USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 49
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election district of the town of York, about one-fourth of the town, and we feel gratified at the success of the effort and hope the remainder of the town may succeed equally well. A meeting called by our Supervisor was held at York Centre last evening for the same purpose, at which meeting our efforts were reported and gave good impetus, no doubt, to our friends in the other parts of the town; and we trust that a much larger sum may be realized still from our town. Thus are the people demonstrating their earnest regard for the noble men who are defending our homes and country; and while such determination and interest is thus manifested by the Government and the people, victory must crown the effort, which may God grant.
"I notice that other towns are moving in the same direction and reporting their success through your paper, and I think the effect is good upon the public mind, that they may know how the people feel and act. We have succeeded quite to our satisfaction, and have really accomplished more than we expected when we commenced. Almost every one has done something, but there are a few who refuse, which is characteristic; one of our ablest farmers refused to give a cent, and I understand even would not allow his little daughter to stop after school to pick lint with the other children. Need any one be told what political party such a man belongs to? But we do have such men in the country, and we as a community are not wholly exempt. But, thank God, we are not dependent upon such men. There are enough without them to master this infernal Rebellion and save our glorious inheritance, as 1 fully believe; and when that is done, where will such men then be? In the slough of infamy most assuredly."
Another instance may be referred to, showing that this sentiment took quite as energetic hold in official quarters:
At a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors held in February 1864, Hon. Charles H. Carroll, then President of the Livingston County Agricultural Society, was appointed a committee to purchase a mammoth steer raised by William G. Markham, of Avon, in aid of the fair of the New York State Sanitary Commission. The purchase was to be made from funds raised by general subscription. The supervisors of the various towns headed a list for each town, and the same was given to the members of the Ladies Soldier's Aid Society in each town to circulate. It appeared that the purchase of the same ox was in contemplation by Monroe County for the same object, and, to forestall this, Jasper Barber purchased the ox for one thousand dollars. It will be interesting to observe that this ox, called the "Pride of Livingston," was bred by William Mckenzie, of York; when two years old he was sold to M. S. Downing, of Avon, and the next year
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he was sold to Mr. Markham. At six years old he weighed thirty-six hundred pounds and was pure white in color. It is said that Barnum afterwards bargained for his hide, and had it stuffed for exhibition purposes. The ladies raised $769.00, Mr. Markham contributing enough more to make up $1,000.00. The ox was taken to New York by a committee and presented to the managers of the Fair, by whom it was sold for $1,000.00.
As already stated, the officials of the county and of the various towns omitted no means, however seriously they might draw upon the public resources, to provide Livingston's full quota under the various calls of the President, and to maintain the families of the men during their absence.
At the town meetings held in 1861 the Republicans elected twelve of the seventeen members of the Board of Supervisors. At the annual meeting held in November Ezra W. Clark, of Conesus, was appointed chairman. Nothing noteworthy was done at this meeting, except to alter somewhat the town line between the towns of Spring- water and Sparta, by including in the town of Springwater all lands lying east of the Story Road, so called, which had theretofore been within the boundaries of Sparta.
A People's Union county ticket was in the field in the fall of this year, the candidates on that ticket being Walter E. Lauderdale for Sheriff; Norman Seymour for County Clerk; Butler Spencer for Ses- sions Justice; Almeron Howard for Superintendent of the Poor; Amos A. Hendee for Member of Assembly in the first district, and John S. Wiley for Member of Assembly in the second district. No Democratic county ticket was nominated, and no People's Union State ticket was . nominated, so it was expected that the People's Union county ticket would attract the support not only of Democrats but of malcontent Republicans. The entire Republican county ticket was elected, how- ever, by majorities from 200 to 700.
A special session of the Board of Supervisors of the county was held August 20th, 1862, to take the first action respecting the payment of bounties, and at that meeting the following resolution was adopted :
RESOLVED, That the Treasurer of this county be and he is here- by authorized to pay upon the order of the Supervisors, respectively, such sums for bounty purposes to volunteers enlisting since July 2, 1862, as the said Supervisors may respectively call for; and that the Treas-
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General Wadsworth and staff,
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
urer be and he is hereby authorized to borrow on the credit of the county a sum sufficient for this purpose, and that the sums thus called for by the Supervisors shall be assessed upon and collected from such towns respectively.
At this session Orson Walbridge was appointed chairman, and at the annual meeting following he was chosen permanent chairman of the Board.
For the first time since the organization of the Republican party a County Judge was elected by that party at the fall election in 1863, Solomon Hubbard, then of Dansville, receiving a majority of about one thousand over George Hastings, who was the incumbent of the office. Hamilton E. Smith, a Republican, was elected Assemblyman in the first district over Chauncey Loomis, by a majority of 941, and Jona- than B. Morey was elected in the second district over Alonzo Brad- ner by a majority of 16.
At a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors held in February, 1864, the Treasurer was authorized to issue the bonds of the county and borrow money thereon to pay a bounty of $300 to all volunteers enlisting under the call of February 1st, 1864, for 200,000 additional volunteers; and at a special meeting held July 22d the Treasurer was authorized to issue the bonds of the county in such amount and for such time as the supervisors of the respective towns might require, to fill the quota of their towns, under the call of July 18th for 500,000 volunteers, by the payment of $300 to each volunteer for three years, $200 for one year, and $25. for expense money.
The intelligence of the death of Brigadier General James S. Wads- worth on Friday, May 8th, 1864, while leading a gallant charge in the battle of the Wilderness, plunged the people of the county into pro- found gloom. Au account of this noble man, whose life for many years formed a conspicuous part in the history of this county, and particularly of Geneseo, elsewhere appears in this volume. His remains arrived in New York May 19th, and were taken to the City Hall there, where they remained until the next day; they were then removed to the Erie Railroad, Governor Fish, General Dix and others acting as bearers. They reached Geneseo, escorted by a detachment of the Third Regulars, the Seventh National Guards and the Veterans Corps. Adjutant-General Sprigg accompanied the remains to Gene-
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seo, where they arrived May 21st, and were interred in the cemetery there with appropriate ceremonies.
Special town meetings were held throughout the county during the year 1864 and generous bounties were offered by the towns, as a further means of promptly making up their quotas, under the several calls of that year for volunteers.
The Presidential campaign of 1864 was a long and very energetic one in Livingston, and everywhere the loyal sentiment of its people found earnest and unreserved expression. Many mass meetings were held, and the best speakers addressed large and interested audiences. At a meeting held at Geneseo, October 26, 1864, Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, was one of the speakers. The Lincoln electors received a majority of 1027; Governor Fenton a majority of 1065, and the Republican county ticket a majority of about 1000.
The highest flood in the Genesee Valley before or since occurred March 17th, 1865. The freshet began on March 15th, and reached its highest point on the 17th. The flats in the neighborhood of Geneseo presented the appearance of a vast lake. Very great damage was done; fences were in many parts destroyed, and all the bridges above Mt. Morris were carried away. There was no railroad communication with the outside world for nearly a week. The damage done by this flood in Rochester was estimated at several millions of dollars. The entire business portion of the city on the west side of the river was from four to six feet under water. The Genesee Valley Railroad bridge near the south line of the city and the Central Railroad bridge, just above the falls, were carried away. About two hundred feet of the Genesee Valley Railroad track near the city was washed away and over a mile was submerged. Canal banks were burst in many places, and the water swept like a mill race through Front, State and Fitz- hugh streets and the Arcade in Rochester, so that many people in the upper stories in the last named building could not get away even with the assistance of boats. The flood came with great suddenness, and to a great extent, unexpectedly.
On October 25th, 1865, a conspiracy was formed by inmates of the county jail to effect a jail delivery. Sheriff Chase was obliged to be out of town for some days, and it was planned by nine of the prisoners to kill the sheriff's son, Charles, when he came in to lock them up for the night, take him to the outside door, in which there was a hole,
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and thrust his hand through. It was expected that his mother would recognize his hand by the ring he wore, and open the door, when they would rush out and make their escape. £ Sheriff Chase's unexpected return frustrated the plot, however. He was informed of it by two of the prisoners, from whom he learned that Henry Wilson, the Portage murderer, then in jail under indictment, was the ring-leader. The sheriff went to the hall where Wilson was with four or five other pris- oners, and demanded a knife which he was told Wilson had. Wilson denied having one, whereupon the sheriff seized him by the throat and choked him until he disclosed the whereabouts of the knife in his clothing. The prisoners involved in the scheme were all ironed and put in close confinement. They were an unusually desperate gang of criminals, and there is no doubt that the sheriff's opportune return prevented the loss of one life, at least, and probably others.
In the week following this attempted jail delivery began the trial of Wilson for the murder of Henry De Voe, of Portage. He was con- vieted on November 10th, and sentenced to be hanged on December 22nd. The scenes attending the execution on that day, at the jail yard in Geneseo, were so extraordinary, from the present point of view, that we reproduce an account of what occurred upon the scaffold, after the death warrant had been read and a prayer offered. Wilson was informed by the sheriff that he had but ten minutes to live, and if he had anything to say that was the time to say it. The con- demned man proceeded to make a rambling speech, during the prog- ress of which he was repeatedly called upon by the spectators to speak louder, and at one point was engaged in a colloquy with the sheriff over some question as to what occurred in the jail. After apparently exhausting his desire to talk, the handcuffs were removed, his arms pinioned, a rope put about his neck and the black cap on his head. Some of the deputy sheriffs and his counsel bade him good-bye, and the sheriff told him he had but four minutes more to live. It cannot occasion surprise that he should have replied, "It is not much consolation to be kept standing here in the cold three or four minutes. I had as lief go now as any time." The sheriff replied, "Very well, if that is your desire." The cap was drawn over the face, and the sheriff said, "Wilson, your time is up." He replied, "Go ahead," and the weight was dropped. It is scarcely credible that a proceeding of this character could have occurred in this county within a period
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of forty years and the substitution of present methods of exacting the final penalty finds in such an incident as the above a powerful vindi- cation.
For the first time since the outbreak of the Rebellion, a Democrat was elected to office upon the county ticket. In the fall of 1865 Isaac Hampton was defeated for the office of Member of Assembly in the second Assembly district by Samuel D. Faulkner, of Dansville, who will again appear as an unconquerable champion of Democracy in the county of Livingston.
Base ball very early became a favorite sport in this county and scarcely had Lee surrendered when vigorous battles upon the diamond succeeded the serious conflicts at arms. The Livingston base ball club was probably the most distinguished exponent of the national game among the many that have flourished in the county during the past forty years. This club was organized by Hon. James W. Wads- worth in the sixties and for a great many years afforded to the people of the county splendid exhibitions of base ball.
To judge from the record of a memorable contest in August, 1866, between the Livingstons and the Ajax club of Avon, the former nine were in their salad days that year. Among the members of the club then were James W. Wadsworth, who was pitcher; John E. Lord, son of Judge Scott Lord, third baseman; William H. Shepard, now a prominent attorney of New York City, catcher; William A. Brodie, first baseman, and Lester B. Howe, Superintendent of the Produce Exchange of New York, right fielder. The score was 51 to 28 in favor of the Livingstons, the latter club making twenty-one runs in the third mning
Another famous club was the Hunkidory, of Geneseo, and in still later years, and the last in which Mr. Wadsworth manifested an active interest, the Geneseo Club was probably one of the cleverest and most interesting amateur nines ever collected. It was for the most part college men and played for several seasons at Geneseo. The composition of the club in the last year of its existence-1897-was the strongest. Among the players of that year were Jerome Bradley, captain; he was also captain of the Princeton University team in . 1897; William Lauder, of Brown University, who was afterwards for several seasons with the New York National League team; Walter W. Wilson, of Princeton; John Altman, of Princeton; Howard C.
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Cobb, of Cornell; James W. Wadsworth, Jr., of Yale, who had that year proved himself one of the best players in the strong Yale Univer- sity team; Barclay, of Lehigh University, afterwards for a number of years a member of the St. Louis and Boston National League teams, and Edward P. Ward, of Princeton, and a member of the University team for several years, now a practicing attorney in Geneseo. It is quite within moderation to say that no more brilliant, all-around player than Mr. Ward ever participated in the games on the Geneseo grounds. This team defeated all the Western New York amateur teams, and took several trips in a private car to defeat the amateur teams in the West, in Canada and on the Eastern coast, where the strongest athletic clubs of the country were then at the height of their power.
In February, 1866, the people of the village of Dansville held a meeting at which resolutions were adopted declaring it expedient for the citizens of Dansville and the surrounding towns "to make a strong and earnest effort to procure an act of the Legislature at the present session, erecting a new county from portions of Livingston, Allegany and Steuben counties." The proposition was to include the towns of Groveland, Conesus, Mt. Morris, Nunda, Portage, Sparta, West Sparta, Ossian, North Dansville and Springwater in Livingston county ; Burns and Grove in Allegany county, and Wayland and Dansville in Steuben county. The resolutions also included the pay- ment of the expense of erecting county buildings by the town of North Dansville.
This proposition resulted in energetic newspaper editorials from other quarters of the county remonstrating against the proposed division, and freely charging improper motives as the inspiration for the project. Nothing came of it, however.
At a special election held April 23d, 1867, Isaac L. Endress, of Liv- ingston; William H. Merrill, of Wyoming; Edward J. Farnum and John M. Hammond, of Allegany were elected Delegates to the Consti- tutional Convention from the 30th Senatorial district. The conven- tion assembled at Albany June 11th, 1867.
A spirited canvass preceded the Republican county convention, held September 28th, 1867. E. W. Packard of Nunda was earnestly pressed in certain quarters for nomination for the office of County Judge
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against Judge Hubbard, the incumbent. Judge Hubbard was nomi- nated, however, and elected.
Two fires occurred at the Alms House in the year 1868. The first in the early morning of February 6th resulted in the destruction of the frame building in the yard north of the present east building, the lower story of which had been used as an asylum for the male insane, and the upper part for the female insane. The building burned to the ground, and five of the inmates perished with it.
A special meeting of the Board of Supervisors was called on Febru- ary 25th, and at this meeting George W. Root, Richard Peck and Craig W. Wadsworth were appointed a committee to construct a new building of brick or stone, to replace the building burned. The build- ing was constructed by this committee, and completed November 4th, 1868, at an expense of $8,618, and is the east projection of the center building of the present group of builings at the poor house farm. After this building was completed it accommodated for a time both the male and female indigent insane, the women having the east part of the building and the men the west. Until the completion of this building the insane women were kept on the upper floor of the east wing of the present east building and the male patients were confined in the basement of the west wing of that building. Incurables were , as a rule sent to Willard and other State asylums and there maintained at county expense until ample quarters were finally provided.
The destruction of this building was made the occasion by the town of Avon of an effort to secure the removal of the county buildings to that place. A bill was accordingly introduced into the Legislature at the session of 1868, authorizing the people of Avon to tax themselves for the purpose of defraying the expense in part of constructing the new buildings; the bill was never reported. This project engaged the press of the county in earnest discussion; a meeting was held in Gen- eseo in February, and speeches were made remonstrating against the scheme of removal. An executive committee, consisting of John Rorbach, B. F. Angel, John R. Strang, William A. Brodie and A. J. Abbott, was appointed to keep an eye out for developments. The particular reasons urged by the advocates of removal were the geographical advantages of the location at Avon and the need of ex- tensive repairs on the buildings. The matter was not brought up, however, at the special session of the Board, as it was apparent to the
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Avon people that they would not receive sufficient support to make it profitable to submit the matter.
The other fire occurred on the first day of October in the early evening; all the barns, stables, etc., were destroyed, together with a large quantity of hay and some straw and grain. Robert Baker, an inmate who had been brought up in the institution, confessed to hav- ing started the fire. The loss was about $3,200.00 and the property was insured for $1,000.00.
At a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors held in October, subsequent to the fire, the same committee having in charge the con- struction of an insane asylum was empowered to rebuild the barns; these were completed the same year, at an expense of $1,980, together with a grain barn added later, costing $915.
The directors of the Avon, Geneseo and Mt. Morris Railroad, at a meeting held at Geneseo May 9th, 1868, offered to extend their line, which then ran to the corporate limits of Mt. Morris, to the town line between Mt. Morris and Groveland, a distance of about three miles, if the Dansville people would build the remaining portion of the line to Dansville. This proposition was accepted. The Erie and Genesee Valley Railroad Company had been organized in January, 1868, and with the aid furnished by North Dansville, which bonded itself for $100,000, and Groveland and West Sparta, each town bonding itself for $10,000, the road was completed from Dansville to Mt. Morris in 1872; the Avon, Geneseo & Mt. Morris Company having meanwhile, with aid from the town of Mt. Morris, which bonded itself in the sum of $25,000, extended its road to the town line. The Erie and Genesee Valley company became by reorganization in October, 1891, the Dans- ville and Mount Morris Railway Company; this company is now operating the road and is steadily improving its equipment and service.
The people of the county gave a majority of 1358 for General Grant in the presidential election of 1868.
For the first time in many years, a Democratic Board of Supervisors was elected by a majority of one at the town meetings held in the spring of 1870, the Republicans having since 1860 secured a majority each year.
A special meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held March 23d, 1870, to consider the matter of repairs to the county jail, and to pro- vide a temporary Surrogate's office. At this meeting the town of
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Avon again offered to put up new county buildings at that place at a cost of $75,000.00, without expense to the county. This proposition was referred to a committee to report at a future session with refer- ence to the power of the Board to accept it. The committee later reported that the Board had no power to enter into the proposed agree- ment. The Board adjourned without definite action, but at a special meeting held March 21st, 1871. it was determined to expend the sum of $3,900.00 in repairs on the jail building.
At the spring elections in 1871 the Republicans regained control of the Board of Supervisors.
Much interest was aroused during this year by the proposed con- struction of the Rochester, Nunda & Pennsylvania Railroad. The principal importance of this enterprise grows out of the fact that in its aid the town of Mt. Morris was bonded for $75,000; the town of York for $100,000, and Nunda for $75,000, and each town issued thirty year bonds for those amounts, respectively, bearing seven per cent interest. The question of issuing bonds was also submitted to the townspeople of Caledonia and Leicester; in Caledonia the project was defeated by a close vote, and in Leicester it was determined to issue the bonds of the town when the railroad should be constructed; thus these two towns escaped. Mt. Morris continued to pay interest at this rate until the maturity of its bonds in 1901, and the report of the Railroad Commissioners of that town for 1900 shows that the town had paid in interest alone upon the bonds issued in aid of this phantom railroad the sum of $104.786.19. In 1901 Mt. Morris refunded the unpaid por- tion of these bonds, together with the unpaid portion of the Avon, Geneseo & Mt. Morris Rairload bonds, amounting in all to $42,000, by issuing new bonds bearing interest at three and a half per cent, $1,000 of which bonds are payable each year until 1911; after that time, $2,000 is annually payable. In 1878 the town of York raised the question as to the validity of the bonds, and made default in the Day- ment of interest. Litigation followed, as a result of which the bonded debt was refunded and new bonds issued bearing five per cent interest; in 1886 the bonds were again refunded at four per cent, with a clause for a sinking fund, and on March first, 1900, the bonds were fully paid. The town of Nunda also refunded its bonds at a lower rate of interest ; there remained unpaid in 1903, $11,500 of these Nunda bonds. And thus neither York nor Nunda suffered in the same
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