History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 22

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862

USA > New York > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 22

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" Whereas, The maintenance of prisoners committed to the county jail for small offenses, in the manner that they have been usually senteneed, has been attended with great expense to the people of this eouuty, and in many instances has operated to punish the county with taxes more than the eriminals for offenses; and whereas some courts of special sessions have senteneed them to imprisonment upon bread and water, which lessens the expense to this eounty, and the same operates as a punishment more effectually than longer terms of im- prisonment would in the ordinary way; the board of supervisors, therefore, recommend generally to magistrates and courts of sessions in mittimuses, upon conviction of petty erimes, to make the length of confinement less, and direct the jailer to keep the offenders upon bread and water during the time of their imprisonment. The board would recommend, in such eases, that the prisoners be not senteneed to be kept longer than thirty days in any ease; it may endanger the health of the eonviets.

" Resolved, That the jailer for the future be directed not to procure anything more expensive for eriminals than moeeasins at fifty cents a pair, instead of shoes, nor to procure any hats, and to purchase as little elothing as possible, and that of the poorest and least expensive kind."

The court-house became so much dilapidated that it became unfit to hold courts in, and in 1851, Judge Thomp- son hired rooms at $100 per annum for rental and fuel, and sent his bills to the board of supervisors for auditing.

In 1857, a resolution looking to the creetion of a new court-house was passed at the annual session of the board of supervisors, Messrs. S. H. Brown, Wm. Estes, and S. Eddy being appointed a preliminary committee on the matter. A motion at the annual meeting in 1858, to proceed at once to the erection of the court-house, was tabled, and then taken up again, and amended by changing the place of loca- tion, so as to leave it to the discretion of future boards to locate the same at Watertown or elsewhere in the county,

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

and the amended resolution was adopted. Messrs. Ingalls, Phelps, and Rulison were appointed a committee to receive plans and specifications, and then the whole matter was laid on the table, and a committee appointed to invest $30 in an examination of the old building relative to the possibility of repairing it. The grand jury, in April and September, 1858, indicted the court-house as a nuisance, and as unfit and insufficient to hold courts in. In 1859, a motion to rent Washington Hall, in Watertown, for holding the courts until the court-house could be repaired, at a rent of $250 per annum, was lost, fifteen members voting in the negative; whcreupon, on motion of Supervisor Ingalls, the majority voting against the proposition were appointed a committee to report a plan for repairing or rebuilding the court-house. This committee reported a resolution to appoint a committee to repair the court-house and rent Washington Hall, and receive plans and proposals to build a new court-house on the old sitc. On December 10, 1860, the committee as- sembled and received plans and specifications, and appointed a sub-committee to visit the several court-houses in the State, or as many as they deemed necessary, and examine the same, and confer with W. N. White, an architect at Syracuse. The sub-committee procured plans and drafts from Mr. White, and reported at a special meeting of the board, January 7, 1861, recommending the adoption of White's plans, which placed the cost of the new building, erected in accordance therewith, at the sum of $25,000. The report of the committee was adopted by the board, and after a brisk and animated struggle the present site, corner of Arsenal and Benedict streets, in Watertown, was selected, the same being donated by the citizens of the city. A loan of $25,000 was authorized and made from the State at seven per cent., and a contract made with John Hose and Joseph Davis to erect the building for $24,000, and W. N. White appointed supervising architect, and the following- named supervisors a building committee : Joseph Atwell, A. W. Clark, A. C. Middleton, C. A. Benjamin, John H. Conklin, Henry Spicer, and Jacob Putnam. At the annual meeting of the board in October, 1861, this committee was discharged as being too expensive on account of size, and a new committee appointed, consisting of J. H. Conklin, D. W. Baldwin, and Octave Blanc. The building was com- pleted in 1862, at a cost of $25,488.89, furnished, after some delays and wrangling with the contractors, who peti- tioned the board for an additional allowance, for an alleged deficit in compensation occasioned by the extraordinary rise in building materials occasioned by the war. The roof over certain portions of the building was imperfect, and consid- erable sums of money were expended to repair and complete it. The basement was ill drained, and until the sewerage of the city was completed along Arsenal street it was in a foul and unhealthy condition ; but drains connecting with the main sewer soon obviated that difficuty, though at considerable expense. The entire expense of the court- house as it now stands is not far from $35,000. It is built of brick, with stone trimmings and portico, and has an area of about 70 feet front on Arsenal street by 120 fect rear on Benedict street. It has two stories, and is provided with a fire-proof clerk's office in the rear of the building, and is surmounted with a tower in good proportionate di-

mensions to the balance of the edifice, and, with a well-kept lawn (one of the features of Watertown), is an ornament to the city and a credit to the county. The county jail stands on a commanding bluff overlooking the city and sur- rounding country, and furnishes accommodations for the needs of the county at the present time, inasmuch as all petty crimes and misdemeanors are punishable by comniit- ment to the Onondaga county penitentiary, which relieves the county jail somewhat of what would be an otherwise excessive demand for room.

POOR-IIOUSES AND ASYLUMS.

The first compulsory charity within the limits of the present Empire State was that which the act of the colonial assembly of April, 1691, provided for, whereby the towns of the colony were required to support their own poor, and whereby, also, safeguards were thrown around the system, to prevent imposition upon the authorities. The assembly of 1683 may have also provided for such support, and so, also, may have the Dutch burghers before that, but the first laws we find recorded on the subject are those reported iu Bradford's edition of the Colonial Laws from 1691 to 1773, published in London, which gives the first act as passed in April of the former year.

The legislature in 1778 provided for the support of the poor by towns and cities, and later on, for the building of poor-houses by towns and counties. Previous to the adop- tion of the poor-house system by Jefferson County each town in the county supported its own poor, and the records of the board of supervisors show annual appropriations in many of the towns for that purpose of from $50 to $800.

In 1817, $50 was voted to build a town poor-house in Le Ray, and in 1822, under the act of 1820, the super- visors recommended to the several towns to take into consideration at their next annual meetings the propriety of building a poor-house and house of industry for the county, as advised by an act of March 3, 1820. In April, 1825, a meeting of the board was called, and a committee, consisting of Messrs. Hubbard, Hart, and Stewart, was ap- pointed to ascertain the most suitable site for erecting a poor-house, and the price for which a farin could be pur- chased, within five miles of the court-house. The cost of buildings was limited to $2000. They were directed to advertise for proposals for purchasing a farm, if they should think proper. On June 7 an adjourned meeting of the supervisors met to hear the above report. After visiting the premises in a body, it was resolved to purchase the Dudley farm, in Le Ray, five miles from Watertown, con- taining 150 acres, at $10 per acre. Committees were ap- pointed to procure titles, which came through Vincent Le Ray de Chaumont, and fit up the premises. The building was erected by Simeon Towle, and completed and accepted by the board November 17, 1825, the same costing $1400. These premises continued to be occupied for the purpose of a poor-house until November, 1832, when the supervisors voted a petition for the power to sell the property, and borrow $4000 on the credit of the county for building a new one on a new site, if the interests of the county re- quired it. An act was passed by the legislature January 25, 1833, granting the power asked for, and providing for

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the execution of the trust by three commissioners to be ap- pointed by the supervisors. At their following session the board, after much diseussion, finally agreed to erect a new poor-house on a farm of 100 aeres, purchased of J. Foster for $1500, about a mile below Watertown, north of the river, and Orville Hungerford, Joseph Graves, and Bernard Bagley were appointed to earry the resolution into effeet. This poor-house and farm eost $6123.66, and the old property was sold for $2015.24.

The distinction between town and eounty poor was abol- ished by a vote of the supervisors in November, 1834, and this has been sinee several times ehanged. In 1832 the experiment of picking oakum was tried, with a profit of $154 the first year. The culture of the mulberry has also been attempted, but with small sueeess. The first super- intendents of the poor-house, appointed in 1820, were Orville Hungerford, Win. S. Ely, Peter Yandes, John Hoover, and Asher Wilmot, who were eleeted in 1826 and 1827, and an equal number were annually appointed until the adoption of the present constitution. The persons eleeted under the general law were David Montague, Chas. F. Symonds, and Phineas Hardy, in 1848; Martin J. Hutchins, 1849; Peter S. Houek, 1850; Austin Everitt, 1851. It being thought by eertain ones that the general law was not the best that could be devised for the county, an effort was made in 1852, which proeured on the 12th of April an aet which directed but one overseer of the poor to be hereafter eleeted in each town in this eounty, and the duties of overseers of the poor were conferred upon the supervisor and such overseer, in the several towns, who were to be associated together in affording relief to the indigent within eertain limits, to be preseribed by the board of supervisors for each town. No superintendents of the poor were to be thereafter elected, but one was to be ap- pointed by the board of supervisors, to hold his office during their pleasure. He is to reside at the poor-house, and be the keeper thereof. In ease of vaeaney, the county judge, elerk, and treasurer, or any two of them, fill the vaeaney by temporary appointment until another is ehosen. In the fall of 1854, and annually afterwards, two visitors are ap- pointed by the board of supervisors, to visit the poor-house every two months, and examine its books and management. Contraets for medicines and medieal attendanee are made by the supervisors, individually, in the several towns, and as a board for the poor-house. They have also the power of di- recting the manner in which supplies for the poorhouse shall be purehased, which directions the superintendent is obliged to follow. The provisions of this aet apply to no other eounty than this. The board of supervisors, in aeeordanee with powers thus conferred, appointed Alpheus Parker super- intendent, who entered upon his duties January 1, 1853 .*

In 1846 the barn on the farm was burned, and rebuilt in 1847. In 1839-40 eells were built in the poor-house for the eonfinement of lunaties, and in 1855 the lunatie asylum was built of briek, and at a eost of $4811.57, Messrs. Adriel Ely, Jason Clark, and A. S. Babeoek liav- ing supervision of the work. In 1870 the poor-house was remodeled and rebuilt at an expense of $13,750, under the

supervision of Messrs. R. Fuller, Thomas C. Chittenden, and Herman Strong. The institution as it at present stands and is conducted is elaimed to be seeond to no similar institution in the State.

Mr. Parker served as superintendent from 1853 to 1858, and was sueeeeded in the latter year by Nathaniel Havens, Jr., who held the position until 1860, when he was sue- eeeded by Colonel Herman Strong, who continued to receive the appointment annually until his death, which oeeurred in April, 1876. From the commendatory reports of the inspeetors and committees appointed to visit the poor-house and report thereon, we gather that Colonel Strong was peculiarly fitted for the delieate and arduous task of caring for the unfortunate elass committed to his charge, in which he was ably seeonded by his estimable wife and daughter. Colonel Strong was sueeeeded by A. W. Wheelock, who continues the same general system of management inaugu- rated by his immediate predecessor, with gratifying and commendable results.

Beside the eare given to the poor in the county institu- tion, a greater amount of relief is afforded in the towns outside, in the support, or partial relief, of the town poor, the distinction between county and town charges being now maintained. The following statement exhibits the amounts paid for the support and relief of the poor sinee the year 1860 to 1876, both years inelusive, in and out of the poor- house :

In Poor-House.

Poor-House.

Total.

1860

$5,764

$14,264

$20,028

1861

7,960

16,957

24,917

1862

7,623

18,556

26,179

1863

8,106

27,184

35,290

1864.

9,248

46,731

55,979

1865

11,609

58,006

69,615

1866

13,632

42,049

55,681

1867

13,857

34,633

48,490

1868

14,175

38,133

52,308

1869

14,421

36,440

50,861

1870

13,702

36,408

50,110

1871

12.335

40,400

52.735

1872

12,989

36,367

49,356

1873

12,538

29,380

41,918

1874

10,773

15,931

26,704

1875

12,892

23,141

36.033

1876#

12,127

19,093

31,220

$193,751

$533,673

$727,424

In 1876 there were 986 persons relieved in the towns, at a eost of $21,315.21, as follows :

No. of Persons.

Cost of Relief.

Adams

$1,502.74

Alexandria

1,186.15

Antwerp ..

508.72

Brownville

1,528.61

Cape Vincent.

116

1,026.58

Champion

862.70

Clayton

1,397.85

llounsfield

564.37

Le Ray

652.86

Lorraine.

661.74

Lyme ..

765.21

Orleans

£1

1,013.58

Pamelia.

None.

Philadelphia

575.83

Rodman

39,20

Rutland

88.50

Theresa.

423.00

City of Watertown

110

4,111.68

Wilna

132

2,586.81

Worth

811.36

986

$21,315.21

Ellisburg

744.46

llenderson

263.26

* Appropriations in tax levy for 1876.

* Hough.

Outside

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The report of the superintendent of the poor-house for the year ending November 1, 1876, makes the following exhibit : The sum expended for the year for the support of the institution was $11,764.87, for which 3247 weeks of board were furnished in the lunatic asylum, and 4323 weeks in the poor-house, averaging $1.55,3% per week. On No- vember 1, 1875, there were 60 persons in the asylum, 15 males and 45 females. There were received during the year 11 males and 9 females, and 6 males and S females were discharged, 4 males and 2 females died, and 1 male and 3 females escaped, 56 persons remaining in the asylum on November, 1876. In the poor-house on November 1, 1875, there were 48 males and 49 females ; 53 males and 27 females were received, and one of each sex was born ; total, 179. Discharged during the year, 46 males, 42 fe- males -- 88 ; died, males 3, females 2-5 ; sent to Orphans' Home, 1; bound out, 1; total 95. Inmates November 1, 1876, 52 males, 32 females, making 140 in both depart- ments.

Advantage is sometimes taken of the generous provision made for the temporary relief of the worthy poor, and therefore a system was adopted by which the orders granted by the overseers of the poor express upon their face the kind and quality of goods the county or town authorities will pay for. This was necessary, as will be seen by a reso- lution introduced at the annual meeting of the board of supervisors in 1868, by Mr. Dimick, and adopted, explain- ing the fact of the reduction of bills for pauper relief, though contracted on regular orders. The resolution cited the following speeimen bills presented to the committee for audit : One was itemized thus : "1 coat, $11; 1 pair shoes, $3.13 ; 1 pair gloves, 56; 1 box collars, 25 ; 2 linen bosoms, $1.08 ; total, $16.02." Another bill of six months ran thus : " Whisky, opium, and camphor, $21.29 ; crack- ers, herring, and loaf-sugar, $5.50 ; total, $26.79."

There was no meat, meal, or flour in the account. The resolution then proceeded : "Therefore resolved, that in future, although articles may have been ordered by the proper authority, yet some discrimination and judgment is required of those who furnish goods for the county poor ; and however large the ratio of whisky may be to crackers in our own private grocery bills, we cannot allow so large a proportion of rum and opium in any poor-bill against the county without some good reason for the same accompany- ing the bill. And although an officer might very properly issue an order of $10 on a shoe-store for the benefit of a large and destitute family, yet should the owner of that family take it into his head to cover his heels with a pair of $10 boots, and the merchant on that order should fur- nish a pair actually worth the amount, nevertheless it is the opinion of this board that collecting such accounts against the county would be the pursuit of money under diffi- culties."

The superintendents of the poor-house have been as follows : Orville Hungerford, 1825 to 1834; Wm. I. Ely, 1825 to 1832; Peter Yandes, 1825 to 1829 ; John Hoover, 1825 to 1829 ; Asher Wilmot, 1825 to 1829; Dyer Hunt- ington, 1830-31 ; Jotham Bigelow, 1830-31 ; John Stu- art, 1830-32 ; Eben'r Wood, 1831 ; Ambrose Blunt, 1832 -37; Silas Marvin, 1832; Norris M. Woodruff, 1833-37 ;

Stephen D. Sloan, 1833-37; Jonathan Howland, 1833-37 ; Ralph Rodgers, 1835-37 ; Eli Farwell, 1838 ; Daniel Lee, 1838; Wm. McCullock, 1838; Stephen Johnson, 1838 ; John W. Breed, 1838 ; Samuel Call, 1839 ; Jason Clark, 1839; Hiram Converse, 1839; Arba Strong, 1839 and 1842-44; Joseph Kimball, 1840-41; Asher N. Corss, 1840 -41; John Thurman, 1840-41; Wm. McNiel, 1840-41 ; Willard Shurtliff, 1840-43; Edw. S. Salisbury, 1842-43 ; David D. Otis, 1842-44; Peter S. Howk, 1842-44; Joel Hayworth, 1844-45; Eben'r Brown, 1844; Jabez Hunting, 1845-47; Stephen Bowen, 1845 and 1847 ; Wm. Wood, 1846 ; George W. Cornwell, 1846 ; Chas. Sexton, Jr., 1847 ; Charles F. Symonds, 1848; Phineas Harvey, 1848; David Montague, 1848 ; Peter S. Howk, 1849-51; Hutch- ins, 1849-51; Alpheus Parker, 1852-58; Nathaniel Havens, 1858-59 ; Herman Strong, 1860-76; A. W. Wheelock, 1876, and present incumbent.

Another evidence of the humanity that finds lodgment in the breasts of the people of Jefferson County is the

JEFFERSON COUNTY ORPHANS' ASYLUM,

located in the city of Watertown, of which an estimable lady, the wife of one of the worthiest of Watertown's citizens, thus writes :

" The Watertown Asylum for orphan and destitute chil- dren was opened March 1, 1859, and without a day's prep- aration, that a home might be made for the reception of two orphans, whose mother had been accidentally killed the night previous. Miss Frazier, from the highlands of Scot- land, a woman of devoted piety, manifested in gathering the little waifs of our community into a Sunday-school, and most persistently caring for them, had been asked if an exigency like to this should occur, would she at once take charge of a 'Home' as matron ? Without hesita- tion she assented. A small tenement-house in the suburbs of the town was rented, needful furniture from several homes sent in, wood supplied, a fire kindled, which has burned brightly now these eighteen years, and the ' Water- town Home' was fairly begun. Many years before this a charter for a similar institution had been granted by the legislature, but the business men of the town advised post- ponement of proceedings under the sanie from year to year, as ' this year was financially hard ;' that many whose hearts were in sympathy with the projeet could not now co-op- erate in it, but that ' the next year would be more favor- able;' so expired the charter. An impromptu effort sug- gested itself, was tried, and succeeded. From this begin- ning came the 'Jefferson County Orphan Asylum ;' the name being changed when the board of supervisors of the county resolved to send to it as boarders the pauper chil- dren of the county in 1863. From the commencement of the ' Home' the number of children multiplied so rapidly that several removals of location were necessary, and then was agitated the feasibility of a permanent home. Already the benefit from the institution had excceded expectation. Two years found thirty children crowded into the small home, while quite a number had homes found for them else- where. Now there was an imperative necessity for an ap- peal to the benevolent. It was made, aud five thousand dollars resulted therefrom, and which exhausted our liber-

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ality for a short time only. One year passed, and then a peti- tion sent to Albany gave us, through the legislature, another five thousand, which cnabled us to build the large, conve- nient three-story brick building, with a plentiful supply of good water, well ventilated, warmed, and drained, built in the midst of a grove, and which is now emphatically an ' Orphan's Home.' .It was finished, furnished, and occu- pied April 20, 1864. Fifty children came in from the old home. The institution had no endowment, and had been sustained these five years by personal effort. Each month, as it came, all bills were paid. The sole management, dis- ciplinary, educational, and moral, with disbursements of funds, devolved upon a board of directresses, the president and trustees being advisory and fiscal managers. The Di- vine blessing has been given them, making their intercourse a joy and refreshment instead of laborious duty,-not a dis- cord marring the harmony of eighteen years' association. More than five hundred children have gone out into other homes from this institution, and more than half of this number into homes by adoption. Sixty-six children were received into the asylum in 1875-76 (the year ending October 1), and fifty-one in 1876-77."

Appropriations have been received from the State from time to time in years past, which, being judiciously invested, yields an income which, added to the receipts from the county charges, and some others who are able to pay a por- tion of the expense of their board, suffices to pay the run- ning expenses of the institution. A school is taught in the asylum throughout the year. It affords, too, a home for the children of working women at a small expense, when they can pay at all, and gratuitously when they can- not. It is also a temporary refuge for mothers and their children, while the former are seeking employment,-nine mothers having been so accommodated the past year. The committees of the board of supervisors appointed from year to year to visit and inspect the asylum speak invaria- bly, in their reports, in terms of high counnendation of the humanity and watchful care displayed in the management of the institution. The amount paid by the county for the board of the county and town charges at the asylum for the year ending November 1, 1876, was $2187.60, and for the year preceding $1809.05.

The present officers of the asylum are as follows : Presi- dent, Willard Ives ; Secretary, Judge R. Lansing; Treas- urer, S. B. Upham; Superintendent and Overseer, Geo. R. Torrey.

CHAPTER VII.

STATISTICAL.

Population by Towns from 1800 to 1875-Politics-Popular Votes- Valuations and Taxation-Equalizations-State Loan-United States Deposit-Industry and Wealth, 1810 to 1870-Agricultural Society of Jefferson County-Farmers' Club-Dairymen's Board of Trade.

POPULATION.

THE population of Jefferson County, by towns, at differ- ent periods from 1800 to 1875, being the exhibit of the

Federal and State census of the years specified, has been as follows :

1800.

1810.

1814.

1820.

1825.

1830.

1835.

1840.

Adams ..

1,386

1,693

2,467

2,415

2,995

2,970

2,966

Alexandria ...

Antwerp

303

1,319

2,257

2.411

2,614

3,109

Brownville

6,660

1.937

3.990

2,580

2,028

2.890

3,968

Champion

1,481

1,691

2,080

2,028

2,342

2,490

2,206

Clayton

1,715

2,325

3,531

4,733

5,292

5,029

5,349

Henderson.

1,138

1.402

1,919

2,074

2.428

2.270

2,480

Hounsfield

943

1,386

3,429

2,769

3,415

3.558

4.146

Le Ray

1,149

1,121

2,944

2,556

3.419

3,668

3,721

Lorraine

812

810

1,112

1,400

2,565

2.873

2.816

5,472

Pamelia

Philadelphia,

826

1.167

1,616

1,888

Rodman

1,277

1,484

1,735

1,719

1,901

1,098

1,702

Rutland

1.738

1,694

1,946

2,102

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 22

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 862

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862