USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : from 1700 to the present time, Volume II > Part 40
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In 1854, at Richmondville, New York, Mr. Spencer was married to Miss Mary O. Dickinson and to this union four children were born: Thomas D., who became one of the prominent physicians of Rochester, New York, and died
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
March 31, 1910; Mrs. Eugene Du Bois, of Buffalo, New York; Mrs. Electus B. Ward, of New York city; and Miss Mae Spencer, who resides at home. In politics Mr. Spencer gave his allegiance to the democratic party as the organ- ization best adapted to secure the permanency of the republic. He never sought political office but was nominated by his friends in Utica as independent can- didate for mayor in 1889 and was defeated after a hard fight. He was a true believer in Christianity and for twenty-four years was a member of the board of trustees of Westminster Presbyterian church, being also connected with the Oneida Historical Society and one of its counselors. Ile possessed great energy of character, distinguished ability in a profession which he enriched by the labors of a long and useful life, and a fidelity to principles of right which no inducement could persuade him to desert. His death, February 22, 1902, marked the close of a career which will ever be regarded by his friends as in the highest degree creditable not only to himself and family, but to the com- munity and the state of which he was an honored and most worthy repre -. sentative.
FRANCIS A. WERTIIMAN.
Few residents of Utica have attained greater success and prominence in business circles than Francis A. Werthman, senior partner of the firm of Werthman & Kruse, and none more rightly deserves the high place which he has attained in the opinion and regard of his fellowmen. He is one of Utica's native sons, his birth here occurring on the 22d of June, 1878, his parents being Florian and Theresa Werthman. The father, a native of Ba- varia, came to this country in 1873, taking up his abode in Utica, New York.
Francis A. Werthman received his early education in St. Joseph's school and later in Assumption Academy, and after completing the course of study offered in the latter institution was given the benefit of a term at the Utica Business College. Thus his training well equipped him for the practical and responsible duties which come with business life. and after leaving school he entered a real-estate office, where he was employed until 1906. In that year he became identified with that branch of business on his own account and continued in business alone until April 1. 1911, when he formed a part- nership with John Kruse, under the firm style of Werthman & Kruse, with offices in the Gardner building, 188-194 Genesee street, Utica, New York. The concern handles real estate, loans, insurance, etc., and has already taken a place among the prominent and substantial business enterprises of the city, and its success is due in no small degree to the excellent business ability. keen discernment and sound judgment of Mr. Werthman.
In politics he supports the independent movement, voting for those nien and measures which in his opinion are best adapted to conserve the public good, regardless of party ties. He is active in the public life of the com- munity, taking a deep interest in all those matters which have to do with the upbuilding and improvement of the community, and is numbered among the progressive and influential citizens of Utica. On October 7. 1909, Mr.
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Werthman was united in marriage to Miss Rose E. Buehler, a daughter of John and Agifa Buehler, of Utica. They have one daughter, Marian 1 .. whose birth occurred July 30, 1910. The Family reside at No. 149 Third avenue, and their home is the center of a large circle of warm friends, for Mr. Werthman is popular among his fellowmen, possessing those sterling traits of character which command respect and esteem and the genial manner and pleasing personality which win and retain friendships.
THE WHITE FAMILY.
In preparing the history of Oneida county, it becomes necessary to out- line briefly the history of the White family, and the proprietary settlement of this county by this family and the development of the commeree of the state through its waterways by Canvass White, one member of the family, and a similar development of its commerce by railroads by William Clark Young, another member of the family; and in fact the family's continuous association with the growth and development of central New York ever since the original settlement here, June 5, 1784.
The family trace their descent from Elder John White, one of the first settlers of Cambridge in Massachusetts, of Hartford in Connecticut and of Hadley in Massachusetts. Elder John White landed in Boston, Massachusetts, on the good ship Lyon. September 16, 1632, and his home lot was on the street called "Cowyard Row" not far from Gore Hall, where the beautiful library building of Harvard University now stands. The standing of the family was that of the well to do middle-class, their home life in England had been one of comfort, and their departure for this country was on account of religious intolerance.
John White and his family moved. as one of the followers of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, to what is now the city of Ilartford, Connecticut, where he assisted in founding the settlement, and where he died in 1684, about the age of eighty-one years. Ile held several offices of importance, such as magis- trate, seleetman, member of the general court (legislature), and lived an active, useful and Christian life, respected by all who knew him. He was the founder of a numerous family, many of whose members became prominent and in- fluential factors in civil. social and business affairs. His descendants, without exception, have held high rank in their respective communities, and are num- bered today among the most patriotie and useful citizens.
TIUGHI WHITE.
Hugh White. the pioneer settler of Whitestown, was the fifth in descent from Elder John White above mentioned; he was born in Middletown, Con- nectient. January 25. 1733. and married Mary Clark of the same town, by
. Hugh White
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A
HILL .
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
whom he had ten children, two daughters dying in infancy, and his five sons and two daughters came with him and settled Whitestown. Hugh White served during the Revolutionary war as a quartermaster, and in that capacity, with the self-sacrificing devotion of the many heroes in that first struggle of the country for national independence, expended his fortune for the main- tenanee of the army, receiving in its place continental paper money that became worthless in his possession.
At the elose of the Revolutionary war he joined in the purchase of Sada- quada Patent with Zephaniah Platt, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Melanchton Smith and General William Floyd, the last being one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence, and Mr. White was sent to make the preliminary settle- ment and survey of the new purchase. The trip was made from Albany up the Mohawk river in flat bottom boats, which were propelled by means of poles. When they reached German Flats, a few miles east of Utiea, where there was a small clearing, they halted long enough to plough the ground and plant eorn, and then proceeded up the river nntil they reached the mouth of the Sauquoit ereek, where they landed and a elearing was at onee started from the mouth of the creek, toward the present site of the Whitestown vil- lage square; that fall they returned to German Flats and harvested the corn which they had planted in the springtime, and the following spring Mr. White and his sons were joined by their wives and families, and the settlement of Whitestown was completed.
The legislature, by an aet passed March 7, 1788, among other things, created the town of Whitestown in the county of Montgomery. This town was laid out on a magnificent seale; its boundary was a straight line eross- ing the river a short distance below Genesee street bridge at a log house then standing there, and running thenee due north to the river St. Lawrence, and also due south to a small stream near Pennsylvania, and down that stream to the Pennsylvania line, all parts of the state lying west of that line con- stituting the town of Whitestown. It contained more than twelve million aeres of land, the navigable waters of the Mohawk, the Delaware, the Sus- mehanna and the Ohio rivers, the Salt Springs of Onondaga, the chain of the Finger lakes and the Oswego river, the entire valley of the Genesee, with its upper and lower falls, and also the grand cataract of the Niagara. Its frontage of great lakes and rivers was not short of four hundred miles in length. After the arrival of the judge's family, and his children and their families, he purchased of William Floyd his interest in the Sadaquada Pent, the various interests having been allotted to the partners in the enterprise by lot, and General Floyd's portion being that on the east side of the Sau- quoit ereek where is now situated the village of Yorkville and New York Mills. The price paid for this land by Mr. White was three pipes of wine, which was sent to the general at his house in Western, a short distance from Rome, but the general having no bottles in which to place the wine at that time, sent to England and had the bottles blown with his initials and the date, and some of these bottles are now in possession of the deseendants of the general in the old mansion at Western.
Vol II-21
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IHISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
At the time of Hugh White's arrival the Indian complications on the fron- tier were in a very delicate condition, the Indians having been under large pay from the English, and hostility foeused against the settlers during the entire war. It needed a peculiar strength to gain their friendship and trust. Ingh White was a fearless, yet cautious leader, and exerted a powerful and whole- some influence upon the entire community. Ife was especially a firm friend of the Indians who had possessions on all sides for miles around, it being the home of the Six Nations, and the Iroquois confederacy. Forewarned of the craft and treachery of these tribes, he sought to conciliate their good-will by frankness and fair dealing, and by unaffected assurances of friendship for the well-being of their tribes, ofttimes accompanying these professions by kindly offices and with gifts judiciously distributed to their women and little ones. Yet a latent incredulity seems to have clouded the leading chief of the confederacy, Han Yerry, as to the sincerity of these friendly advances, and on one of his frequent visits to the family of the patriot of the Pale Faces, this chief asked to be al- lowed the favor of carrying an interesting little girl, a granddaughter of Judge White's, home to his squaws at their tribal wigwam as they would be delighted to see and handle the papoose of the Pale Faces. Defining that the erafty pur- pose of the chief was to obtain a hostage as a pledge of the good favor of the Whites' friendly regard toward the natives of the forest, the judge decided that the child should go; the mother, was, of course, frantic at the bare idea of her tender offspring being carried off by the savages, and the father of the child, Joseph White, son of the judge, protested that the shock would be either the death of his wife or drive her into lunaey, but the judge was firm in his purpose, and told his son that the child must go, and it was intimated to his son that he should lock up his wife until the child be brought back. The child was carefully carried off by the chief who pledged his word to bring her back on the morrow. The grief of the mother can be better imagined than described, and it was a night of anxiety to her and her husband, and most of the following day wore away without bringing relief to their doubts whether the child would ever be restored to them alive. It was not until the sun was on its western de- «line and near the horizon setting across the pathway leading over the bluff from Oriskany that the chief with a retinne of chiefs and squaws, were discov- ered wending their way along the forest trails in all their native dignity, and with them the beautiful little waif perched high on the chief's shoulders decked out in all the splendor of barbarie feathers and wampum, and thus decked the little hostage was safely restored by the elated chieftain to its mother. The heroine of this adventure afterwards married Captain Ells of Whitestown.
This policy of Judge White's triumphed, and he and his neighbors ever afterwards enjoyed the unswerving friendship of the Indians whose deeds of kindness to the settlers are matters of history. It was this incident that gained for the white people the entire confidence of their untutored neighbors, and per- haps no white man who lived among the Six Nations at this time shared their confidence more widely or exercised a more civilizing influenee over them than ·Judge White. Ilis active sympathies for them and neighborly offices dispensed to their tribal households, hegot their full confidence in him as a man, a neigh- bor and a counselor.
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
There was one other incident, however, that perhaps entitled him to the above influence more than his implicit trust and confidence in the fairness of the Indian dealings, and this was the solution of a question as to his muscular fitness for their highest tribal distinction ; and as a test of his manliness in this regard they challenged him on one occasion to wrestle with their champion athlete. In view of his prestige, he could not do otherwise than accept the challenge, and the trial came off in due time. The judge was past fifty-six years of age and had been quite an athlete in his youth, but of late years had not had his hand in at trips, and besides he was inclined to be corpulent, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds, though nearly six feet in height. He was ever noted, however, for his alertness of mind and motion, and to this he was mainly indebted to a victory over his more agile combatant. Immediately after they had fairly clinched, the judge by a quiek and skilful trip, succeeded in throw- ing the Indian. As he saw him falling, in order to prevent the necessity of ever making another trial of his powers or of receiving any new challenges, he managed to fall with his whole weight upon the Indian which drove all of the breath out of the poor fellow's body, and it was some moments before he could get up; at length he slowly arose, shrugged his shoulders with an emphatic, "Ugh! You good fellow, too much." The judge was never called on again for a test of his strength. The Oneida Indians were so pleased with his prowess, that at the suggestion of Skenandoah, IIan Yerry and another Indian, called Good Peter, they, together with other chieftains, appeared at the residence of the judge, and with much pomp and mystery, he was duly adopted into the Oneida tribe of Indians, with all the rights of perpetual suecession. One of the Oneida customs was their annual visit to Oneida lake and Fish creek for the tribal eatch of Salmon; this Judge White attended on one occasion after his adoption to the tribe, and ever after that during his life a portion of the catch was set aside and sent him on account of his tribal privileges.
Hugh White was not a seeker of public position, but he was appointed jus- tice of the peace; afterwards the governor appointed him one of the judges of the county, and he served several years as sueh judge with approbation and honor.
The town that he founded was the gateway to what was known as the gar- den lands of New York state, and the prominence of Judge White soon drew around him in the village the leading elergymen, lawyers and merchants, and it was well recognized for years that the bar of the town of Whitestown was the most distinguished bar west of Albany. Judge White was the master spirit of Whitestown, and at one period there were living no less than fifty-five grand- children of this Whitestown pioneer. He having apportioned his land into seven farms, five for his sons and two for his sons-in-law, dividing them in dis- tances from his own home at the east end of the Whitestown Green according to the age of the child to whom they were given. Hle retained the title of these farms in himself until his death. They were located on what is now known as Ilart's Hill. He died on the 16th of April, 1812, and was buried in the Whites- town cemetery on an eminenee overlooking the Mohawk Valley, and the town of his settlement; the following is the inscription from his tombstone:
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
"Here sleep the remains of IlvGn WHITE Who was born 5th Feb. 1733, at Middletown.
in Connecticut, and died April 16, 1812. In the year 1784 he removed to Sadaquada. now Whitestown, where he was the first white inhabitant in the State of New York west of the German settlement on the Mohawk. He was distinguished for energy and decision of character, and may be justly regarded as a patriot who led the children of New England into the wilderness. As a magistrate, a citizen and a man,
his character for truth and integrity was proverbial."
A hundred years after Judge White's settlement in Whitestown. the advent was deemed so important by the Oneida Historical Society that they erected in June, 1884, on the village green, a granite shaft to commemorate the first set- tlement of Whitestown by Hugh White and family.
The generation succeeding the pioneer's children were so occupied in over- coming the erudities of the wilderness that it does not become necessary for us to take up their history with any partienlarity until the succeeding generation when we find five grandsons of the pioneer worthy of especial mention in the county ; one of them, the
HON. HUGH WINTE
was born in Whitestown. December 25, 1798; he was seventh in lineal descent from the Elder John White, and was a son of Hugh White, Jr., the third son of the pioneer who was for three years a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was for a while on board of a privateer. Ilon. Hugh White was a worthy de- scendant of the illustrious founder of Whitestown. Ile inherited in full meas- ure the noble characteristics of the race. He was upwards of six feet in height, weighed about 250 pounds, with flashing black eyes and strong manly bearing. Ilis earlier education in the common schools was interspersed with hard labor on the parental farm, and this occupation in those days meant labor such as the present generation scarcely comprehend. He remained at home enjoying a quarter's schooling each winter until 1819, when he commenced a continuous routine of instruction, partly under the counsel and encouragement of his elder brother, Canvass White, who was at the time of his death the leading engineer in the construction of canals, and who was the originator of the Croton water system for New York city. IIngh White prepared for college under the guid- ance of his distinguished brother. Canvass, and was graduated from Hamilton College in 1823. after the customary four years in a full classical course. After graduating at Hamilton College. he fitted for the bar in the office of Colonel Charles G. Haines of New York city, having as a fellow student John A. Dix. Ile soon turned his attention, however, to business pursuits, and in 1825 was located in Chittenango, engaged in the manufacture of a water lime ealled
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for ! Life.
Life Pass Issued to Fortune C. White by the first board of directors of the Hudson River Railroad
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AOMLENGE PANDEMIETHE PIOMFER SETTL POFWII ESTOVANÉMEC .. (MEPCEOF THE STATE OF NEW YORK OWES MUCH TO JE ENERGY AND ABILITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HEP RAILROADS
A CIVIL ENGINEER UND TRA 3. .. OF HIGH WHITE THE PIONEER ETTL OFWITT OWN THE TATE OFNEW YORKOWES MACHT {'. EN1. 'AND 46 ITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION F TI ERIE CA JAL
CHIEF ENGINEER OF ROME
MODEL OF THE "CHIEF ENGINEER OF ROME"
The first boat built for the Erie Canal, by which the trial trip was made, Ptica to Rome, October 23, 1819. This model brought from England in 1\17, was presented to the Buffalo Historical Society, by William 6. Young, 1967.
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
White's Water Proof Cement, it being the first cement made in America; this he afterwards manufactured at Rondout in Ulster county ; later he built up the Rosendale Cement Works where he manufactured much of the cement used on the Croton Aqueduct. He was also largely interested and engaged in the de- velopment of the water power of Cohoes on the Mohawk. In 1844 he was chosen representative to Congress where he served three terms. He was then active with the Litchfields. D. B. St. John, Governor IIunt, John Stryker and others in building the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroads which were carried to a successful conclusion. In 1830 he moved to Cohoes, Saratoga county, where he resided until his death, which occurred October 6. 1870. Mr. White was also engaged in other enterprises of a manufacturing and business nature. He took and executed large private contracts, and followed agricultural pur- suits somewhat extensively all his life. He was a man of strict integrity, hon- est, npright and broad minded, and won honorable distinction; he was persis- tent in pursuit of a purpose, though impassionate in his manner of obtaining it. Ile conscientiously respected the rights and privileges of others and aided many a struggling man on the road to success and prosperity. No person ever left a fairer name or a more unblemished record. He was of a frank and pa- triotie nature, always acted with the whigs and republicans, and while in con- gress, though not gifted as a parliamentary debater, yet he exercised an im- portant influence on legislation in the house and held prominent places among the committees. As a climax to his legislative career, it was well understood in Washington that on his retirement from congress he was to be appointed United States minister to Spain, but the early demise of President Taylor, and the sne- ceeding of Vice President Fillmore to the presidency, disappointed him and his friends and supporters.
Hugh White was born a business man, his plans were broad and comprehen- sive, his mind was analytical, and his intellectual grasp of methods was marvel- ous; he was persistent and practical, and was possessed of an indomitable will with rare executive talent ; he was also experienced as a financier. He was president of the Saratoga County National Bank at the time of his death. In religion he was a life-long Presbyterian, and was a liberal benefactor and an active promoter of all public enterprises. Mr. White was married in the thir- tieth year of his age, to Maria Mills Mansfield, daughter of William Punderson Mansfield of Kent, Connectieut. She was a lady of much education and refine- ment and of exemplary womanly graces. a mother, helpmate and friend in the highest sense of the terms, and died in July, 1888. Only two children survive them : a son, William Mansfield White, whose sketch appears in this volume. and Isabel, wife of Hon. W. W. Niles, a prominent lawyer of New York city.
CANVASS WHITE.
ADAPTED FROM "LIVES AND WORKS OF CIVIL AND MILITARY ENGINEERS OF AMERICA," BY CHARLES B. STUART, C. E., 1871.
The most conspicuous of the grandsons of Pioneer White was Canvass White, also a son of Hugh White above mentioned, and an elder brother of Hon. Hugh
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY
White just above spoken of. He was born in Whitestown, Oneida County, Sep- tember . 1790. His mother was Tryphenia Lawrence of Canaan, Connecticut. of Puritan descent, and from his Puritan parents he derived those traits of in- tegrity, indefatigable industry, and purity of character for which his publie life was so distinguished an example.
Canvass White had a feebleness of constitution that caused his early years to be a constant struggle between disease and health. Ilis mother was a deli- cate lady unused to the rough exposure incident to pioneer life, and died when he was ten years old. At an early age he began to display a talent for inven- tion and a genius for improvements that resulted in the construction of several domestic and agricultural implements, which were in use for many years on the paternal homestead and in the neighborhood. IFis minority was spent mainly on his father's farm, with such advantages only for acquiring an education as the very limited common schools of that period afforded; and it was not until the winter of 1803 that an opportunity oceurred for him to pursue those studies essential to success in the profession he had chosen. In February. 1803, he entered Fairfield Academy and there studied mathematies, astronomy, chemis- try, mineralogy and surveying until he completed the course, after which he continued these studies under Dr. Josiah Noyes, of Clinton, N. Y. At the age of seventeen years he became a clerk in the store of Colonel Carpenter, where he remained until the spring of 1811, during which period he gained the entire confidenee of his employer and became a general favorite with all his acquain- tanees. At this time, his health became precarious, a sea voyage was advised as a means of restoration. He therefore shipped as super-cargo on board a mer- chant vessel bound for Russia, and did not return until October, 1812. The captain, while in Russia, remained ignorant of the declaration of war and com- mencement of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain, and took in an assorted cargo and sailed for Hull. England. He was unaware of the war until they entered the Engilsh port, when they were made prisoners and their ship and its cargo seized. For some unexplained reason the captain and erew. however, were released, permitted to discharge their ship. take in another lading, and continue their homeward voyage. The ship had scarcely cleared the mouth of the Humber when a violent storm and high tide drove them ashore, leaving the vessel, when the tide receded, sixty rods from the sea. An inspection of the bottom of the ship disclosed the faet that much of the planking was completely rotten. Young White advised that new planks be substituted and a channel opened through the sand that would admit the tide to the stranded boat. A few days later the ship was on her way to New York, where she ar- rived in the latter part of September.
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