
Joel Bradford Jennings, son of the late Brad- ford Jennings, of Venice, was born October 11th, 1843. He attended school at Moravia, and finished his education in the Law Department of Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, in 1875, having been in attendance there since 1873. He then came to Moravia and commenced practice in April of that year.
BANKS. -- The First National Bank of Moravia. The project for establishing a bank in Moravia having been canvassed by Wm. Keeler, Austin B. Hale and B. F. Everson, a call was issued April 6th, 1863, and signed by Hector C. Tut- hill, James Thornton, Rufus W. Close, P. D. Livingston, Lucius Fitts, Thompson Keeler, S. D. Tabor, Wm. Keeler, Lyman Card, A. B. Hale, Lauren Townsend, Charles Chandler, B. F. Everson, E. E. Brown, W. W. Alley, Jr., W. C. Cramer, B. C. Goodridge, Joseph Dresser, Nathan Robinson, B. D. King, P. R. Robinson, S. B. Young, M. L. Wood, David Wade, Jr., Whitman Brockway, H. H. Alley, E. Hopkins, J. S. Paul, H. H. Tuthill, J. C. Odell, Reuben Rounds and C. E. Parker.
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VILLAGE OF MORAVIA.
A meeting was held pursuant to the call, and organized by the appointment of Hon. H. C. Tuthill, chairman, and A. B. Hale, clerk. It was deemed advisable to organize under the Na- tional Banking Law, and a committee was ap- pointed to obtain subscriptions to the capital stock. At a meeting held April 25th, all the capital stock having been subscribed, B. J. Everson, A. B. Hale and Franklin Goodrich were appointed a committee to prepare and report articles of association and by-laws, which, after revision and amendment, were adopted May 25th, 1863, and signed by those who signed the call, except Rufus W. Close, P. D. Livingston, Lucius Fitts, Lyman Card, W. C. Cramer, B. C. Good- ridge, Nathan Robinson, S. B. Young, David Wade, Jr., Whitman Brockway, E. Hopkins, J. S. Paul, Reuben Rounds, and additionally by Daniel Goodrich, Daniel J. Shaw, Cordial S. Jennings, Jeremiah Hunt, Benjamin Atwood, Franklin Goodrich, John L. Parker, Hiram Hunt, Wm. R. Richmond, Elizabeth Barney, M. M. Greenfield, Wm. Selover, Terry Everson, Alvah Fitch, Smith Hewitt and H. W. Lockwood.
The first directors, as named in the articles of association, were, Hector C. Tuthill, Daniel J. Shaw, Beriah D. King, Alvah Fitch, Austin B. Hale, Wm. Keeler, Charles E. Parker, Thomp- son Keeler and Benjamin F. Everson. The organization was perfected May 2d, 1863, and at a meeting of the Board of Directors held May 5th, Austin B. Hale was elected president, and Benjamin F. Everson, cashier. The capital stock was fixed at $50,000, and was increased the following year to $80,000. The bank opened its doors for business October 5th, 1863.
A. B. Hale acted as president till February, 1864, when he resigned as a director, and Hector H. Tuthill was elected to the directorship and the presidency, which position he has since held, with the exception of the year 1872, when A. B. Hale was president. B. F. Everson acted as cashier till December, 1864, when he resigned, and Leander Fitts was elected to that position, which he has held continuously since, with the exception of the year 1872, when John Thomas was cashier. The bank has occupied rooms in the Moravia House since its organization, under a lease which extends to 1893.
The present directors are Terry Everson, Silas Phelps, Joseph Dresser, Wm. Selover, H.
H. Tuthill, Elijah E. Brown, Julius Fitts, M. L. Williams and L. H. Edmons. Wm. J. H. Par- ker is the present book-keeper, a position he has occupied the last two years.
The success of the bank is indicated by the the following statistics. The average yearly de- posits have been as follows :
For 1864, $ 74,380. 18 | For 1871, $ 68,604.31
1865, 94,288.25 1872, 61,123.79
1866, 84,389.93
1873, 79.267.48
1867, 90,766.29
1874, 127,084.98
1868, 123,823.76
1875, 146,120.67
1869, 91,491.20 " 1876, 159,495.43
1870, 69,515.68 " 1877,
139,417.99
Average yearly deposits during the fourteen years,
$100,697.85%
Government taxes paid during the fourteen years 22,336.53
Dividends paid to stockholders during the fourteen years
139, 100.00
which is 12.42 per cent. on a cap- ital of $80,000.
Present Capital
80,000.00
Surplus ..
20,8℃0.00
Undivided Profits
5,441.00
Total $106,241.00
Four per cent. interest is paid on deposits, the rate having been reduced from five per cent. in 1876.
The Moravia National Bank .- The idea of organizing a second banking institution in Mora- via seems to have originated with Wm. Kceler, who, in January, 1877, broached the subject to a few gentlemen whom he deemed most likely to be interested in such a project, among others, Elondo Greenfield, James T. Green, Thompson Keeler, Capt. Edwin C. Pulver, Wm. E. Keeler, Webb J. Greenfield and S. Edwin Day, and after consultation it was determined than an effort should be made to secure subscriptions to the capital stock of such bank, placing the amount thereof at $50,000, to be divided into shares of $ 100 each.
The effort proved successful, and on the 21st of February thereafter, correspondence was opened with the office of the Comptroller of the currency at Washington. On the 28th formal application was made for authority to establish such bank, which was granted March 6th, and on the 19th organization certificates and articles of association were made in duplicate, dated on that day.
466
TOWN OF MORAVIA.
The first meeting of stockholders was held March 26th, 1877, and the following nine direc- tors were elected : S. Edwin Day, Wm. Keeler, Jeremiah P. Cady, Chas. H. Wilcox, Elondo Greenfield, Thompson Keeler, Edwin C. Pulver, James F. Green and Ira C. Chandler. The same day the first meeting of directors was held, and S. Edwin Day was elected president and James F. Green, vice-president. The officers and directors remain the same as at organization. April 4th, 1877, John A. Thomas was employed as cashier. April 5th, the entire capital stock was paid in and deposited in the First National Bank of Auburn, to be invested in 43 per cent. U. S. bonds. The bank was incorporated April 16th, 1877, and on the 26th was authorized to commence business. April 30th, 1877, H. H. Alley and wife deeded the lot on which the bank building stands, the consideration being $1,000, and in that year the present brick structure was erected. May 22d, 1877, the bank first opened its doors for business. The deposits the first year aggregated about $50,000. Two semi-annual dividends of two per cent. each have been declared. Four per cent. interest is paid on deposits.
MANUFACTURES. - The manufactures of Mora- via, though varicd, embrace no important special- ties, being confined mostly to the natural demands of its other industries. Mill Creek, upon which the village is located, affords an excellent water power, and furnishes the motor for most of its manufacturing establishments. An important industry-the Moravia Cotton Mill-was estab- lished in 1831, and, when in full operation, gave employment to about 100 men. It was destroyed by fire in 1856, and the following year the cus- tom and flouring-mill, of which Waldo & Selover (H. Eugene Waldo and Newell Selover,) are the present proprietors, was built upon the same foundation, by Keeler & Southwick. The mill is built of stone and stands on Factory strcet. It contains four run of stones, which are pro- pelled by water from the creek, with a fall of twenty-two feet. It came into possession of the present proprietors April Ist, 1877.
Joseph Alley is proprietor of the custom and flouring-mill, on Mill street. The mill was built in 1857, by W. W. Alley, Jr., son of Dr. W. W. Alley, and cousin of Joseph Alley, and run by him till 1866. After passing through several
hands it came into possession of the present proprietor July Ist, 1876, and a half interest was rented the first year to Heber Waldo. It contains three run of stones, which are propelled by water from the creek, with a fall of fourteen feet.
Charles Johnson & Co., (Wm. B. Johnson and N. H. Potter.) founders and machinists and man- ufacturers of Johnson's fluting and polishing irons, commenced business September 10th, 1878. They lease the property of John S. Allen, and give employment to 15 to 25 hands. The works are operated by a thirty horse-power en- gine.
John S. Allen, proprietor of sash and blind factory and planing-mill, commenced business in August, 1877. The works are operated by the same engine as those of Charles Johnson & Co., and occupy a part of the same building. Mr. Allen is also proprietor of a saw-mill, con- taining one circular saw.
Walker & McCredies employ ten men, and sometimes more, during the summer season, in house building and operating a planing-mill. The business was commenced in 1874 by William V. Walker, who, in 1877, admitted John and Daniel McCredie to partnership.
Lowe & Pulver, (J. H. Lowe and E. C. Pul- ver,) proprietors of steam planing-mill, manufac- turers of doors, sash and blinds, and dealers in coal, lumber, water-lime and plaster, near the de- pot. J. H. Lowe bought a half interest in the business of David H. Foster in February, 1875, and in February, 1877, E. C. Pulver bought Mr. Foster's remaining interest. The present proprietors put in the machinery in the winter of 1877.
The Moravia Association was incorporated in February, 1869, for the purpose of making cheese. The capital stock is $2,500, $ 1,200 of which was paid in, and the remainder paid from the accu- mulated profits. The first officers were Elijah Parsons, President ; Joseph Alley, Secretary and Treasurer. The present officers are Elijah Par- sons, President, which office he has held from the organization; Jacob Adams, Secretary ; and Wm. E. Keeler, Treasurer. About 600 pounds of cheese are made per day.
The manufacture of carriages has been one of Moravia's most important recent industries. Messrs. Wolsey & Brown, who employed about thirty men in this business, failed Angust 29th,
Cyrus Douz m. S.
JUDGE CYRUS POWERS, the father of Dr. Cyrus Powers, was born in Stillwater, Saratoga county, N. Y. in 1779. At the age of 21 he married Lydia Stow, aud next year he moved into Sem- pronins, Cayuga County, N. Y. They had six children of which Dr. Cyrus Powers is the sole survivor. He was County Judge for 20 years in Cayuga County, and also for five years afterwards in Tompkins county. He died in Kelloggsville, Cayuga County, in 1843. Judge Powers' younger sister, Abigail, was the wife of Millard Fillmore, President of the United States.
Dr. Cyrus Powers was born in Sempronius, Cayuga Coun- ty, July 18th, 1814. He studied medicine and graduated at Geneva Medical College in February, 1845, and settled in Moravia, Cayuga County, where he still resides in the prac- tice of his profession. In 1846, he married Cornelia Carter, of Ledyard, who is still living.
The Doctor has been something of a traveler. He passed the winter of 1851-2, chiefly in Texas, but extended his trip through all the remaining Southern States as well as a por- tion of Mexico. In 1853 he visited California and Oregon, going and returning hy way of Panama, and again in 1870, after the Pacific Railroad was opened, he revisited Califor- nia, going by way of Montreal and Lake Superior, stopping awhile at Salt Lake, and returning by way of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. In 1873, he went to Europe, visiting England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Switzerland and Italy ; thence to Egypt, Syria and Palestine, going overland from Damascus to Jerusalem. Returning to Egypt by way of the Suez Canal he went up the Nile in a dahabeah, or native boat,
as far as Philae at the First Cataract. His letters during this long trip, published in the Moravia Register, would make a good-sized volume. Very many of his friends have urged him to reprint them in book form, but the Doctor has always refused, saying that they were not worth the trouble.
When the war of the Rebellion broke ont in 1861, Dr. Powers joined the 75th Regt. as Assist .- Surgeon, and accompanied it to Fort Pickens, Fla. Next year he was promoted to the Sur- geoncy of the 160th Regiment and remained with it in Lou- isiana two years. During the ill-starred, and badly managed Red River Expedition under General Banks, the Doctor had charge of the consolidated hospitals at Alexandria, La., hav- ing at the time of the return-or rather the retreat of the army-over fifteen hundred sick and wounded under his care. Subsequently he was on duty about six months as President of a Board for the examination of recruits at Portland, Maine, and later was on duty at Stanton Hospital, Washington, D. C., about the same period of time, making four years of ser- vice in the war.
The Doctor has probably the largest and most valuable private library in the western part of the State; the result of over forty years careful selection. He has also a large and valuable collection of autographs, which he has been assidu- ously collecting for over thirty years. Another of his tastes is for coins, of which he has about a thousand, some of them issued by the old Greek and Roman Emperors; and of steel- engraved portraits and rare engravings, he has many thous- ands.
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VILLAGE OF MORAVIA.
1878. Two other firms are engaged in the busi- ness, though less extensively, viz : Eaton & Pat- terson and Levi Hoffman ; the former of whom employ eight men, and manufacture fifty car- riages and wagons per annum, and the latter, who employ four or five men, make twenty wag- ons and twelve sleighs per annum. D. S. Eaton commenced business some five or six years ago, and in 1876 admitted Edward Patterson to part- nership. Levi Hoffman commenced business in 1874.
Austin Sackett has carried on the manufac- ture of flag-bottom chairs, in a small way, some six years.
HOTELS .- There are two good hotels in the village-the Goodrich House, kept since May, 1877, by M. L. Brando, who previously kept hotel in Union Springs some ten years; and the Moravia House, kept by Thomas White since December 22d, 1877. The building of the former was commenced in 1849, and finished in 1850, by Lemuel C. Porter, Jr., and was first kept by his brother-in-law, - - Van Anden, who kept it two or three years. The latter was built in 1813, by Dr. David Annable, and kept by him a short time. It is owned by Squire Raymond.
THE PRESS OF MORAVIA .- Previous to 1863, Moravia had to depend on other, chiefly the Au- burn papers, for local and County news. Futile efforts to establish a newspaper were made several years before ; and February 20th, 1860, H. H. Alley purchased a Jones press, which printed a sheet four by five inches in size, and soon after, one which printed a sheet twelve by eighteen inches. For several years he printed tickets for town meetings. In October, 1863, A. O. Hicks started the Cayuga County Courier in an office in Smith's block, and continued its publication till his death, in the summer of 1864, when it fell into the hands of his brother, A. J. Hicks, who, after issuing it alone a year, formed a co-partner- ship with Wm. M. Nickols, who, shortly after- ward, purchased Mr. Hicks' interest and con- tinned it till March 10th, 1867, when A. J. Hicks and Abner H. Livingston became the proprie- tors and published it till December of that year, when the latter purchased his partner's interest, changed its name to the Moravia Courier, and December 31st, 1870, sold it to the present pro- prietor, M. E. Kenyon, who has greatly improved
both its literary and mechanical departments, changed its name to the Moravia Valley Regis- ter, and made it a fit representative of the energy and thrift of the village.
The Weekly News was started January 25th, 1872, on the corner of Main and Cayuga streets, by Uri Mulford, who had learned the general business of a country office in the office of the Valley Enterprise in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, and was then under twenty years of age. The size of the first volume was nineteen by twenty- four inches. It was neutral in politics till July 18th, 1872, when its influence was given to the Republican party. May 15th, 1873, it was en- larged by the addition of one column to a page, and August 7th, 1873, it was again enlarged to a seven-column paper, size twenty-four by thirty- six inches. In 1874, L. & U. Mnlford were in- terested in its publication ; and in 1875, it was removed to Auburn, where it was published a few months in the interest of the Prohibition party.
The Moravia Citizen was started July 13th, 1876, by Rev. Charles Ray, the present editor and proprietor, who was previously pastor of the Congregational church in Moravia. It is pub- lished every Thursday, in a building erected by the proprietor for its accommodation in April, 1877. Its size during the first six weeks was twenty-four by thirty-six inches. It has been en- larged to eight columns, size twenty-six by forty inches. Its editor is a Republican, but the paper is independent in politics. It is devoted to local news; is an earnest advocate of temperance; and it is the aim of its publisher to make it minister to the religious needs of its readers.
SCHOOLS .- A public school has been taught within the limits of the village since 1797. Up to 1839, the village formed but one district. In the spring of that year, there being a larger num- ber of scholars than the school-house then in use could accommodate, a division was made on the line of Mill Creek, which, after a bitter con- troversy between the residents of the two dis- tricts, was confirmed by the State Superinten- dent, Hon. John C. Spencer, in the summer of 1839.
The first school, which was also the first in the old town of Sempronius, was taught in a log dwelling, by Levi H. Goodrich, in the winter of 1797-8. In the summer and fall of 1798, the first
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TOWN OF MORAVIA.
school-house was built. It was a substantial frame structure, and stood on the site of Andrew Perry's dwelling, to make room for which it was torn down about 1859. It was abandoned as a school-house in 1813, and was afterwards used for various purposes. Mr. Goodrich was also the first teacher in the new house, in the winter of 1798-'9, and was succeeded there by Miss Emma Skinner in the summer of 1799; David Wright, in the winter of 1799-1800. Mr. Good- rich again taught in the winter of 1801-'2, and, being in ill health, was assisted by William Wat- tles, Jr.
In 1812-'13, a brick school-house was erected on the site of the Masonic building, by the joint efforts of the school district, the Congregational Society and the Masons. The former two bore the expense of building the walls of the first story, and the Masons, that of the second ; while the building and repair of the roof was a joint expense. Mr. Goodrich was also the first teacher in this house, in the winter of 1813-'14. At the first school district meeting, held in the school-house in July, 1813, after the division of the town into school districts under the school system organ- ized in 1812, the district bought the interest of the Congregational Society for $400, and, in the spring of 1840, the location being too public, sold to the Masons for $500. The lower portion of the building was afterwards used for various pur- poses, and the whole structure was torn down in the fall of 1876, to make room for the new Masonic building on North Main street. A new wood school-house was built on Cayuga street in the spring of 1840, the job of erecting it being taken by Amasa Dunbar, who built the house, furnishing all the material, for $ 100.
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