USA > New York > Lewis County > History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 46
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His will, dated March 20, 1865, gave $10,000 to the academy as an endowment fund, the principal to remain intact. He also gave $10,000 in Arkansas State bonds,
now having a face value of $28,000 but not productive. They are held in the hope that the State will some day ful- fill its promises. Mr. Leonard also made the academy a residuary legatee of one- fifth of his estate, and under this clause the sum of $1,500 was realized. He was also a liberal benefactor of the Presby- terian church, of the Lowville Rural Cemetery, and of various religious and benevolent objects.
It should have been mentioned in its place, that Mr. Horatio N. Bush, of Harrisburgh, in his will, dated August 12, 1861, gave the sum of $5,000, the in- come of which was to be forever ap- plied for the benefit of the Lowville Academy. This sum has been regularly invested, and the interest applied to Academic improvements. His portrait is also placed in the academy chapel, as a memorial of one of its substantial ben- efactors.
Mrs. Hannah Bostwick, who had been made the principal legatee of the large estate of her husband, Isaac W. Bost- wick, by a will dated October 15, 1864, undertook to make the Lowville Acade- my the recipient of her principal estate. After granting certain bequests and an- nuities to relatives and friends, she gave the residue of her personal estate, val- ued at about $41,000 to Henry E. Turner, William Root Adams and John Doig, to invest and pay annually or semi-annually the proceeds to the Lowville Academy. Upon their death, she requested that successors might be appointed by the courts. She also gave a fine stone man- sion, and splendidly adorned grounds, directly to the trustees, but these grants were coupled with the condition that " the female students and scholars at- tending the Lowville Academy, may and shall be educated separate and apart from the male students and scholars at- tending said academy." The premises were to be occupied within one year
* See Senate Doc. No. 18, 1862.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
after the date of the deed of conveyance, and " the daughters of officers, soldiers, marines or seamen who have been killed or who died while in the service of the United States during the present war," and young ladies in indigent cir- cumstances, were to be taught free.
The premises thus conveyed were fitted up for school purposes, and as a dwelling for a principal. In the mean- time Mr. Adams resigned a second time, and the trustees on the 24th of July, 1866, engaged Mr. E. Barton Wood, from the Macedon Academy as their Principal. He had been graduated at Hamilton College, in advance, to en- ter the army, and had served as a line officer in the war. Under his direction the school declined-in fact, dwindled down to almost nothing.
The particular thing which, perhaps more than anything else made Mr. Wood unpopular in the county, was an address that he had the weakness to deliver, and the folly to publish,-in which he urged to efforts and intellectual greatness, and referred to labor as degrading. This was a poor doctrine to advance in a community depending upon labor for its support, and in which, notwithstand- ing, there had been found no hindrance to intellectual culture, and high literary refinement.
Mr. Wood finished his first year, and began on his second, but resigned Sep- tember 12, 1867, to take effect at the end of that term, but we believe did not re- main but left it to be finished by an assistant. He went to Michigan, where we understand, he has since been suc- cessful as a teacher. To secure this end he had only to drop some weak ideas of discipline, which he had acquired in the army-for there was no fault of charac- ter or ability, that should prevent him from becoming an accomplished teacher.
To fill this vacancy, a committee was appointed on the 18th of September,
1867,of which F. B. Hough was chairman, and in discharge of this trust, and in the midst of a correspondence which prom- ised to secure a person who had acquired great reputation as a teacher, he was surprised to learn that the Trustees,- after vesting in him the duty of procur- ing a new Principal, had, without con- sulting him, employed another. On the 19th of October, they hired one Charles W. Bowen, of Glen's Falls, who engaged to run both the Bostwick Seminary and the Academy, he residing with his fam- ily in the former.
His predecessor had possessed both character and ability, but Bowen was found to have neither. From time to time, the trustees received complaints of his misconduct from insulting his female assistants, and other scandalous acts, until on the 3ist of March, 1868, they notified him to quit at the end of that term.
But before that time came, a livery- stable keeper was employed one even- ing upon a service that appeared to him mysterious. He was to come to Mr. Bowen's residence at the Bostwick Sem- inary at midnight, to receive a load of goods in boxes, to be taken to Water- town ; and upon arriving there, he was to affix certain cards of direction that were furnished him, but that were un- der no circumstances to be seen till then. This had much the appearance of a man trying to run away ; at least the livery man so looked upon it, and from such men there are not many favors to expect hereafter. The cards were seen by Mr. D. C. West, and when a little after mid- night, a team was passing the stone church, towards Watertown, it was hailed by a constable, and the boxes were safely lodged in a warehouse. The next morning Bowen was a meek and penitent man. " He did not mean to run away. He was anxious to pay every cent he owed," and resented a proposi-
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tion to be let off upon half. " He would pay the whole, and would give his note, of which half should be paid soon, and the rest thereafter." His terms were ac- cepted, and strange to say, the money was sent back to pay the first half, a few days after. The remaining half, not having yet matured, remains unpaid.
Bowen went next to Alexander, Gen- esee county, where he engaged to teach the academy at that place. While living there, his wife was shot through the head, by a pistol in his hand, which " he said," he was trying to " fix." The good- natured civil authorities of Genesee county, looked upon the case as an "ac- cident." Had the accident happened in Lowville, we feel very confident that it would have been differently regarded.
Mrs. Bowen is remembered as a lady of cultured and refined manners, and in every way worthy of esteem. She had an interesting family of small chil- dren, who were left motherless by her death.
It is said that Bowen at his wife's funeral, arose and announced the day on which the next term of his academy would begin. He appeared to have re- garded the opportunity for advertise- ment too good to be lost.
Bowen's last term was finished by a female assistant, and on the 20th of June, 1868, a committee was again appointed to look up a new Principal. They were this time fortunate in securing a man of much talent and experience, and of ex- cellent reputation, which he fully sus- tained while he remained. This was Mr. A. Judson Barrett, of Kingsville, Ohio, who remained until he resigned at the end of the third year, to enter upon the Baptist ministry, and removed to Roch- ester. The Trustees passed resolutions of respect, for acceptable service, and he left to the sincere regret of all.
In July, 1871, the Trustees, chiefly upon the recommendation of Dr. S. B.
Woolworth, Sec. of the Board of Regents, engaged Joseph A. Prindle of Owego, but late of the State Normal School at Oswego, who remained one year. We feel justified in saying that the Trus- tees would not have consented, under any circumstances, to his remaining longer. He was notified August 9, 1872, to va- cate the academy within one week. He removed to Denmark, where he has since resided, engaged in teaching in the village, and preaching in the " Line" Baptist church.
In August, 1872, the Trustees engaged the Rev. Granville C. Waterman, a Free Will Baptist clergyman, who had resided for some time in the village, as . pastor of the Dayan Street church, and who remained two years. He removed to Dover, New Hampshire, and we understand has since removed West.
In the autumn of 1874, Mr. William Root Adams, assumed the office of principal for the third time, and has since remained in charge. His manage- ment has met the unqualified approval of the trustees, and of the community always; as the multitude of his patrons and pupils, of some of whom he has educated a second generation, will bear witness.
In following the line of succession of principals, we have passed over an inci- dent in the history of the Academy to which we will now recur: The trust con- veyance of Mrs. Bostwick to three per- sons, and their successors, was found defective in law, and the heirs of Mrs. B. commenced proceedings to recover the estate in trust. It went up to the Court of Appeals, and was argued December 6, 1870, and decided January 24, 1871, against the trustees; all the Judges con- curring except Allen, who having been employed by the trustees as their attor- ney, could not sit upon the trial.
This case is reported in 43 N. Y. Reports, (4 Hand.) 487, as the case of
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Perry vs. Adams, and establishes the fol- lowing principles :-
" A devise of land to trustees, direct- ing them to execute and deliver to a corporation a deed of conveyance there- of, for the uses and purposes and with the restrictions set forth in the will, cre- ates no valid trust in such trustees, and gives them no valid title, but vests im- mediately and absolutely in such corpo- ration the land' devised.
" A devise of real and personal estate to trustees, to sell the land and invest the avails, together with the personal in specified securities, and pay to a certain educational corporation, annually, the income to be devoted by such corpora- tion to certain specified purposes, creates an active trust, and the title to the fund does not pass to the corporation.
" An academy incorporated for the promotion of literature, and authorized to educate males and females, may es- tablish separate departments for each, and under the general acts of 1840 and 1841, take and hold real estate in trust, to be used for the benefit of either de- partment.
"Nor is a devise to the academy for such purpose void, because it provides that the tuition of the daughters of de- ceased officers etc., who attended the academy shall be free. This does not constitute a trust in favor of such offi- cer's daughters, nor render them the beneficiaries, but if they attend, they re- ceive their tuition free, and if they do not, the academy still takes the property for its own use.
" A trust created by will for the pur- pose of enforcing a forfeiture of lands devised, in case of non-compliance with a condition subsequent, is not authorized by the Revised Statutes, and is void. It is the right of the heirs of the testator to claim the benefit of such forfeiture.
" A bequest to trustees of personal es- tate to invest and re-invest, and pay over the income to an incorporate academy forever, is void under the statutes of perpetuities. Williams vs. Williams, (4 Seld. 524,) so far as it holds the contrary, overruled. The only power in charita- ble and educational corporations to hold property in perpetuity in trust, is by virtue of their charters, and the acts of 1840 and 1841.
"When the invalidity of a gift to a particular purpose, or trust renders sub- sequently ineffective the other provis- ions of the will in reference to the same purpose, the latter must fall with the former, but whenever the purpose of the testator can be carried into effect as to a valid proposition, the invalidity of oth- ers will not affect it."
The Bostwick Seminary having prov- ed a burden without benefit, the trus- tees on the 13th of May, 1873, resolved to sell the Bostwick mansion, and con- solidate the whole under one establish- ment. An auction was held June 10, 1873, and the property was sold for $7,085, it being scarcely a third of what it was valued at some years before, and not more than enough to pay the ex- penses that had been incurred on this account.
In a historical sketch of the Lowville Academy prepared chiefly by the author of this volume, at the invitation of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, in 1876, in the promotion of a plan for the collection of the history of the higher educational institutions of the country for the centennial year, then in our charge, the experience of this academy was offered in proof of a principle in education to this effect :-
" That in academic education, the in- struction of both sexes in the same class- rooms, while it tends to mutual refinement in manners, and cmulation in studies, is both in theory and practice, altogether pref- erable to separate organizations."
Upon the completion of the first half- century of the academy, the occasion was celebrated in an impressive manner. A multitude of former students, some of them then aged, and many more heads of families, and in the full maturity and strength of life, assembled, and the pro- ceedings were published in a memorial volume. It should be borne in mind that in 1883, three-quarters of a century will have been counted off on the dial of time, and it is worth considering as to
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whether it does not deserve an honora- ble notice.
The trustees many years since, insti- tuted a graduating course, which with some, is the end of their school days, while with others, it is the end of aca- demic studies, preparatory to entrance into college. These graduating exer- cises have grown into occasions of in- terest, tending to maintain the standing of the Academy, as a middle-school for those seeking a full classical education, as it has always been a school of higher instruction for the greater number.
An Alumni Association of the Low. ville Academy was organized many years since, and holds an annual session in connection with the exercises of the closing academic year.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF SEVERAL OF THE PRINCIPALS OF LOWVILLE ACADEMY.
The Rev. Isaac Clinton was born at West Milford, near Bridgeport, Connec- ticut, January 21, 1759. He was a cousin of DeWitt Clinton. He graduated at Yale college in 1786, and was distin- guished in his class for his acquirements in mathematics and the languages. Whilst a student in college, upon an emergency, he volunteered, with other students, as a private in the Connecti- cut militia, and was engaged in one or more battles.
He studied theology with Rev. Joseph Bellamy of Bethlehem, Connecticut. On the 30th of January, 1788, he was or- dained as pastor of a Presbyterian church, at Southwick, Massachusetts, as a successor of the Rev. Abel Forward, the first pastor. He married Charity Wells at New Stratford, (now Hunting- don,) Connecticut, March 12, 1787. They had six children, of whom five (Isaac, David W., Caroline, Sophia and George), died at Southwick the same week, (Au-
gust 25-30, 1803) from an epidemic, and three were dead in the house at the same time.
Upon the occasion of the death of his children, Mr. Clinton wrote the follow- ing lines :-
Eternal God, whose throne is high One gracious smile wilt thou afford, When death, and deep despair draw nigh, From dust, will rise to seek the Lord.
Thy will is sovereign, Dreadful God Thy ways, though dark, are just and kind, We bow, and own thy chastening rod ; Will not complain, but be resigned.
Long we enjoyed thy mercies, Lord, Sweet blooming health, and cheerful peace. Thy goodness often we adored, And smiled to see our joys increase.
But oh ! our God has changed the scene, To death an awful warrant gave : Five of our number, now unseen, Lie cold, in an untimely grave.
We call to mind, in thickest gloom Five dismal days of grief and woe When death, grim death, through every room Sought, where to aim the fatal blow.
Ah ! lovely youth, sweet babes; how soon You fell beneath the tyrant's power ; And must the parents' hopes ere soon Be blasted in one fatal hour?
Great God, how dark are thy decrees ! And must we sick, dispair and die ? Oh ! from our pains grant us release And raise our faith and hope on high.
Will learn submission to Thy will, Be quiet as a weaned child
ยท Receive correction and be still And to thee, all our interest yield.
Oh ! blessed Saviour who didst bear, A load of guilt, for dying worm, When clouds grow dark, do thou come near Least we should perish in the storm.
If Thou art near when troubles come, Then shall our souls abide in peace, If children die, thou call them home We grieve, but love Thee more than these.
Let all our sorrows work for good ; Let trials make our souls more bright, The're but Thy discipline bestowed To fit us for the world of light.
The only remaining child was Maria, who married Ela Collins at Lowville.
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Two sons, subsequently born, died at Lowville. He wrote and published, while at Southwick, a work on Infant Baptism, of which a second edition was issued. He preached at Southwick twenty years, but domestic affliction led to his asking for a dismissal, which was granted December 2, 1807, when he re- moved to Lowville, New York. In 1808, he built the house on the beautiful ele- vation immediately west of the Presby- terian church, where he resided until his death. In 1808, he was installed min- ister of the Presbyterian church at Low- ville, and continued for ten years. In 1808, he was employed as principal of the Lowville Academy, and was so en- gaged nine years, (with one year inter- val), when he was succeeded by S. W. Taylor. He was President of the Board of Academy Trustees for many years, and until his death. When in his eight- ieth year he completed and published a book entitled Household Baptism. It was a work of merit in its day, and es- teemed as a learned argument by those qualified to judge of its value. An earlier edition of this work had been printed at Springfield, Mass.
He owned and cultivated about two hundred acres of land at Lowville, and he was especially devoted to the culti- vation of apples and other fruit. Lewis county is much indebted to him for the introduction and distribution of many of its best varieties of apples. He was a handsome man, and dressed through his life in the colonial style of his youth, viz: a low-crowned, broad-brimmed bea- ver hat, black broadcloth coat, with wide and long skirts, velvet breeches and sil- ver knee buckles, high top boots, or shoes and silk stockings.
Mr. Clinton had marked certain pas- sages in the Bible, (Psalms xxi : 5, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24,) which he requested might be read often in his hearing, in the hour of death. He was stricken with
apoplexy on the 29th of January, 1840, but survived until the 18th of March. His wife, Charity, died May 3, 1840, aged 77 years.
Stephen W. Taylor, son of Timothy Taylor, was born in Otsego county, New York, in 1789, and in boyhood evinced a strong passion for learning, and a fondness for natural and mental philosophy and mathematics. He grad- uated at Hamilton College in 1817, and there became acquainted with John W. Martin, of Martinsburgh, through whose influence he was led to apply for the place of Principal of the Lowville Acad- emy. He remained in this office till his resignation in 1830. He continued until some time after the completion of the building on the polygonal plan which we have already noticed, but its failure, and the ridicule that it occasioned was no doubt a principal reason for resign- ing. He had several young men in his family, whom he had undertaken to edu- cate, and he continued to teach a family school in the village a short time and about a year and a half at the Lanpher place, on the West road, at or near what was formerly West Lowville post- office. He was then employed as pre- ceptor of the grammar school, and after- wards professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Hamilton Acade- my in Madison county. He was one of the founders and first President of the Lewisburgh University, Pennsylvania. He returned to Hamilton in 1850, ac- cepted the office of President and Bleeck- er Professor of Natural and Moral Phi- losophy in Madison University, and con- tinued in this office till his death, Janu- ary 7, 1856, aged 67 years. His father removed to this town after himself, and died December 8, 1857, aged 90 years.
Messrs. Barney and Fay, who were associate principals from 1831 to 1834, were classmates in Yale College, in the class of 1831.
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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
Cyrus M. Fay, was a native of what is now Fulton county, and had resided in Galway, Saratoga county. He went from Lowville to Buffalo, where he hired the premises of the Literary and Col- legiate Institute, and taught sixteen years. He was quite successful in con- ducting this as a private boarding school, until 1848, when the fame of California, as a Land of Gold, awakened a spirit of adventure, which deprived the country of thousands of its best citizens. He joined an overland party across the con- tinent, and encountered unusual suffer- ing. Half of the number died of chol- era before the remainder arrived on the Pacific coast.
After a few months residence there, he set out to return, taking a new, and as yet not well provided route. He was detained by the unforeseen failure of a vessel that was to have sailed for the Atlantic States, and sickening in a trop- ical climate, he found a stranger's grave. He sickened at Grenada, and died at San Juan, Nicaragua, December 12, 1850, in the 50th year of his age. He married a sister of Mrs. Joseph A. Wil- lard, of Lowville.
Eliam E. Barney, was a native of Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, and related, if we are not mistaken, to the families of that name in Henderson, and to Collect- or Hiram Barney, of New York City. He prepared for college at this acade- my and at Ellisburgh. From Lowville he removed to Dayton, Ohio, where he taught an academy six years, but his health requiring a change of occupation he went into business. He was after- wards for six years principal of the Cooper Female Academy, but again leaving the profession, he became a partner in the firm of Barney, Parker & Co., and finally of Barney & Smith. This firm was largely engaged in car- building and employed a thousand men or more in the business, which was con-
ducted with much success. His wife was Miss Julia Smith, of Galway, who was educated at that place, and at Balls- ton High School. She taught two years at Lowville and afterwards at Dayton.
Mr. Barney late in life, became inter- ested in making known the advantages offered by the Western Catalpa tree (Catalpa speciosa,) for cultivation, and dis- tributed large editions of pamphlets which he wrote upon the subject. This was done gratuitously, and not to pro- mote the interest of any particular nurs- ery operation. He died at Dayton about 1880 or 1881.
Henry Maltby was from Richland, Oswego county, and was appointed prin- cipal August 14, 1835. He remained about a year. In 1858, he was teaching in Kentucky, but we are not informed of his history after leaving Lowville.
Henry Bannister was born in Conway, Mass., in 1812, and graduated at the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn., in 1836. He was brought to the acquaintance of the trustees of the Low- ville Academy by Willard M. Rice. After teaching a year at Lowville Acad- emy, he went to Auburn Seminary. He was two years principal of the Fairfield Academy, and from thence he went to Cazenovia Seminary, where he was pro- fessor and principal about eighteen years. In July, 1856, he left that place, and for many years he has been a professor in the Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evans- ton, Illinois, where he now resides. While he was principal of the Lowville Academy, Miss Lucy Kimball, daughter of the Rev. Reuel Kimball, of Leyden, was preceptress of the ladies' depart- ment. They were married not long after.
Erastus Wentworth was a native of Norwich, Conn., and graduated at the Wesleyan University in 1837. He went from Lowville to Gouverneur, and in four years after went to the Troy Con-
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ference Seminary, at West Poultney, Ver- mont, as a Professor of Natural Sciences. About the year 1845, he was appointed President of the McKendree College, at Lebanon, Illinois. In 1849, he became a Professor of Natural Sciences at Dickin- son College, Carlisle, Pa. It will be seen from these appointments, that like his predecessor, he was a Methodist, and at this point he left the teacher's profession to enter upon missionary and pastoral labors. In 1854, he was sent by the Methodist Episcopal Board of Missions to Fau Chou, in China. He returned after a few years, and preached on vari- ous stations in the Troy Conference, but we are not informed as to whether he is still living.
Harrison Miller was a native of Cham- pion, and taught for some years at Carthage. He went from Lowville to Watertown, where he became master of the primary school in connection with what was then called the "Black River Literary and Religious Institute." He was not a man of classical education, nor was he very well adapted to the duties of a teacher. He left the profession after this fact had become apparent to him- self, as it had long been to others, and engaged in other business,-if we mis- take not, in lumbering. He died at Carthage, September 23, 1843, aged 31 years.
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