History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 51

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 51

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Ithamar B. Crawe was born in Enfield, Connecticut, June 11, 1792. His father, David Crawe, was a direct descendant of the Plymouth Rock Pilgrims, and a captain in the War of the Revolution. The mother's maiden name was Sally Bingham. There were six children : Sally, Da- vid, Justus, Ithamar Bingham, Isaac Morris, and Lucretia. In 1802 the family removed to Madison county, New York. From his youth Dr. Crawe evinced a passion for the collec- tion and study of plants, and having failed in health in 1811, he devoted some years to his favorite pursuit.

In 1817 he made two successive fishing-voyages to New- foundland, from which he returned with restored health. The next year he commenced the study of his profession with Dr. Hastings, of Clinton, Oneida county. In 1821- 22 he attended lectures at the New York University, and in April, 1822, he was licensed to practice medicine, receiv- ing his diploma from the celebrated Dr. Mott. In the same year he engaged in the practice of his profession in Water-

town. About the year 1836 he was employed in the super- intendence of certain mining operations in Lubee, Nova Scotia. Afterwards he resided several years in Pontiac, Michigan, when he again settled in Watertown in the suc- cessful practice of his profession, not relinquishing, how- ever, his researches in botany and mineralogy.

A short time previous to his decease, Professor Gray, of Cambridge college, communicated to Dr. Crawe that he would like to obtain from him some specimens of botany that were to be found on the borders of Perch lake, in this county. Having occasion to visit a patient near the locality, and after attending to his professional duties, Dr. Crawe procured a boat and two men to assist him. They pro- ceeded to the marshes bordering the lake, and the doctor filled his specimen-book with a selection of rare plants and flowers, congratulating himself, no doubt, on being able to comply with the request, and thus to gratify the cultivated taste of his distinguished friend, the Cambridge professor. About 6 p.M. they started on their return across the lake, and when within about twenty rods of the shore for which they were making the boat filled and capsized. The two men reached the land,-one by clinging to the boat, and the other by swimming; but the doctor, though an excellent swimmer, bearing himself bravely up till quite near the shore, finally went down beyond a rescue. Thus suddenly and sadly the light of a valuable life went out. His body was recovered the next day, and taken to a home made des- olate by the crushing affliction. The sympathies of a sor- rowing community were deeply moved. His funeral was very largely attended, under the direction of the Masonic fraternity, of which he was an estimable and valued member.

196

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Many nien eminent in scicnec, who were fond of study- ing Natural History by reading nature herself from the glowing pages written by her own creating hand, frequently visited Dr. Crawe. The most proficient of them could learn, not only from his conversation and extensive fund of information, but from his comprehensive and admirably- selected cabinets, especially of botany and mineralogy. Professor Gray was among the number, and it was natural that he should solicit one whom he knew to be an adept to make the search which induced Dr. Crawe to go on this fatal errand.

In 1846 the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon Dr. Crawe by the regents of the University, on the recommendation of the State Medical Society. This honor is awarded to no physician who is not distinguished for erudition and skill in his profession. Only fifty-three physicians in the State received that degree from 1827 to, and including, 1846, and the instances are correspondingly rare since the latter date to the present time. We copy briefly from private letters, received by Mrs. Crawe in her severe bereavement. Hon. Isaac H. Bronson, afterwards deceased, who cultivated a life-long intimacy with Dr. Crawe, and who understood his professional worth and social qual- ities, thus writes from St. Augustine, under date of June 23,1847 :

" Truthfulness, the most unbending integrity, and purity of soul as well as firmness of purpose, were his in the highest degrec, and these, combined with the most ardent attachment to those who were his sincere friends, made his friendship truly valuable." At the time of writing, Mr. Bronson was a judge of the United States courts, residing in Florida. His own genial heart prompted him to recog- nize the exalted character of his early friend.

Major J. Curtis Pattridge, at that time engaged in the Mexican war, writes from Montercy, July 20, 1847 : " The doctor was not a common inan. I can bear willing testimony to his many excellent traits of character, his uncommon fund of intelligence, his excellent heart, his amiable dispo- sition. There was no one among my circle of friends who had fewer enemies."

Professor Dewey, who was intimately associated with Dr. Crawe in scientific research, writes from the impulses of a heart deeply moved by a sense of his own loss, as well as that of her to whom he writes. In a letter dated Rochester, June 10, 1847, he says : " But I come to speak of my own sorrows in this sore affliction. I had just written him. I was hoping again to hear from him, again to mingle our thoughts of interest on the common subjects of our pursuits, and then, he has fallen in his ardor of mind on these pur- suits."

We copy a few lines from an extended obituary of Dr. Crawe which appeared in the American Journal of Science, edited by Prof. Silliman, of Yale, September, 1847 : " He fell a sacrifiee to his ardor in the pursuits of natural history. In the study of geology, mineralogy, and botany he had long been successfully engaged, and had accumulated a riclı treasure of specimens in these departments, while he made himself, by his own discoveries and exchanges, the friend of many of the naturalists of our country and of Europe."

The Masonic lodge in the city of which Dr. Crawe was

a member, and several other subordinate lodges, including St. John's Lodge, of New York city, and also the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State, passed resolutions highly and deservedly eulogistic of his character as a man and a Mason ; and the State Medical Society, as well as many other associated organizations of physicians and surgeons, rendered prompt public tribute to the unquestioned merit of their professional brother.

Dr. Crawe married Charlotte Frances, daughter of John and Sarah Mortimer, April 15, 1830. Three children were born to them: John Mortimer, May 23, 1831; Francis Bingham, August 7, 1834 ; and Charlotte Frances, March 14, 1837. Francis Bingham was drowned at sea, Novem- ber 16, 1854. J. Mortimer Crawe, the only surviving son, is a well-known and highly-esteemed physician and surgeon of this city, widely recognized and respected in social life, and conspicuous for skill and success in his profession ; a worthy successor of an honored father. The daughter is the wife of Oscar Paddock, the well-known banker, also of this city. The widow is still living, residing with her sou, the doctor, at the old homestead.

THE FAIRBANKS FAMILY.

The first of this numerous family who settled in America came from England with Governor Winthrop, about 1630, and settled in Massachusetts Bay. They were named Jona- than and Richard (probably relatives), both from Yorkshire. Richard was afterwards postmaster at Boston. Jonathan sct- tled at Dedham, and built the family mansion, shown in the aceompanying engraving, in 1636, sixteen years after the settlement of Plymouth, the first in New England. This remarkable dwelling has been kept in the family for two hundred and forty-one years, and is undoubtedly the oldest dwelling in the United States proper. Although in age it is not to be compared to the ancient ruins of Europe, yet relatively to the history of the Caucasian race on this conti- nent it has a mnost remarkable antiquity, and is an object of special interest, not only to the descendants of those who first lived beneath its humble roof, but to thousands of neighbors and the people of the old "Bay State" gener- ally. The old " Tower musket," about seven feet long, brought over in 1630, and several sets of antique china- ware, are still preserved in the old mansion. The building is a frame, and is in a good state of preservation, being oc- cupied by a maiden lady (aged 83 years) of the Fairbanks family as a dwelling.

Jonathan Fairbanks had six children,-four sons and two daughters. From this family have descended the Fair- banks' of Watertown. The father and grandfather of Jason Fairbanks were both nanicd Samuel. The first served in the " old French war" of 1756-60, and the sec- ond in the American army during the Revolution, and was also out during the celebrated "Shay Rebellion," in 1786.

JASON FAIRBANKS was a son of Captain Samuel Fair- banks, of Mendon, Massachusetts, and was born on the 9th day of September, 1785 At the age of thirteen he went

197

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

to Boston, and hired himself a year to the proprietors of a public-house, whose firm-name was Forbes & King. There was another young man who had been there before him, and who was better versed in the mysteries and secrets of fash- ionable hotel-keeping. After the house was shut up at night, in outside appearance, there was a room away up in the attic, which was opened to the initiated, for purposes of gambling with cards and other devices ; and these boys took turns in waiting on the occupants, furnishing them with drink, cigars, and other refreshments from the lower part of the house, and were paid a dollar a night for their services, besides pretty liberal cash compliments for extra labor. The scenes to which he was a witness in that gaming-room were so revolting to his unsophisticated mind as forever to sub- due any tendencies to the vice of gaming afterwards. At the end of the year-his father having removed with his family to the town of Thompson, in Connecticut-he ap- prenticed himself to Mr. James Bragg, a saddler and har- ness-maker of that town. He was at that time of slight stature, and weighed not more than 75 or 80 pounds.

In 1802 he removed with Mr. Bragg to Newport, in Herkimer county, N. Y., where he remained until 1807. His apprenticeship was to elose in the fall, and Mr. Bragg sent him to the western portion of this State, known as "the Genesee Country," to make some collections for him, and at the same time give him an opportunity of judging from personal inspection and observation the relative and pros- pective advantages offered to young men without capital, as compared with the northern counties, Jefferson, St. Law- rence, Lewis, etc. There was a great deal of fever-and-ague sickness in many portions of the then west ; and he decided not to stick his stake until he had visited Ogdensburgh and Watertown, the leading villages and municipal centres of St. Lawrence and Jefferson. After his time was out with Mr. Bragg, in December, 1807, he went to Fairfield Acad- emy three months, which was about all that the schools ever did for him; the fund of useful knowledge which he has acquired, and his capacity to discharge the varied duties of publie as well as private life, arc the result of a habit of reading and reflection, and a faculty which he possessed of arriving at his conclusions by a short-hand method of his own, a kind of preseienee or intuition, by which he jumped at conclusions, as it appeared to others, though it was really a method that was as reliable for business purposes as the lower one of other people, in eiphering out all the various steps to the same result.

After returning from the " Genesee Country" he visited Ogdensburgh, and opened negotiations with Judge Ford, who seemed very anxious to secure him as a mechanic as well as citizen, assuring him that he would furnish him with all the facilities for opening shop to advantage. He almost decided on making a purchase of a village lot from Ford, for the purpose of building a shop; in which ar- rangement Ford offered to furnish materials on credit. But the negotiations were broken off in consequence of Mr. Ford insisting on a condition that he should build expensively within a very brief period. He then came to Watertown, and after looking about a day or two, without let or hin- drance from anybody, he went to Sacket's Harbor, visiting Brownville on his way back. General Brown tried very

hard to appropriate him, and made him some liberal offers of patronage and encouragement if he would stick his stake at that thriving village, which at that time was a powerful rival, disputing the pahn with Watertown, notwithstanding the latter was the county-seat. He, however, could not be misled by the sophistry of interested persons, but readily came to the conclusion that, other things being equal, the faet of being the county-seat gave Watertown an advantage that no human ingenuity, neither the prestige of wealth nor family, could overcome or counterbalance.

It was true that Brownville was connected with the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario by locks around Fish Island (now Dexter) falls, and was the shipping port for the im- mense amount of potash that was being manufactured in the county, giving employment to a good many men and a very large cash capital. I have omitted to say that after his brief period was out at the Academy he spent some four or five months at Little Falls, working at his trade, at journeyman's wages, where he formed the acquaintance of Calvin McKnight, who was working at painting, and who had some three or four hundred dollars in cash, and with whom he kept up a correspondence, with a view to a future co-partnership in business as soon as he should loeate. Mr. McKnight was a good business man, and attended to the out-door minutiæ of shop life, while Fairbanks did the work of the shop. They went on together one year, and then dissolved, leaving MeKnight in the shop. He then con- ducted the business in another shop, which he fitted up for the purpose, from fall to spring, and then took into partner- ship a practical saddler and harness-maker by the name of John Smith, from Connecticut, with whom he continued on, in a shop on the site of the Safford block, for about two years. In the mean time, the firm of Fairbanks & Smith purchased a little tannery of one Oliver Taylor, on the State road (now State street), near the briek house known for many years as Baker Brown's, where they condueted a very brisk business in tanning and currying, under tlie faithful supervision of Orris Childs.

In 1811 he bought Smith out, and then purchased the five-cornered wooden building which a Mr. John Riehard- son had built on the site of the present " Flat-iron Block" on the Fairbanks' corner. In 1810 he added shoemaking to his other leather business, all of which he continued about forty-two years. In 1812 he was appointed Deputy U. S. Marshal under Peter Courtenius, Esq., which office he continued to hold under Marshals Livingston and Dar- row,-about twenty-eight years in all.

We now come to speak of the period of the War of 1812, during which Mr. Fairbanks began to manifest his capacity to manage successfully a large, varied, and sometimes com- plieated business, requiring talent of a high order, and energy that was as sleepless and untiring as it was active and laborious. His field of action was no longer confined to his legitimate leather business, but comprehended a vast series of operations, buying in one market to sell in another pork, beef. wheat, corn, butter, salt ; in fine, every kind of property which could be turned to advantage ; visiting for that purpose every portion of a range of country embraced in the northern and western counties of this State, as well as the Canada provinces ; sleeping not more than four or

198

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

five hours in the night, and riding all the balance of the long night, between distant places, so as to be on hand for the transaction of business in the daytime. An instance of his power of endurance occurred in 1812, when he was lieutenant in a cavalry company commanded by Calvin McKnight. There was a general muster of the cavalry regiment at Denmark, in Lewis county ; Fairbanks started off on horseback in season to reach the place of rendezvous at 9 A.M., the time appointed for the muster. The adju- tant being absent, he was " launched" for that duty, which is a very active and laborious one, and after being in the saddle all day he returned home to sleep, having been fully thirteen hours on horseback. It was in this way he ac- complished an amount of business, in his own proper person, which was almost incredible.

During the War of 1812 he was often required to ride for long-continued hours of the night, as well as day, in carrying messages to different corps in the U. S. service, and in rallying out the militia, as some threatened invasion made it necessary, to repel a vigilant foe .*

In 1821, February 12, Mr. Fairbanks was appointed sheriff of the county, and then was elected one term under the new constitution, which closed in 1825. It was during the first year of his appointment, in 1821, that he noticed in a Philadelphia paper that Pennsylvania had produced a grand jury whose average weight was 200 pounds. As he had the selection of such a jury at his discretion under the constitution, he availed himself of the opportunity which was afforded him of producing a grand jury in court whose aggregate weight was but 180 pounds short of three tons. The judge who presided gave him credit for having a jury of a good deal more than ordinary weight and proportions, physically, and he trusted mentally. At the noon recess he invited them all, together with the officers of the court, to dine with him, and then marched with them to the village hay-scales, where lie had them accurately weighed. He had a list of their names, with their individual weight and their particular residence, for future reference, but it has been mislaid or lost, as has also the record which was made by the court .;

He had about the right kind of tone and temper for an executive officer, and, without prejudice to others who have

* For an account of the " Whittlesey affair," see history of the city of Watertown.

t Names of the " Fat Jury."-Samuel Dyer (foreman), Curtis Man, George Crane, William Cole, Clark Saunders, Henry Myers, Caleb Tift, Miner Merrill, John Gotham, Solon Slate, Moses Cook, Daniel Sterling, Thomas Boues, Waldron M. Searlcs, Alijah Farwell, Thomas Loomis, Gilbert Miller, Johnson Bull, Asher Kilborn, Dennis Tuttle, Azariah Walton, George Andrews, Asa Smith, Jason Franeis, Samuel McNitt, Joshua Peavy.

It will be scen that this list, as copied from the original, contains 26 names, two more than a complement for a jury. Why Mr. Fair- banks should have summoned the two extra men was probably to show that there was more of the same sort left. Tradition coincides with Mr. Fairbanks' recollection that the average weight of the 24 was 2423 pounds ; that no man was competent to sit on that jury whose weight was under 200 pounds, while some of them exceeded 300 pounds. Take it all in all, it was such a jury as has never been equaled anywhere in point of bone, fat, and musele, and is seldom excelled in sound judgment and weight of character.

been incumbents of that office, it may be confidently as- serted that he was, in some important particulars, without a peer. It was at a period in the history of our country when moncy, as a circulating medium, was very scarce, and collections for debt depended so much upon the skill of the collecting officer that talent and capacity in judging of men's characters, and then adapting the appliances of the law to the infinite variety and shade of character, was indispensa- ble in the office of sheriff or constable. This kind of talent was one of Mr. Fairbanks' chicf characteristics. He seemed to read men as readily as men read books, and seemed to scan them through and through without effort, and to know just who to treat with lenity and forbearance and who to pounce upon with all the "terrors of the law." No man ever thought of hiding where his vigilance would not ferret him out, or of trying to escape from him after the first trial.

He held the office of county treasurer from 1828 to 1838 without interruption, and to the universal satisfaction of the people. In the course of his extensive mechanical operations he is supposed to have had nearly or quite 500 apprentices.

Here the narrative, as written by Solon Massey, ends. We need add but a paragraph to cover the six or eight years remaining of his stirring and romantic life.

The later years of Mr. Fairbanks' career have been in- dustriously given to the cultivation of his farm, dealing in wood, lumber, collecting his rents, and gathering together the loose ends of a once large and diversified business. Though very liberal, he was withal a great economist. He could not bear to see things thrown away, and he saved everything that might have a usc afterwards. His theory was that it was better to furnish the poor with employ- ment, and thus enable them to earn a living, than to give them needful things to be consumed in idleness. Hence in his shops and on his farm he gave employment to very many poor people, thereby enabling them to earn their own subsistence. He lived on, enjoying good health, the society of his family and his friends, and his newspaper,-for he was a great reader,-till a few days before his death, which occurred on Sunday morning, January 10, 1875,-lacking but little of being 90 years of age.

Mr. Fairbanks' wife was Mary Massey, a daughter of Hart Massey, long a prominent citizen of Jefferson County. The old lady is living on Arsenal street, in the city of Watertown, in her 82d year, and with her faculties in a most remarkable state of preservation. This couple were blessed with six children, two of whom died in infancy. At the present time Samuel, the eldest, is living in Jack- sonville, Florida ; George R., at Sewanee, Tennessee, where he is connected with the " University of the South ;" and Andrew J. and Jason M., at Watertown. George R. is quite a prolific writer, having published, among other works, a " History of St. Augustine and its Antiquities" and a " History of Florida." The family are connected with the Fairbanks' of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the famous scale-manufacturers, and one of whom has been governor of the State.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

198}

" FAIRBANKS HOUSE,"

DEDHAM, MIDDLESEX CO., MASS. ERECTED IN 1636.

THE OLDEST DWELLING IN THE UNITED STATES,-NOW OCCUPIED BY ONE OF THE FAIRBANKS FAMILY. [See description on page 196.]

GORDON P. SPENCER, M.D.

The subject of this sketch was born in Salisbury, Litch- field Co., Conn., April 29, 1789. He was the son of Eli- phaz Spencer, a lineal descendant of the fifth generation of William Spencer, who, with his two brothers, Thomas and Jared, were among the first settlers of Hartford, Conn. William was at Cambridge as carly as 1631, and at Hart- ford in 1639, being a Representative in 1634-35. He was of English birth. The father of Gordon P. Spencer was a farmer by occupation, possessing all that urbanity of manner and acumen that characterized the early settlers of the New England States. His mother was the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Hall, of East Haddam, Conn.,-a lady of worth, deriving from family position that influence which, joined with personal acquirements, gave weight to her character. He received private instruction in carly life under the supervision of Rev. Joseph Crossman and Ammi L. Robbins, the former of his native town, the latter of Norfolk. He entered Williams College in 1807, and graduated from that institution with honors. He then began the study of medicine with Dr. North, of Goshen, and concluded with the famous Dr. Lec, of New London, obtaining his diploma from the Medical Society of New London in 1812.

This being about the time of the breaking out of hostilities between Great Britain and the United States, he obtained a commission from the Secretary of War, General Arm- strong, to enter the army, and was ordered to report to the

colonel of the Eleventh Infantry Regiment. He remained at his post with the regiment from that time until the close of the war, and actively participated in the sanguinary campaign in Canada, in which Lundy's Lane and Chippeway figured so conspicuously, and under date of July 6, 1814, wrote to his parents as follows : " Yesterday was fought at Lundy's Lane a battle desperate and sanguinary as any re- corded in the annals of the old world. Although I have fully attested my skill in surgery with almost miraculous success, still, I find myself wanting in words to portray my feelings while witnessing the horrors of the scene. I dressed the wounds of two British officers, who during the whole time loaded me with imprecations, protesting that death was preferable to capture." .

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 51

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