USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 54
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Samuel W. Stewart, M.D., was born at North Argyle, Washington Co., N. Y., in the year 1800.
He studied with Dr. Sill, and graduated at Fairfield Medical College. He practiced at New Haven, Oswego Co., and at Bridgewater several years, and in 1833 removed to Clinton, N. Y. In 1845 he became a convert to and practitioner of the homoeopathic school of medicine. He spent several months in Newark, N. J., after which he returned to Clinton, and in 1847 removed to Utica, where he remained until his death, June 20, 1854.
.
His standing as an allopathic physician was fully equal to that of any other physician in Oncida County. In the diagnosis and prognosis of disease he had no superior and few equals. A thorough and earnest Christian gentleman, of strict integrity of character, he commenced and pursued with success the homoeopathic practice of cure, and aided largely in its introduction in Oneida County.
Dr. S. Z. Haven was born in Chesterfield, N. H., Sept. 6, 1794. He was licensed to practice in 1821, and practiced in Waterville in 1835 ; he was absent from there one year, returned and stayed two year's, and then removed to Utica, where he practiced as an old-school physician for eight years. He changed his practice to homeopathy in 1846, and three years after removed to Buffalo. He is now in feeble health, and is living with his son in Chicago. He was the first president of the Erie County Homoeopathic Medical Society.
John A. Paine, M.D., was born in Whitestown, Oneida Co., July 10, 1795. He studied medicine under Dr. Seth Hastings, of Clinton, and graduated from the medical de- partment of Yale College in 1825. He commenced prac- tice in Volney, Oswego Co., N. Y. He moved thence to Paris, Oneida Co., and afterwards to Utica, N. Y., Newark,
N. J., and Albany, N. Y. In 1853 he removed from Al- bany, and located in this county again, remaining twelve years,-seven years near Hartford, and five in Utica. In 1865 he moved again to Newark, N. J., and, in 1871, to Lake Forest, Ill: He was elected president of the Essex County (Allopathic) Medical Society three times. In 1843 he was converted to homeopathy, and became a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy in 1844. He was elected a fellow and corresponding member of the Homco- pathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1853, and Pres- ident of the Oneida County Society in 1858. As a prac- titioner he possessed several desirable mental characteristics. His influence over his patients was very positive, control- ling them evidently by a strong magnetic power, which was accompanied by a most remarkable urbanity of manner. He also manifested considerable originality of method in determining the latent and active causes of disease, and in the proper adaptation and application of remedies: He died in Lake Forest, Ill., June 16, 1871, aged seventy-six years.
Dr. Hiram Hadley was born at Weare, N. H., May 26, 1800. At the age of twenty-one he went to Fairfield, N. Y., where he commenced the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. James Hadley, who was at that time a professor in the Fairfield Medical College. He graduated after a four years' course of study and lectures, returned to New Hampshire, and practiced there until 1831, when he re- moved to Salisbury, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and in 1851 removed to Boonville, where he commenced the practice of homeopathy, to which he had been converted through the efforts of Dr. W. B. Stebbins, of Little Falls, and Dr. Rosa, of Watertown. He was elected president of Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1864. He died March 13, 1876.
John L. Kellogg, M.D., was born in Manlius, Onondaga Co., in 1811. He studied medicine at New Hartford, N. Y., under Daniel Thomas, M.D., and graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, June, 1837. Commenced practice in the autumn of the same year, at Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y., where he remained until 1840; thence removed to Bridgewater, N. Y., where he continued in practice until 1857.
Dr. Kellogg then removed to Chicago, where he is now engaged in practice. About the year 1847, Dr. Kellogg's attention was called to the subject of homoeopathy by Dr. E. A. Munger. Although feeling none of the bitterness of our modern " Sauls," still Dr. Kellogg found it difficult to eradicate his preconceived opinions that the whole matter was a delusion. However, after years of careful study, proving of drugs and homeopathic application of them, he became thoroughly converted, and is now one of the firmest supporters of the doctrines of Hahnemann.
Dr. Silas Bailey was born May 9, 1815. He graduated at the Berkshire Medical College in 1835. Practiced allo- pathy ten years, and changed practice about 1845, through the influence of Dr. J. S. Douglass, of Hamilton, N. Y., now residing in Milwaukee, Wis. He practiced in Toledo, Ohio, a number of years, and in 1877 returned to Bridge- water, where he still resides.
Dr. L. B. Wells was born at Pompey, Onondaga Co.,
205
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Oct. 8, 1810. He studied medicine with Drs. Pomeroy and Batchelder, and graduated at the Fairfield Medical Col- lege in 1831. He practiced in Utica as assistant to Dr. Batchelder until November, 1832, when he went to Fabius, Onondaga Co., remaining until 1837, when he returned to Pompey, where he remained until July, 1851, when he removed to Utica, where he is still engaged in practice. He became a thorough convert to the principles and practice of homoeopathy in 1846. He was elected president of the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1864, and president of the State Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1870. He became a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1848.
J. C. Raymond, M.D., was born in Troy, in 1823. He studied medicine with Dr. Munger, of Waterville. He at- tended a course of lectures at the University of New York, and received a diploma from the Oneida County Medical Society in 1849. In 1850 he attended a course of lectures at the Homoeopathic College of Pennsylvania, receiving its diploma March 3, 1851. He helped organize the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society, and was elected its president in 1862. He enjoyed the confidence of a large number of patrons, and in 1877 went West, and is now located at Oakland, Cal.
W. H. Watson, M.D., was born at Providence, R. I., Nov. 8, 1829. He graduated at Brown University in 1852, and studied medicine with Dr. A. H. Okie, of Provi- dence. He attended medical lectures at the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, the University of Penn- sylvania, and the Pennsylvania Hospital, in Philadelphia; and after receiving his degree he located in Utica, where he enjoys a lucrative practice. He was one of the founders of the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society, and was elected its president in 1860. He was elected presi- dent of the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1868.
Dr. Thomas F. Pomeroy was born at Cooperstown, May 11, 1816. He graduated at Union College in 1836, and at Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College in 1853. He spent six years in practice in Utica, N. Y., after which he removed to Detroit, Mich., where he still resides. He was elected first secretary of the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society, and held the office till his removal from the county.
H. M. Paine, M.D, was born in Paris, Oneida Co., N. Y., Nov. 19. 1827. He studied medicine with his father, Dr. John A. Paine, and graduated at the medical depart- ment of the University of New York. He immediately commenced practice in Albany, N. Y., in the office of his father. In 1855 he removed to Clinton, Oncida Co., where he resided ten years, after which he returned to Albany, where he still resides. He was secretary of the Oneida Connty Homeopathic Medical Society from 1858 until he left the county, in 1865. He was elected secretary of the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society at its or- ganization, in 1859, and held it for thirteen years, laboring. actively and efficiently to perfect its organization.
The present practitioners of homeopathy in Oncida County are as follows : Drs. L. B. Wells, M. M. Gardner, W. H. Watson, C. J. Hill, M. O. Terry, J. de V. Moore,
C. E. Chase, Utica ; S. O. Scudder, A. B. Southwick, Rome; E. A. Munger, - Allen, Waterville; S. Bailey, Bridgewater ; L. Bishop, Sanquoit ; W. Warren, Boonville ; R. S. Spencer, Trenton ; G. A. Gifford, Clayville ; - Griffith, Knoxboro'.
The following is a list of the members of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of Oneida County, with their residences and date of admission to the society :
.E. A. Munger, Waterville, Oct. 20, 1857.
L. B. Wells, Utica, Oct. 20, 1857.
J. C. Raymond, Utica, Oct. 20, 1857. Thomas F. Pomeroy, Utica, Oct. 20, 1857.
Wm. H. Watson, Utica, Oct. 20, 1857.
H. E. Dykeman, Utica, Oct. 20, 1857.
J. A. Paine, Utica, Oct. 20, 1857.
H. M. Paine, Clinton, Oct. 20, 1857.
Win. B. Stebbins, Little Falls, Oct. 20, 1857.
A. A. Mason, Knox Corners, June 22, 1858.
D. D. Loomis, Bridgewater, Oct. 19, 1858 ..
Leverett Bishop, Sanquoit, June 21, 1859.
Silas Bailey, Utica, June 21, 1859.
C. Judson Hill, Utica, June 21, 1859. Woodward Warren, Deerfield Corners, June 21, 1859.
S. O. Scudder, Rome, June 21, 1859.
M. M. Gardner, Holland Patent, Oct. 18, 1859.
Nathan Spencer, Winfield, Jan. 19, 1860.
Hiram Hadley, Boonville, Oct. 16; 1860.
J. W. Mower, West Schuyler, June 19, 1861. Harrison Willis, Clinton, June 19, 1865.
Gains J. Jones, Holland Patent, Oct. 16, 1866.
The above list was subscribed to the original constitution and by-laws adopted Oct. 20, 1857.
The following roll embraces the names of members sub- scribed to the constitution and by-laws adopted Oct. 15, 1861 : Nathan Spencer, G. A. Gifford, W. B. Stebbins, J. C. Raymond, Leverett Bishop, Silas Bailey, L. B. Wells, J. W. Mower, Abram Guiwits, J. Younglove, Wm. Landt, H. M. Paine, Wm. H. Watson, S. O. Sendder, G. W. Bailey, M. M. Gardner, John A. Paine, E. A. Munger, Woodward Warren, George B. Palmer, L. B. Waldo, D. D. Joslin, C. Judson Hill, G. J. Jones, A. B. Southwick, Aug. E. Zeit- ler, C. H. Thompson, David W. Vander Burgh, Selden H. Talcott, Arthur M., Woodruff, M. O. Terry, C. E. Chase, L. L. Brainard, H. J. Spencer, C. A. Osborne, Arthur Beach, Randall Lamont Spencer, W. Estus Deuel, Hiram Hadley.
Honorary Members .- Thomas F. Pomeroy, Silas Bailey, D. D. Loomis, C. W. Boyce, J. R. White, R. B. Landon, L. B. Waldo, D. Chase, E. R. Hcath, Carroll Dunham, H. M. Smith, H. Robinson, Sr., H. Barton Fellows, W. A. Hawley, A. R. Morgan, A. J. Bigelow, W. H. Hoyt, G. L. Gifford, Ira C. Owen, Marcus M. Catlin, J. A. Paine, H. M. Paine, C. J. Thompson, A. E. Zeitler, G. W. Bailey, Edward Loomis, A. E. Wallace, Leverett Bishop, Charles A. Church.
The following gentlemen have served the society in the capacity of president and secretary since its organization. The chairman of the first meeting, held at Utica, Oct. 20, 1857, was Dr. J. A. Paine ; secretary, Dr. Thomas F. Pomeroy.
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
REGULAR OFFICERS.
Presidents.
Secretaries .*
1858.
E. A. Munger.
1859.
J. A. Paine.
Thomas F. Pomeroy. H. M. Paine
(S. & T.).
1860
Leverett Bishop.
1861.
.Wm. H. Watson.
1862
. Wm. B. Stebbins.
1863.
.J. C. Raymond.
"
1864.
.L. B. Wells.
1865.
Hiram Hadley.
M. M. Gardner. "
1866.
S. O. Scudder.
1867.
C. J. Hill.
G. J. Jones.
1868
L. B. Wells.
H. Willis.
1869
E. A. Munger.
1870.
.M. M. Gardner.
G. A. Gifford.
1871
. N. Spencer.
1872.
L. B. Wells.
D. W. Vander Burgh. '
1873
E. A. Munger.
1874.
.J. C. Raymond.
M. O. Terry.
¥
1875
.Selden H. Taleott.
1876 ...
. Woodward Warren. C. E. Chase.
1877
E. A. Munger.
1878
Silas Bailey.
PRESENT MEMBERSHIP.
Utica .- L. B. Wells, J. C. Raymond, W. H. Watson, M. M. Gardner, C. J. Hill, M. O. Terry, C. E. Chase, J. de V. Moore.
Rome .- S. O. Scudder, A. B. Southwick.
Waterville .- E. A. Munger.
Bridgewater .- Silas Bailey.
Sanquoit .- Leverett Bishop.
Clayville .- G. A. Gifford.
West Winfield .- H. J. Spencer.
Boonville .- Woodward Warren.
Trenton .- R. L. Spencer.
Knoxboro' .- - Griffiths.
Herkimer County, Little Falls .-- W. B. Stebbins, L. L. Brainard.
Frankfort .- W. E. Deuel:
Mohawk .- William Landt.
Salisbury Centre .- Abram Guiwits.
Ilion .- Arthur Beach.
The following are the officers for 1878 :
President .-- Dr. Silas Bailey.
Vice-President .- Dr. G. A. Gifford.
Secretary and Treasurer .- Dr. C. E. Chase.
Censors .-- Drs. W. Estos Denel, L. L. Brainard, H. J. Spencer, William H. Watson.
Delegates to State Society .-- Drs. G. W. Bailey, one year; L. L. Brainard, two years ; C. E. Chase, three years ; Arthur Beach, four years.
Delegate to American Institute .- M. O. Terry.
THE EARLY BAR OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
BY HON. WILLIAM J. BACON.#
In the carly settlement of a new country, the ministers and the administrators of the law occupy usually no promi- nent position. Amid the scenes and occupations that attend the advent of new-comers to the virgin soil and the primeval forest there is little opportunity for the exercise of their craft, and they are apt to be regarded, not as cssen- tial and valuable occupiers, but rather as interlopers and cumberers of the ground. The first struggle in a new country is for the means of subsistence, and the pioneers
are those who can most effectually " lift axes upon the big trees," and prepare the ground that it may afford " seed to the sower and bread to the eater." The men of enterprise and of toil, the men who practice the more useful, and to the settlers the more needful, mechanical callings, the black - smiths, the millwrights, the masons, the carpenters and joiners, are the men in most demand, and whose services may fairly be deemed most essential in starting the ma- chinery, or, to change the figure, planting the germ from which is to be evolved that wonderful result, an organized civil community.
Following the good old New England precedent, the next thing in order to the subdning of the soil, and the construction of the first rude tenements for human habita- tion-or rather, as was far more generally the case, coinci- dent and contemporaneous with these-were the erection of tlie school-house and the organization of the church; for our fathers did not believe that any community had the promise of long life, or possessed within itself the germ of perpetuity, that had not for its corner stones education and religion. To both these institutions the feet of infancy und youth were to be carefully guided, training them in the one to habits of constant attendance and devont atten- tion, and in the other imparting to them solid instruction and subjecting them to appropriate discipline .. In the one, the " chief end of man" was taught from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, supplemented in the other by the New England Primer, from which we learned that
" In Adam's fall We sinned all,"
and other useful lessons, if not more humiliating doctrines. The existence of these two kindred New England institu- tions, and the uses they in part subserved, is pleasantly commemorated by Oliver Wendell Holmes, when he tells us that
"There stands the old school-house hard by the old church, The tree by its side had the flavor of birch ; Oh, sweet were the days of our juvenile tricks, Tho' the prairie of life was so full of big lickx."
In these days, when Young America votes Solomon an old fogy, and even parental authority at times scarcely entitled to any better name than usurpation, these " big licks" would be deemed, in Dogberry's phrase, " most tolerable, and not to be endured." But without discussing the question, which fiads here, no proper place, I may be permitted to doubt whether these occasional more vigorous afflictions, or the gentler manipulations of the rod in the hands of an earnest but loving mother, whose heart yearned over the child whom her firm hand was subjecting to need- ful discipline, ever harmed the subject of them, or failed to teach him that primary lesson that in a well-ordered family, as in a well-ordered state, submission to lawful authority is the first duty of the citizen to render, as it is the most imperative obligation of the government to exact.
Whenever human society emerges from its primitive and rude clements, and begins to assume its organized form, then comes the reign of law, and the creation of those institutions through which it moves and brings its powers and influence to bear upon the community. Courts become necessary in order to the euforcement of rights,
# This office combines both secretary and treasurer.
t Published in this work by permission of Judge Bacon.
"
207
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the suppression of wrongs, the infliction of penalties, and the punishment of crime. Then the ministers of the law find their place, and the machinery is set in operation by which defined and regulated justice takes the place of what in new countries, almost from the necessity of the case, is tolerated as the "wild justice of Lynch law." It is not to my purpose to inquire into the mode in which justice was administered in the county of Montgomery, in which what is now Oneida County was included, and which extended from its eastern boundary westward and north- ward to the great lakes, including all the territory in this State lying west of this county. It was in the year 1798 that the county of Oneida was severed from the county of Herkimer, of which it formed a part, and then included within its boundaries not only its present territory, but all of Madison, Oswego, Lewis, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence,- a pretty extensive region in which to hold courts and prac- tice law. In the act defining the territorial limits, provision was made for the creation of a court of Common Pleas and General Sessions, and. three terms were ordered to be held during the year at the " school-house near Fort Stanwix," which I need hardly add means Rome; but no Circuit Court or Court of Oyer and Terminer was to be held in the county, " unless the justices of the Supreme Court should, in their judgment, deem it necessary and proper."
The same act provided that a court-house and jail should be erected at such place, within a mile of Fort Stanwix, in the town of Rome, as the supervisor should designate. It was not to be expected that educated and experienced lawyers could be found at that early day to preside over and conduct the business of the courts of Common Pleas, fur of such there were as yet scarce any to be found within the boundaries of the newly-formed county. Fair-minded, intelligent, and upright laymen were selected for these stations, and accordingly the first incumbents of the Her- kimer Common Pleas, which then included Oneida County, were Henry Staring, judge, and Jedediah Sanger and Amos Wetmore, justices. Of the first of these men a very graphic, and, I am inelined to think, a very just sketch, is given by our former highly-esteemed townsman, William Tracy, Esq., of New York, in the two most valuable and entertaining lectures delivered by him in this city, more than thirty years ago. Staring was a plain, honest, Dutch farmer, living at German Flats, of limited education, but with a large stock of common sense and sound judgment, and, above all, an incorruptible integrity. His sense of the inviolability of contracts and the duty of fulfilling them is well illustrated in the amusing but well-authenticated incident of his refusing a discharge to an applicant for the benefit of the insolvent act until he had paid all his debts; to be relieved from which, it need hardly be said, was the very object and purpose of the application.
. The first record we have of any court held within the territory of what is now the county of Oneida is in October; 1793, when a court of Common Pleas was held in a barn belonging to Judge Sanger, in the town of New Hartford ; and over this court Judge Staring presided, assisted by Justices Sanger and Wetmore. An incident occurred at this session of the court, which is se amusing and illustra- tive that I venture to reproduce it substantially as it is
.
related by Tracy in the lectures already alluded to. The day was cold and chilly, and the barn, of course, had no appli- ances for creating artificial warmth. In the absence of these, and with a view to keeping their faculties awake, some of the attending lawyers had induced the sheriff (an impulsive and obliging Irishman, named Colbraith) to produce a jug of ardent spirits, which was quietly circulated around the bar, and from which each one decanted (taking it like oysters raw from the shell) the quantity that would suffice to keep them up to concert pitch. While this was going on the judges, who were suffering from the cold without any such adventitious relief, consulted together, and con- cluded that rather than freeze in their seats they would. adjourn the court until the ensuing day. Just as they were about to announce this conclusion, and to call on the sheriff to make the usual proclamation, the latter sprang up with the jug in his hand, and handing it up to the Bench exclaimed, " Oh, no, no, judge, don't adjourn yet. Take a little gin ; that will keep you warm. "Taint time to adjourn yet." Tradition says the court yielded to the soft persua- sion and, in the language now common and familiar to our ears, " smiled," and proceeded with the business of the court. . What sort of justice prevailed during the remainder of that day the historian of the incident does not tell us, and contemporary tradition is silent on the subject .*
The county of Oneida having been finally separated from Herkimer, as I have stated, in 1798, the first Court of Common Pleas for Oneida County was held in the month of May of that year, at the school-house near Fort-Stan- wix. I am not aware that the precise site of this primeval seat of justice is known, or is capable of ascertainment: Over this court Judge Sanger presided, assisted by David Ostrom, of Utica, and George Huntington, of Rome, names well and honorably known in the history of our county. It would gratify a harmless curiosity if we could learn from any source whether the opening of this first court of justice was attended with any of those forms and solemnities that marked the convening of the courts in New England from an early day, and which are still, to a large extent, main- tained there. To my youthful eye, few things were more solenin er imposing than the spectacle of the high sheriff of the county with his drawn sword, the emblem of stern and speedy retribution, marching with measured tread in advance of the column headed by the judges, followed by. the bar, and then by the jurors and. citizens, all in their proper places of subordination, flanked on either side by. the constables with their white wands and with dignified step as became the occasion, filing into the court-house, and, without noise or confusion, all finding their appropriate places. The opening service was a prayer for guidance from the great Fountain-head of justice and of truth ; and when the erier proclaimed that silence was to be preserved
* Since the delivery of this lecture Judge Jones, who is the highest authority in the local history of our county, has discovered that the venue of the above story is wrongly laid. He has shown by docu- mentary evidence that the first court in Oneida County was held in a "church," and not in a "barn." But the main incident is undoubtedly authentic, and although compelled to give up the barn, I shall hold tenacionsly to the "jug" and its contents. We may still be obliged to say, in the words of the Italian proverb, " Sinon e vero, e ben trovato."
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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
" while the charge was being delivered to the grand jury; on pain of imprisonment," the solemnity that fell upon the audience was profound. The sheriff performed the duty of maintaining quiet among the spectators as much by his presence as by the terrors which were supposed to Jurk in that sword, now slieathed, but ready to the boyish appre- hension to leap from its scabbard in punishment of any un- timely levity, and was personified by such a functionary whom I knew in Berkshire County, of whom it was said, he
"Serves process on. debtor, and sentence on sinner, And promptly and rigidly executes dinner." -
We have changed all this now. Our judges no longer wear the ermine, the emblem of purity, aud the sword of justice too often rusts in its scabbard unused, or gleams with fitful or uncertain light. Perhaps this may, by some, be deemed an improvement upon antiquated and effete cus- toms, but the suggestion may be pardoned whether some degree of outward form and ceremony, although it possesses no intrinsic merit; may not aid our estimate of the dignity of the things they represent, and teach the thoughtless and untutored mind to respect, and the criminal to fear, the power that stands behind these visible signs, and gives them potency to punish.
At this term of the court it was announced by the sheriff, Charles C. Brodhead, Esq. (name dear to Dutchdom), that the jail at Whitestown was completed, and all tlrings were ready for the reception of the expected guests. I suppose that the people felt then that matters had pro- gressed to a most desirable climax, very much like the sailor who was cast ashore from the wreck of a ship upon an un- known coast, but who, when in his wanderings his eye fell on a gibbet, devoutly thanked God that he was " in a civil- ized and Christian country."
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