USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : from 1700 to the present time, Volume I > Part 11
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
them in the next assembly of this state.'" On the 20th of April a public meeting was held at the same place, at which resolutions were passed favoring the candidacy of DeWitt Clinton for governor and Casper M. Rouse for sena- tor. This meeting was presided over by Apollos Cooper, and the secretary was James Sherman. At the election the federal candidate for lieutenant governor carried the county by 287, and Mr. Sanford, the federal candidate for senator, received a majority of 294. The federal candidates for assembly, Huntington, Bristol, Brayton, Storrs and Clark were elected by about 300 ma- jority each.
1812-For several years prior to 1812 the United States had submitted to insults from Great Britain, commercial relations between the two governments were suspended, and England sent her ships of war to cruise in American waters to intercept merchant vessels and send them to England as prizes. This caused intense feeling in this country against England, and most American citizens were willing to again accept war with the mother country instead of submitting further to such insults, although it was understood that this course was fraught with great hazard. The state convention assembled in Albany on the 17th of September, 1812, of the party opposed to the war with England. The delegates from Oneida county were Morris S. Miller, Jesse Curtis, James Dean, Adam G. Mappa and James Lynch, and a committee was appointed to prepare a platform expressive of the sentiments of the Federal party con- cerning this grave subject. They passed a series of resolutions denouncing the war, and calling for a meeting of all persons opposed to the war to take into consideration a "common plan of operation, having for its object the restoration of peace to our degraded and afflicted country." The Federal party, calling itself the friend of peace, liberty and commerce, nominated for gover- nor Stephen Van Rensselaer, for lieutenant governor George Huntington and for senators in the western district Simeon Ford, of Herkimer, Robert Camp- bell, of Otsego, and Valentine Brother, of Ontario. It was a very serious matter for a country with but twelve large war vessels and a number of small crafts, carrying all told 300 guns, to fight a government with about 900 war vessels manned by 144,000 men. England was again making effort to enlist the Iroquois Indians in the war which was deemed imminent. This question was before the people in the elections of 1810 and 1811, and, although the Federal party opposed the administration, Mr. Madison, then president, was sustained, and his supporters still kept control of both houses of Congress. In the west and south the feeling was very strong for war with England, but in New England the sentiment was the other way, and the president, feeling the great responsibility, hesitated. This gave rise to the saying in England that the United States could not be "kicked into war." The American people finally verified the old adage that "it takes a long time to make Brother Jonathan mad, but when he gets mad he is awful mad." This time came, when John C. Cal- houn presented to Congress a bill declaring that war existed between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America. This bill passed the house of representatives by a vote of 79 to 49, and passed the senate by a vote of 19 to 13, and was signed by the president the same day, June 17th. The first year of the war was disastrous to the Americans on land. Gen- eral Hull surrendered Detroit to the British. Captain Heald, who was in com-
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
mand at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), ordered by Hull to abandon the fort and retreat to Detroit, was attacked and his party almost exterminated; and an American force under General Rensselaer was defeated and many of them taken prisoners at Lewiston, Canada. The success of the Americans, however, upon the sea, where it was least expected, gave much encouragement to the adminis- tration party. The Constitution defeated and captured the Guerriere and the Java; the Wasp captured the Frolic; the United States defeated and captured the Macedonia; and American privateers had wrought great havoc among British merchant vessels. In the election of that year Mr. Madison was reelected, and a majority of Congress was still with him. The experiences of the people in the Mohawk valley were not to be repeated in the war of 1812 and, except for the passage of troops through the valley and the calling of men from this locality into the army, no important military events occurred within the county during the three years of the second war for independence. Oneida county, however, furnished its quota of men for the war, and some of the officers who took promi- nent part in that important event. Joshua Hathaway was appointed quarter- master general of the state militia, and went to Sackett's Harbor, and Colonel Bellinger commanded the first troops from the county that went to Sackett's Harbor. In his Annals of Oneida County, Mr. Jones says that "all the militia of the county was called to go to Sackett's Harbor, and that the 157th regiment, usually known as the Rome regiment, commanded by Colonel Westcott, marched to that place." Among the officers of this regiment were Lieut. Colonel Joshua G. Green; Captains Rudd, Fillmore, Church, Grannis, Hinckley and Peck; the staff officers being Adjutant Samuel Beardsley, Paymaster Jay Hathaway, Sur- geon Henry H. Smith. The chief military officers from this county who took part in the war of 1812 were Brigadier Generals Oliver Collins, Joseph Kirkland and Henry McNeil. General Collins took the most prominent part in the war of any, officer from Oneida county. He had settled in the town of Whitestown about 1784, and bought a large tract of land about half a mile from Whitesboro. Before he was sixteen years of age and prior to his removal to the state of New York he ran away from home and enlisted as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, but on account of his age he was brought back home. About a year later, filled with a military spirit, he again enlisted in Captain Burbank's com- pany of artillery, and served during the war. He, therefore, had a military experience that was of great help when he was called into the service of his country the second time. At one time he had command of the post at Sackett's Harbor, and his order book on that occasion is among the valuable records in the Oneida Historical Society of Utica. He had a large family, and his de- scendants in many states have filled positions of great honor as governors, sena- tors, representatives in Congress, lawyers, doctors, and were men of character and influence wherever they cast their lot. From Charles D. Adams, the emi- nent lawyer, still living in Utica, who is grandson of General Collins, the writer learns that none of his descendants are residents of Oneida county at this time except Mr. Adams and his family, and, so far as he knows, there are no other descendants of General Collins within the state of New York. The wife of President Taft is a great granddaughter of General Collins. The writer has not been able to ascertain just what service General Kirkland and General McNeil performed during the war.
Vol. 1-6
CHAPTER XI
1813-1823
1813-In this year a draft was ordered in Oneida and other counties in cen- tral New York. General Collins was placed in command of the soldiers raised by this conscription. He was in command of the post at Sackett's Harbor, and this was so important a post that the governor sent his aide-de-camp, Colonel Washington Irving, the eminent author, with orders to the commander to make such requisitions for militia as he might deem necessary, and the gen- eral called out the militia of Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis and Oneida coun- ties. Oneida and Herkimer furnished 2,500 men, which with the others, gave Collins a force of about 6,000.
1814-In 1814 the situation at Sackett's Harbor was so desperate that by direction of the governor, Collins ordered out the brigade of Brigadier General Ellis and directed him "with all possible dispatch to march * * * by the most direct and convenient route to Smith's Mills, twelve miles from the Har- bor * * * and immediately on your arrival * * * report yourself to the commanding general." This was caused by a threatened attack by the British upon Sackett's Harbor, but it never occurred. Disease and a poor commissariat at the Post caused panic at one time, and there were many deser- tions. After Collins's return from Sackett's Harbor to Utica he ordered a court martial of the deserters, and this court was held at the New England House, which stood where the Arcade now stands. The deserters were con- victed, and, despite threats of interference by violence, they were sentenced and drummed out of camp to the tune of the Rogue's March. In this year the United States government purchased lands in Rome for an arsenal, and it was completed in 1816. It was used for government purposes until about 1873, when it was sold for other purposes, and the occupation by the government ceased.
Two men of great ability and very high standing in the community were candidates for representatives in Congress in this year-Nathan Williams and Thomas R. Gold. The county, which at that time included part of what is now the county of Oswego, gave Mr. Gold a majority of 638. The candidates for the senate in the district which included Oneida county were J. I. Pender- gast, B. Bicknell, C. Loomis and P. Swift of one party, and of the opposing party J. Sandford, J. Forman, V. Brother and Joseph Kirkland. The five last named received a majority in the county of about 600. The candidates for assembly were E. S. Salsbury, T. Hathaway, J. Grant, W. Lord and Luther Guiteau, upon one side, and James Lynch, R. Pettibone, J. Lay, J. Storm and Theodore Sill upon the other, the latter of whom were elected by 711 majority.
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RESIDENCE OF UNITED STATES SENATOR ELIHU ROOT
HOME OF GENERAL COLLINS IN NEW HARTFORD
.
RESIDENCE OF GEN. WILLIAM FLOYD, WESTERNVILLE, WITH REAR AD- MIRAL MONTGOMERY SICARD IN THE YARD ABOUT TO TAKE A HORSEBACK RIDE
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
1815-The senatorial candidates of the Federal Republican party from Oneida county for the western district for the year 1815 were George Hunting- ton of Rome, and Jared Sanford, and for members of assembly James Lynch, Richard Sanger, Isaac Brayton, Roderick Morrison and Jesse Curtis. It has been impossible to ascertain who all of the local candidates were at this election.
1816-The convention of the Federal party was held in Albany, February 15, 1816, and Rufus King was nominated for governor and George Tibbits for lieutenant governor. The county convention of this party was called for the 6th of March at Whitesboro, but it has been impossible to ascertain what was done at that meeting, as no records of it are attainable. It appears later in the Utica Patriot of May 21st that King carried the county by a majority of 435; that the Federal candidates for senator, Samuel M. Hopkins, Valentine Brother and Theodore Sill received about the same majority; that Henry R. Storrs received 278 majority for representative in Congress, and that Abram Camp, Martin Hawley, David Ambler, Wheeler Barnes and Newton March were elected to the assembly by about the same vote. The summer of 1816 was noted as being the coldest season ever known in this part of the country. Snow fell in the county several inches deep during the month of June, and crops were almost a total failure.
1817-One of the most important events which occurred in the county dur- ing the year 1817 was that pertaining to the Erie canal. Ground was broken for this great waterway at Rome July 4, 1817, and the first boat passed over the canal from Utica to Rome and return October 21, 1819. Governor Clinton, with a distinguished company of state officials and other invited guests, con- stituted the passengers upon this trip. It is well to state here that one of the chief scientific men who, as an engineer, had charge of the work, was John B. Jervis of Rome. There entered into politics a man of unusual ability in this year-De Witt Clinton. He was elected governor, and received in Oneida county 2,428 votes against 43 votes, which were called "scatterings."
1818-The election of 1818 resulted in the Republican candidates carry- ing the county of Oneida by substantial majorities, but as the senatorial district consisted of more than Oneida county the Federal candidate, Jonas Platt, was elected; Henry R. Storrs was elected representative in Congress by 2,329 ma- jority; the assemblymen elected seem to have been of both parties, as the suc- cessful candidates were L. Guiteau, D. P. Hoyt, T. Woodruffe, Ezekiel Bacon and Henry Huntington.
1819-In the year 1819 it seems that the parties divided, at least locally, upon no particular issue, but one ticket was called the Republican, and the other was, by the newspapers, denominated the "Tammany ticket." It is notable that as early in the history of the state as this there was supposed to be some sort of odium attached to a ticket known as the "Tammany ticket," yet, it is also notable, that the candidates in Oneida county this year upon that ticket were some of the most respected, influential and able men who ever have resided within its limits. For senators in the western district the Republicans nominated Gideon Granger and Lyman Payne, and for members of the assem- bly George Brayton, Charles Wiley, Luther Guiteau, Theor Woodruffe and David Bates. The Tammany ticket consisted of Philetus Swift and Nathan
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
Garrow for senators, and for members of assembly Joseph Allen, Benjamin Hickcox, Samuel Beardsley, Prosper Rudd and John S. Davis. The Federalists nominated for members of assembly George Huntington, Henry McNeil, John Storrs, James Dean, Jr., and Theophilus S. Morgan. The election returns show that the votes cast for the respective candidates in Oneida county for senators were Granger 957, Payne 865, Lansing 1,186, Merrell 1,084, Swift 600 and Garrow 558. The Federal candidates for members of assembly were all elected by a plurality of nearly 1,000.
1820-The Republican convention was held at the village of Hampton, February 2, 1820, and nominated delegates to the senatorial convention of the western district, and this convention passed a series of resolutions approving the state administration and recommending the electors to support DeWitt C. Clin- ton as a candidate for governor, and John Taylor as candidate for lieutenant governor, and denounced the action of the portion of the legislature which had assembled at Albany in a convention and nominated Daniel D. Tompkins for governor. The opposition to Clinton was known as the "Bucktail party." The term "Bucktail" was known to designate the opponents of DeWitt Clinton, be- cause of the fact that Tammany Hall opposed him, and some of the chief mem- bers of that organization on certain occasions wore a buck's tail in their hats. During this year a large number of public meetings were held throughout the state, for the purpose of expressing approval of the acts of DeWitt Clinton and for the denunciation of Daniel D. Tompkins, as these really two great men at this time were arrayed against each other, as leaders of the great political organi- zations of the day. It had been claimed that Daniel D. Tompkins had misap- propriated funds, which created intense feeling throughout the state, and he was denounced unquestionably unjustly. As an illustration of the feeling against him, we quote from a communication to the Albany Register of March 3, 1820: "The leaders of the Bucktail opposition, routed and discouraged as they are by the steady and overwhelming reverses of the present winter, and determined to make one more bold and desperate push to retrieve their blasted fortunes, Daniel D. Tompkins and his $600,000 claim-Daniel D. Tompkins with his old muskets-his basket of vouchers and his double charges-Daniel D. Tompkins, with his unprecedented defalcation is to be run hard for the first office in the gift of the people." The Republicans nominated for senators for the western district Ephraim Hart, Elijah Miles and Oliver Forward, and for members of assembly Ezekiel Bacon, Greene C. Bronson, Allen Frazer, Israel Stoddard and David S. Bates. The Federal candidates for members of assembly were Josiah Bacon, Allen Frazer, George Huntington, Joseph Kirkland and William Root. Fierce attacks were made upon Mr. Tompkins during the entire campaign, and his accounts were the subject of legislative investigation. In the Columbian Gazette of April 18th there is a violent attack upon Mr. Tompkins. The writer, among other things, says: "The question then for the electors to decide is, whether they will hurl Mr. Clinton from power, to gratify the wishes of a can- didate who is his inferior in point of talents and qualifications, and who besides this decided inequality, labors under the imputation of being a defaulter to a large amount ! What excuse could there be for turning out Clinton and putting in Tompkins?" This seems to be rather severe language to be used against
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
the vice-president of the United States. Clinton was elected by a majority of 1,454, and he carried Oneida county by 1,314. For senators Hart, Miles and Forward carried the county by about the same majority. There seems to have been a third ticket in the field, and Mr. Frazer was upon two tickets, and there- fore received a much larger vote than any other of the candidates who were elected to the assembly ; the other candidates of the Federal party, Bacon, Hunt- ington, Kirkland and Root were elected to the assembly by a plurality of about 1,000, as the district at this time consisted of Oneida and a portion of Oswego county.
1821-An important event occurred in the year 1821 in the state, which was the holding of the State Constitutional Convention. The delegates to this conven- tion from Oneida county were Ezekiel Bacon, Samuel Sidney Breese, Henry Huntington, Jonas Platt and Nathan Williams, three of whom were Clintonians and two were Democrats. At this time DeWitt Clinton was governor, and the Democrats had a majority in the Constitutional Convention. The constitution formulated by this convention removed the property qualification of voters and liberalized the constitution in many other respects, which constitution remained in effect until 1848. The county convention, which was held at Whitestown dur- ing this year, was called so as to include all voters "without regard to former political distinctions," and Joseph Kirkland was nominated for representative in Congress; the candidates for senator in the western district were Stephen Bates and Samuel M. Hopkins; and George Huntington, Greene C. Bronson, Israel Stoddard, Samuel Chandler and Peter Pratt were nominated for mem- bers of assembly, Pratt being a resident of Mexico, in that portion of Oswego county which was a portion of an assembly district with Oneida county. The canvass was somewhat bitter, and charges of fraud were made against the Buck- tail party, then in power. One of the serious charges was, as it appeared to the electors of that day, that they had endeavored to "palm upon the community a statement to the effect that they had reduced the wages of members of assembly to three dollars per day," whereas. as a matter of fact, they actually received four dollars per day. Mr. Kirkland, for representative in Congress, carried the county by 1,030, and the district by 838. Hopkins and Bates, for senators, car- ried the county by about 900 majority, and for members of assembly, Hunting- ton, Bronson, Stoddard, Chandler and Pratt were elected by little less than 1,000 majority in the district, and substantially the same majorities in the county.
1822-The local ticket for 1822 was nominated at a Republican convention held in Utica October 11th. This seems to have been the first county convention ever held in what is now the city of Utica. This convention resolved that George Huntington of Oneida, Westel Willoughby of Herkimer, Levi Adams of Lewis and Matthew McNair be nominated as candidates for the senate. On the 21st day of October a convention was held at Whitesboro which approved the nomi- nations of Joseph Yates for governor; Henry Huntington for lieutenant gover- nor; the senatorial ticket as mentioned above; Ezekiel Bacon for representative in Congress; and nominated for members of assembly Israel Stoddard, Josiah Bacon, John Billings, James Dean, Jr., and Wheeler Barnes; for sheriff, Simeon N. Dexter, and for county clerk Julius Pond. The opposing candidates of the county were for representative in Congress, Henry R. Storrs; for members of
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assembly, Henry Wager, Thomas H. Hamilton, Samuel Wetmore, Uri Doolittle and James Lynch; for sheriff, John E. Hinman; for county clerk, Garrit G. Lansing and also Eliasaph Dorchester. For governor Yates carried the county by 2,653, while Huntington, for lieutenant governor, carried it by only 95, and Storrs, for representative in Congress by only 55. The candidates for senator, Beardsley, Wooster, Greenley and Bronson, carried the county by about 200; Hinman, for sheriff, was elected by 1,193; Dorchester was elected county clerk, while the assemblymen, Wager, Hamilton, Lynch, Doolittle and Wetmore, re- ceived a majority of about 400 each.
1823-The Republican county convention assembled at Whitestown October 27, 1823, and passed resolutions favoring what was known as the "Election Law." This convention nominated for members of assembly, George Huntington, John Storrs, John P. Sherwood, Theophilus Steele and Thomas E. Clark, candidates known to be favorable to such a law. The convention also recommended William Ford, of Jefferson county, as a suitable candidate for senator in the fifth sena- torial district. Perley Keyes had also been put in nomination as a candidate for senator in the same district. In this canvass the principal subject before the people was the election law. It is notable that the same principle was involved at that time in the people insisting that presidential electors should be elected by the people, as is involved at the present day in the issue much debated in re- gard to the election of United States senators by the people instead of by the legislature. The vote on senator in Oneida county gave Keyes 2,095 and Ford 1,784; for members of assembly Wager, Allen, Grant, Cooper and Ruger were elected by an average majority of about 300.
CHAPTER XII
1824-1839
1824-In 1824 an unusual campaign occurred in the county. A bitter fight throughout the state was being waged on a very important question, which was this : Presidential electors had been appointed by the state legislature, and the Republican party took strong ground in favor of a law providing for their elec- tion by the people. A bill had been presented in the legislature providing for such election, but had been defeated largely through the influence of Martin Van Buren. Through his influence, also, the members of the legislature had nomi- nated Samuel Young for governor and Erastus Root for lieutenant governor. This usurpation of power by the legislature, as it was called, was resented by the people, and there was a strong sentiment in favor of the nomination of ex- governor DeWitt Clinton for the office which he had so acceptably filled before that time. The Republican state convention was called to be held September 21st at Utica. The Republican county convention, to elect delegates to the state convention, was held at the courthouse in Whitesboro September 14th. The delegates chosen to the state convention were George Brayton, David Pierson, David H. Hoyt, John Wescott and Aaron Barnes. Resolutions were adopted favoring the "Election Law." By this was meant the bill providing for the election of presidential electors by the people. The state convention assembled at Utica September 21st, and John Taylor was made chairman. The nomination of DeWitt Clinton was made unanimous and by acclamation except one vote, and James Talmadge was nominated for lieutenant governor unanimously. A committee was appointed to draft an address to the people. It seems that this was the custom at that day, rather than to lay down what was known as a plat- form. This committee consisted of Gerrit Smith, C. G. Haynes and John Arm- strong. It made its report through its chairman, Mr. Smith, and the address was unanimously adopted by the convention. It may well be supposed that a committee with Gerrit Smith at its head would produce a paper worthy of seri- ous consideration, and this address consisted of a powerful denunciation of the usurpation of power by the legislature and of the Van Buren party, and of the candidate it said: "That Samuel Young is in the opinion of this meeting a mere political adventurer-a usurping demagogue-a fawning office seeker and servile tool of Martin Van Buren." The address then lauded Clinton and Tal- madge, and called "upon all fellow citizens to be vigilant at the polls and de- feat the vain professions of selfish and impudent office seekers and support the cause of 'Freedom and the People.' " Another resolution referring to the can- didates of the opposite party was as follows: "That one of these candidates is habitually intemperate, a scoffer at the Christian religion, and through his tal-
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