History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 61

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

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 61

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

II. Hamilton College.

Hamilton Oneida Academy closed its formal existence Sept. 10, 1812. In order to obtain a college charter, and a grant of $50,000 from the Legislature for its endowment, it was found necessary to raise by subscription another fund of $50,000. Rev. Caleb Alexander, of Fairfield, Her- kimer County, was employed to undertake this work, and by his energy and skill secured in a few months a sum which, with the estimated value of the academy buildings and lands ($15,000), amounted to $52,844.64. A charter was granted May 22, 1812. The trustees immediately completed the unfinished portions of the academy and put the whole in good repair. They then proceeded to the election of a faculty, choosing Rev. Azel Backus, D.D., of Bethlehem, Conn., as President; Rev. Seth Norton, Pro- fessor of Languages ; Josiah Noyes, M.D., Professor of Chemistry ; and Theodore Strong, Tutor. The doors of the college were opened for students Oct. 24, 1812, and regular recitations commenced on the 1st of November following. Dr. Backus was inaugurated president Dec. 3, 1812, in the Congregational Church at Clinton. Hc. died after four years of service, Dec. 28, 1816. His successor was Rev. Henry Davis, D.D., an alumnus of Yale College. He had been professor of languages in Union College, and at the time of his election here was president of Middle- bury College, and had also been recently appointed president of Yale, to succeed the eminent Timothy Dwight. He

however accepted the position in Hamilton College, and was inaugurated in the fall of 1817. Dr. Davis continued In office sixteen years. He died at Clinton, March 7, 1852, aged cighty-two years.

Dr. Davis was succeeded in the presidency of the college, in the fall of 1833, by Rev. Sereno E. Dwight, D.D., a son of Timothy Dwight. Owing to ill health he resigned his position after two ycars' service. He died November 30, 1850.

Rev. Joseph Penney, D.D., of Northampton, Mass., was elected to the presidency in the fall of 1835, and held the position until 1839, when he resigned. He was succeeded the same year by Rev. Simeon North, D.D., then professor of languages in the college. Dr. North's terui of office lasted eighteen years, and during it the affairs of the insti- tution prospered greatly. At the time of his election to the chair of ancient languages, but Dine students were in attendance, while at his resignation of the presidency there were one hundred and thirty-nine. At his inauguration the treasury was almost empty ; during his term of service it was largely replenished, new buildings were erected, and several new professorships were created.

President North was succeeded in 1858 by Rev. Samuel W. Fisher, D.D., of Cincinnati, who remained till 1866. Rev. Samuel Gilman Brown, D.D., formerly a professor in Dartmouth College, was elected to the presidency of Ham- ilton in 1866, and still retains the position .. During his administration the college has received nuinerous and valu- able pecuniary gifts, and stands to-day on a broad and firm foundation, rendering it one of the most prominent institu- tions of learning and culture in the country. .

Among the professors who have occupied positions in the college are the following, viz. : John H. Lathrop, Simeon North, Charles Avery, Marcus Catlin, Oren Root, James Hadley, John Monteith, Elcazer S. Barrows, William Kirk- land, John Wayland, Henry Mandeville, John - Finley Smith, Edward North, Theodore Dwight, Anson J. Upson, William S. Curtis, William N. MeHarg, Christian H. F. Peters, Ellicott Evans, Edward Wallenstein Root, and Samuel D. Wilcox.

The treasurers of the college have been as follows : Eras- tus Clark, from 1812 to 1825 ; James Dean, 1825 to 1828; Othniel Williams, 1828 to 1832; Benjamin W. Dwight, M.D., 1832 to 1850 ; Othniel S. Williams, LL.D., 1850 to the present time. The trustees have uniformly been men of high repute; honorable, enterprising, and respected by all with whom they had dealings.

From the beginning the college has received subscriptions for its support from many sources, not the least amounts being from the poorer classes. The town in which it is located (Kirkland) has always been generous in its aid, and in the raising of funds for its endowment the several presi- dents, professors, and treasurers, and many of the trustees have taken an active part. Rev. Caleb Alexander, Prof. Charles Avery, and Dr. North, labored perseveringly in its behalf. In 1859, Rev. N. W. Gocrtner, D.D., was appointed a special commissioner to secure a more ample and permanent endowment of the college. His work has been prosecuted with such zeal that upwards of $200,000 have been raised for the benefit of the institution.

# Gridley's Kirkland.

232

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The South College, the Commons' Hall (now used as the Cabinet), and the old president's house, were built during the administration of Dr. Backus. The Oneida Academy Hall was removed, and the chapel, Kirkland Hall, and Dexter Hall were erected (though the latter was not fin- ished ) during the presidency of Dr. Davis. Dexter Hall was afterwards completed by a special subscription raised for that purpose by President North. The Commons' Hall was fitted up for a mineralogical and geological cabinet, and the gymnasium, the laboratory, and the astronomical observatory were erected during Dr. North's presidency. During the same period the old president's house, which stood a few rods southeast of the South College, was removed to its present location ; additional land east of the college buildings was purchased, and the entire grounds were laid ont in their present order. The Library Hall and the new president's house were erected during the administration of Dr. Brown,

Executive Committee, 1877-78 .- Hon. Othniel S. Wil- liams, LL.D., Rev. Philemon H. Fowler, D.D., William D. Walcott, Esq., Rev. Samuel G. Brown, D.D., LL.D., Publius V. Rogers, A.M., Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, LL.D.

Faculty .- Rev. Samuel Gilman Brown, D.D., LL.D., president, and Walcott Professor of the Evidences of Chris- tianity ; Charles Avery, LL.D., Professor Emeritus of Chemistry; Rev. Nicholas Westerman Goertner, D.D., College Pastor ; Christian Henry Frederick Peters, Ph.D., Litchfield Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Litchfield Observatory ; Ellicott Evans, LL.D., Maynard Knox, Professor of Law, History, Civil Polity, and Politi- cal Economy ; Edward North, L.H.D., Edward Robinson Professor of the Greek Language and Literature ; Rev. John William Mears, D.D., Albert Barnes Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Instructor in Modern Languages ; Albert Huntington Chester, A.M., E. M. Childs Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, and Professor of General Chemistry ; Rev. Abel Grosvenor Hopkins, A.M., Benjamin Bates Professor of the Latin Language and Literature; Chester Huntington, A.M., Professor of Natu- ral Philosophy and Librarian ; Rev. Henry Allyn Frink, A.M., Kingsley Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and Elocu- tion ; Rev. Jermain Gildersleeve Porter, A.M., Assistant Professor of Astronomy.

The following paragraphs are clipped from the Annual Catalogue for 1877-78 :

Astronomy .- As a means of giving more complete in- struction in this department, and also for the purpose of original observation, an astronomical observatory has been erected on the college grounds. The astronomical profes- sorship and the observatory have been very liberally endowed by the Hon. Edwin C. Litchfield, LL.D., of Brooklyn.

The observatory consists of a central building, with wings on the cast and west sides. The central building is 27 feet square, and two stories high, surmounted by a revolv- ing tower 20 feet in diameter. The great Equatorial in the tower, constructed by Spencer and Eaton, has an object- glass of 13.5 inches in diameter, and a focal length of nearly 16 feet ; it is provided with six positive and six negative eye-pieces, with a ring and a filar micrometer. For solar observations it has a prismatic polarizing eye-piece of origi-

nal construction by Robert B. Tolles, of Boston, Mass. The declination circle of 24 inches, by means of four ver- niers, reads to four seconds of arc; the hour-circle of 14 inches, by means of two verniers, reads to two seconds of time. The instrument is mounted upon a granite shaft nine feet in height, resting upon a pier of solid masonry. A clock-work, with Bond's isodynamic escapement and spring governor, causes the telescope to follow the daily motions of the stars, by acting upon long arms attached to the equatorial axis. The wings are each eighteen feet square ; the east room is used as an office for the director. In the west room is mounted a portable transit instrument of two and a half inches aperture, the gift of Hon. Anson S. Miller, LL.D., of Rockford, Ill., and constructed by W. Wurdeman, of Washington, D. C. It has a cast-iron folding stand in- vented by the maker.

Near the transit is an astronomical clock, constructed by William Bond & Son, Boston, and presented by the late Hon. Wm. Curtis Noyes, of New York. It is regulated for mean time, and provided with the break-circuit for telegraphic operations. By the side of the clock is a chronograph of Bond's most recent construction, and regulated by the spring governor, presented by Michael Moore, Esq., of Trenton Falls. These instruments have been connected by a telegraphic wire with the nearest station ; and the longi- tude of the observatory has thus been accurately determined by exchanging star signals with the Harvard College Ob- servatory, at Cambridge, Mass.

In its turn, the Litchfield Observatory already has become the basis of several longitudes in the State, determined under the auspices of the Regents of the University at Buffalo, Syracuse, Elmira, Ogdensburgh, and of the longi- tude of the Detroit Observatory at Ann Arbor, Mich., which latter forms the fundamental point for the longitudes of the Luke Survey. The latest work of this kind has been to determine the longitude of the western boundary of the State of New York.

Besides, the observatory has a sidereal chronometer, con- structed by the same makers, with Hartnup's improved combination balance; this instrument was the gift of the late Hon. George Underwood, of Auburn.

A Morse telegraph apparatus also has been presented by the late S. W. Chubbuck, of Utica, and an aneroid barom- eter by the late Simeon Benjamin, of Elmira.

In order to observe the total eclipse of the sun, Aug. 7, 1869, Mr. Edwin C. Litchfield presented a fine portable telescope, so that an expedition could be organized, and pro- ceed from this observatory to Des Moines, Iowa. The cost of the expedition was likewise defrayed by the liberality of Mr. Litchfield. The telescope, the make of Messrs. Stein- heil Sons, of Munich, has four (French) inches aperture, five feet focal length, and is mounted parallactically on a solid iron tripod, with setting circles for right ascension and declination, and has also a tangent screw for following the daily motion of a star. It has two terrestrial and six astro- nomical eyc-pieces (varying in power from 40 to 360), a ring and a scale micrometer, and a sliding-wedge for mod- erating the light. There is, moreover, fitted to the eye- tube a direct vision spectroscope, with five prisms, for analyzing the light of the sun and its protuberances. This

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

233

instrument will be particularly useful for the exercises of students who make sstronomy a special study.

Another portable telescope, of the comet-seeker construc- tion; was brought from Europe by the director four years ago. It is the make of Mr. Hugo Schroeder, of Hamburg, and its object-glass has five inches aperture. There are five eye-pieces, varying in power from 25 to 275, with a ring micrometer and a prism for more convenient observation. The telescope is mounted on a firm wooden tripod, with circles for altitude and azimuth, divided into degrees.

In order to make full use of the two last-mentioned telescopes, an addition has been built on the west side of the observatory, connecting by a door with the transit- room. It consists of an entrance or study-room, and two movable domes 10 feet in diameter, the northern conical, the southern a hemisphere. Solid piers of masonry secure the stability of the instruments.

The following 27 asteroids were first discovered at the Litchfield observatory :

No.

72, Feronia, discovered May 29, 1861.

75, Eurydice,

Sept. 22, 1862.

77, Frigga,

Nov. 12, 1862.

85,

Io,

Sept. 19, 1865.

88, Thisbe, June 15, 1866.

92, Undine,

July 7, 1867.

98, Ianthe,

April 18, 1868.

102, Miriam,

66 Aug. 22, 1868.

109.

Felicitas, 66 Oct. 9, 1869.

111,

Ate,

Aug: 15, 1870.

112, Iphigenia,

= Sept. 19, 1870.

114,

Cassandra,

July 23, 1871.

116,

Sirona,

Sept. 8, 1871.

§ 122,

Gerda,

July 31, 1872.

124,

Alcestis,

Aug. 23, 1872.

129

Antigone,

Feb. 6, 1873.

130,

Electra,

= Feb. 17, 1873.

131,

Vala,

May 25, 1873.

135,

Hortha,

Feb. 18, 1874.

[ 144,

Vibilia,

June 3, 1875.

145,

Adeona,

Feb. 20, 1876.

165,

Loreley,

Aug. 9, 1876.

166,

Rhodope,

Aug. 15, 1876.

167,

Urda,

Aug. 28, 1876.

176,

Iduna,

Oct. 14, 1877.

Knox Hall Natural History. - The Department of Natural History has the benefit of an endowment, given by the late Hon. James Knox, LL.D., of Knoxville, Knox County, Illinois. The geological and mineralogical cabinets and collections of natural history embrace the following, viz. :

1. 9000 specimens of ores and simple minerals.

2. 2500 specimens of fossils and rocks to illustrate the geology of New York.

3. 1000 specimens to illustrate the geology of the United States.

4. 600 fossils, mostly from the Silurian formations of Europe.

5. 500 specimens from the Coal formations of the United States.

6. 250 specimens from the New Red Sandstone formation.

7. 600 specimens of crystallized minerals from New York localities.

8. 2000 specimens of land, fresh water, and marine shells.

9. 300 specimens in ornithology from China.

10. 13 cases of specimens in entomology, presented by Hon. Thomas Barlow.

11. Plants from China, presented by Dr. S. Wells Williams.

12. 1 case of birds from the Transit of Venus expe- dition.

Sartwell Herbarium .- Through the liberality of the late Hamilton White, of Syracuse, the college collections in Natural History have been enriched by the Herbarium, collected by the late Dr. H. P. Sartwell, of Penn Yan, and well known in scientific circles as a very extensive and valu- able exhibition of our North American Flora. This Herb- arium is the result of fifty years of botanical study, research, and correspondence. It contains eight thousand samples of plants, skillfully cured, accurately labeled, and conveniently classified in sixty-two handsome volumes. Among the more unique or useful specimens are 451 Mosses, 226 Lichens, 341 Sea-Weeds, 600 Fungi, 575 Ferns, 314 Grasses, 200 Ericaceae.

The Libraries .- The college and society libraries, amount- ing to 12,000 volumes, are accessible to students.

A few gentlemen in the city of New York, a few years since, presented to the college the private library of the late Edward Robinson, D.D., LL.D., of Union Theological Seminary. It consists of 1420 volumes, and about 100 valuable maps, and furnishes rare facilities for the study of biblical exegesis and scriptural geography.

Hon. William Curtis Noyes, LL.D., a native of Oneida County, and an honorary alumnus of the college, after a life of eminent service, professional and political, bequeathed to Hamilton College his law library. The collection numbers about 5000 volumes. The books had been collected during a practice of over twenty-five years, at a cost of not less than $60,000. " The collection consists of all the American Reports, with scarcely an exception, down to the present time; of all the English Reports in the Courts of Law and Chancery, and in the Exchequer, down to the beginning of the year 1860; and all the Scotch decisions, in the Ju- diciary, Senior Courts, aud House of Lords, and the Irish Reports in Law and Equity.

" In elementary law it contains all the principal treatises in England and America, among which is the ' law library,' in upwards of 90 volumes.

" It contains a complete set, in upwards of 70 volumes, of the printed Statutes of the Colony and State of New York, including the Session Laws from the earliest period, com- mencing with a copy of Bradford's, printed in London in 1719, which formerly belonged to Lord De la Warr, and seems to have come from the plantation office in the colony."

The Noyes Library is at all times accessible to members of the bar.

123,

Brunhilda,

160,

Una,

234

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The new building for the library, in honor of the prin- cipal contributor to the fund for its erection, is named the " Perry. H. Smith Library Hall." The alumni of the col- lege in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, have also been filial and generous in their gifts.

The building is two stories high above the basement : 75 feet long and 50 broad. The first floor above the basement is divided into the vestibule and hall, two rooms for ' the librarian, and the library proper. The alcoves in the library room are arranged in three tiers, one above another, and with the adjacent walls and the librarian's rooms will fur- nish a place for 60,000 volumes. The library is lighited by windows in the side-walls and by skylights.'

-- -

. .

Over the entrance hall and librarian's rooms there is an apartment for a memerial hall and art gallery, to contain tablets and portraits of the alumni and students of the college who have served their country; also portraits and other memorials of the founders of the college, its officers, and benefactors. ..

Valuable additions have been made to the library, in the department of metaphysics, by Professor Mears, whose friends had contributed; in' sums previously acknowledged, $370 for this purpose, to which the sum of $22 from an anonymous source is to be added, making $392 in all.

In honor of the prize's awarded Mr. Julien M. Elliott, '76, and Mr. Frank F. Laird, '77; at the inter-collegiate contest in oratory, held in the Academy of Music, New York, Jan. 4, 1876, and Jan. 3, 1877, $1500 were pre- sented to Professor Frink, by the Rev. Peter Lockwood, the Hon. Samuel D. Hand, M.D., and the Hon. Charles Mckinney, of Binghamton, N. Y., for the purchase of re- cent books in polite literature. These books were selected by Professor Frink with special reference to the work of the rhetorical department, and are called the Rhetorical Library. Mr. Mckinney has recently made an additional gift to the library, and the students have provided for its annual increase.'

--. ...

...

The following summary exhibits the number of students in attendance for 1877-78:

Law Students.

30 ..

Seniors

Juniors.

Sophomores

Freshmen

Total

192

Total number of alumni .2023

Number now living.

.1520

STATE. LUNATIC ASYLUM.

The materials for a history of this institution are from Hon. P. Jones' Annals of Oneida County, and additional information furnished by Dr. John P. Gray, the efficient and gentlemanly superintendent.

As early as 1830 Acting-Governor Throop, in his annual message, called the attention of the Legislature to the subject of the insane poor of the State, and recommended the establishment of an asylum for their "gratuitous care and recovery." In his message he states that there were, according to the census of 1825, 819 insane persons in the State, of whom 263 possessed means of support, 280 were in jail or

supported by charity, and 348 insane paupers were at large, "a terror to others, and suffering, in addition to mentat derangements, all the privations attending penury and want." : The subject was referred to a select committee of the Assembly, who, on the 17th of April, reported " that the general expediency, and, 'indeed; necessity, of another asylum seemed manifest from a bare examination of the facts.". "The subjeet thus becoming agitated, another com- mittee was appointed, of which Hon. A. C. Paige was chairman, by whom extensive examinations, with reference to the insane and lunatic asylums, were made, and an elaborate report presented in March, 1831 .: : During the three following years considerable attention was given : to the subject, and' committees were annually appointed; who reported in favor of legislative action, but no laws were enacted .. . ..

In 1834 Governor Marey made'a strong appeal in liis message to the Legislature upon the subject. . In 1836 the Oneida County Medical Society, through its delegate, Dr. J. McCall, brought the subject before the State. Medical Society, by whom a memorial was sent to the Legislature, accompanied by a petition drawn up by Dr. C. B. Cuv- entry.

Finally, on the 30th of March, 1836, an act was passed for the establishment of the New York - State Lunatic Asylum. The act authorized the appointment of three commissioners to purchase a site at an expense not ex- cecding $10,000, and also authorized the appointment of three additional commissioners to contract for the erection of the asylum buildings, and appropriated $50,000 for that purpose.

The site of the asylum in. Utica, including about 130 acres of land, was purchased in the summer of 1837 at an expense of $16,300, of which the citizens of Utica con- tributed $6300 and the State $10,000 .* Captain William Clarke, of Utica, Francis B. Spinner, of Herkimer, and Elam Lynds were-appointed commissioners to superintend the erec- tion of the buildings. This committee visited various institu- tions of a similar nature, and plans were drawn by. Captain Clarke and submitted to the State officers and a committee of the Legislature, by whom they were accepted and adopted. The original plan contemplated: four buildings, each 550 feet long, to be located around four sides of a quadrangle, and connected at the angles by verandas of open lattice-work .. At the close of 1838 there had been expended $46,881.79 of the appropriation .; The founda- tions were laid according to the original plan, and additional appropriations of $75,000 were made in each of the years 1839, '40, '41, making the total appropriations up to that time $285,000, including the $10,000 paid for land.

. On the 6th of January, 1842, the commissioners re- ported' that the institution was completed and ready for occupation, with the exception of furniture. During the erection of the buildings, Messrs. Lynds and Spinner had been removed, and Messrs. W. H. Shearinan and Anson Dart appointed in their places, and subsequently Messrs. Clarke and Dart were replaced by James Platt and Theo- dore S. Faxton.

# The official figures for expenses give only the eost to the State.

235

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW, YORK.

In May, 1841, Messrs. David Russell, W. H. Shearman, N. Devereux, Dr. C. B. Coventry, and T. S. Faxton, were appointed by act of the Legislature trustees of the asylum, and required to report a system for the government, dis- cipline, and management of the institution, and regulations for the admission of patients. A committee of the trustees visited fourteen of the twenty institutions of a similar nature, then completed in the United States, and on the 12th of January, 1842, reported a system which was mainly adopted.

The act organizing the government of the asylum was passed on the 7th of April, 1842, by which Nicholas Dev- creux, Jacob Sutherland, Charles A. Mann, Alfred Mun- sou, Charles B. Coventry, Abraham V. Williams, Thomas H. Hubbard, T. Romeyn Beck, and David Buel were ap- pointed managers. The act also granted $25,000 for the purchase of furniture, fixtures, stock, books, food, fuel, medicine, and for inclosing and improving the grounds ; and the next year $16,000 were appropriated for a druin extending to the river, and for supplying the buildings with water, and other necessary improvements.

The beard ef managers organized in April, 1842, and on the 9th of September following, appointed Dr. Amariah Brigham, superintendent ; H. A. Buttolph, M.D., assistant physician ; E. A. Wetmore, Esq., treasurer ; Cyrus Chat- field, steward ; and Mrs. Chatfield, matron.

The asylum was opened for the reception of patients on the 16th of January, 1843, and during the first year the admissions were 276.

This rapid and extraordinary influx of patients soon demonstrated that the accommodations would, ere long, be entirely inadequate to the needs of the insane poor of the State, and in 1844 the managers submitted to the Legis- lature a plan for enlarging the asylum, advising the aban- donment of the original plan, and substituting the erection of two wings of brick at right angles with the front build- ing, each 240 feet in length and 38 feet in width, at an estimated expense of $80,000. The Legislature of that year appropriated $60,000, and $4000 additional for the purchase of grounds adjoining, and in front of the build- ing, making the total number of acres 133. A portion, also, of these appropriations was expended for furniture and fencing.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 61

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 920

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920