History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 70

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 70

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).

about 1809. Moses remained in Utica, and also continued and enlarged the hotel business begun by his father.

About the same time of the arrival of the Bagg family came one John House, who also opened a public-house on the southeast corner of Genesee Street and the public square. He did not remain long, but his tavern was continued by other parties.

One of the most prominent citizens and business men of Utica, who arrived and settled in 1794, was Jason Parker. Mr. Parker was a native of Adams, Mass. He married, in 1790, Roxana Day, of Wilbraham, and the same year migrated to Oneida County, and settled at New Hartford, where he purchased and cleared up two farms; but the labor proving too much for his health, he abandoned his original calling, and in 1794 removed to Utica, where he commenced business as a post-rider between Canajoharie and Whitestown. The journey was sometimes made on foot and sometimes on horseback, and his wife frequently assisted him by making that portion of the trip between Utica and Whitestown. The contract for the transporta- tion of the mail had been let in 1793 to one Simeon Pool, whom Mr. Parker soon after bought ont. This was the beginning of the mail service in this region, and it is prob- able that John Post was appointed postmaster in the same year-1793.

The mails of that day were carried twice each week, and were not remarkable for their bulk, though it is related that at one time the Great Western Mail, from Albany, brought the enormous number of six letters for the inhabitants of Old Fort Schuyler. This unheard-of occurrence created no little excitement in the quiet hamlet. This incident reminds us that when mail facilities were first established between New York and Philadelphia, under the administra- tion of Benjamin Franklin, postmaster-general, the mail was transported once a week on horseback.

In August, 1795, Mr. Parker put on the first stage be- tween Canajoharie and Whitestown, which made the trip twice per week, leaving Whitestown every Monday and Thursday at two o'clock P.M.t This business Mr. Parker prosecuted with great tact and energy, sometimes alone and sometimes in company with others, during the whole of his active life. In addition to this rapidly-growing business he was engaged at various times in the business of milling and merchandising, and was also a member of the board of village trustecs.

Under his excellent instructions such men as T. S. Fax- ton, John Butterfield, and S. D. Childs became prominent citizens and successful business men, and Mr. Butterfield eventually became his successor in the business of transpor- tation, and in later years was the most famous stage propri- etor and " Pony Express" man in the Union.

Mr. Parker, upon his first arrival in Utica, dwelt in a log house on Main Street, west of First Street. From this he removed to the south side of Whitesboro', near Seneca Street, where he had his stables, blacksmith-shops, etc. In after-years he built a house on the opposite side of the street, which, since his day, has been rebuilt and occu-

# Grandfather of M. M. Bagg, M.D., and M. D. Bagg, Esq. 34

t For a more extended account of the early stage operations see Chapter XVI., "Internal Improvements."

266

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

pied by E. M. Gilbert, lately deceased. According to Mr. Jones, Mr. Parker died on the 28th of September, 1830. Dr. Bagg states, on page 44 of " Pioneers of Utica," that he died in 1830, and on page 502 that his death occurred in 1823. He had seven children.

Dr. Bagg thus sums up his characteristics : " Remark- able for his business capacity, his energy and his skill in dealing with others, Mr. Parker was not less noted for his unswerving integrity, and his kind and liberal disposition. Well do I remember the benevolent features of the old man, as they kindly beamed upon the children of his ac- quaintance, as well as the quaint attire in which he ap- peared abroad,-the broad-brimmed beaver, the 'spencer' worn outside his coat, and the long church-warden pipe, only laid aside when he took the reins for a drive in his chaise." Mrs. Parker died also in the same year with her husband.

The most prominent arrival of 1795 was that of Judge Apollos Cooper, a native of Southampton, L. I., where he was born Feb. 2, 1767. He had learned the trade of a carpenter, and settled in Oneida County in 1790. He had also lived at Johnstown, and was at one time in the employ of Mr. Scriba, at Oneida Lake. On the 11th of April, 1795, he purchased of James S. Kip 117 acres of great lot No. 96, where he built a residence and engaged in farming, mostly giving up his trade. It is said that he was the architect of the second bridge across the river on Genesee Street, which, if true, would have made him a resident in 1794.

This bridge is said to have been approached on the south through a long covered way resting on trestle-work, and extending back half-way to Main Street. This circum- stance would indicate that the land was originally very low at that point, and probably wet and at times impassable. Mr. Cooper was also the superintending builder of Ham- ilton Oneida Academy, since succeeded by Hamilton Col- lege.

He was a popular man in the community, as indicated by the numerous civil offices which the people called upon him to fill; among which were those of county judge, sheriff, representative in the Legislature, etc. Mr. Cooper died, after a long and painful illness, on the 2d of March, 1839.

Prominent among those who established themselves in and around Utica in the closing years of the last century was William Inman, a native of Somersetshire, England, and a former clerk in the employ of Sir William Pul- teney.

His first visit to America was in June, 1792. " He soon after was entrusted with the interests of certain Europeans, prominent among whom was Patrick Colqu- houn, high sheriff of London, for whom he purchased, in trust, the tract of land called ' Inman's triangle,' including the towns of Leyden and Lewis, in Lewis Co., N. Y. The following year he returned to England, but ere long was again in this country." *

" In 1793 he obtained of Rutger Bleecker two leases of land in lot No. 104, containing in all one hundred and fifty-

three acres, and not long after came to reside in Oneida County (then Herkimer). He lived at first in the house that is situated on the north side of the Whitesboro' road, opposite the bridge over the canal. But, disgusted with the ' Yankee dust' which reached him from the neighbor- ing highway, he built the large house that stands quite back from it on the south side, and which has been of late years known as the Champlin House. Possessed of ample means, he hired laborers and lived upon his farm as a pri- vate gentleman. 'He had considerable knowledge of Eng- lish literature, was fond of books, and exhibited in his conversation the superiority which results from culture and from intercourse with refined society. His handwriting was handsome; he was accurate and methodical, under- standing well his own interests, and apt in drafting all legal papers relating to his property and dealings.' He conse- quently maintained a high social standing, and participated in the best society which the neighborhood afforded. He rode in a heavy English carriage, and wore powdered hair, with short-clothes and knee-buckles."+

About 1804 he, in company with Edward Smith and Aylmer Johnson, erected a brewery and commenced the business of brewing under the firm-name of E. Smith & Co. This appears to have been the first establishment of the kind in the place. In April, 1805, the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Inman conducted the business for some time in his own name.

He also built himself a dwelling on the east side of Broadway, a little above Whitesboro' Street.

Mr. Inman was one of the most prominent members of Trinity Episcopal Church, and one of its founders. About the year 1813 he removed to the city of New York and engaged in the mercantile business, but met with serious reverses. About 1825 he again removed to Leyden, Lewis County, where he died in 1843, at the age of eighty-one years. His wife died in 1829, aged fifty-six.

Mr. Inman's sons were William, John, Henry, and Charles, of whom the first three named achieved consider- able distinction, though in widely different paths.

William rose to the rank of commodore in the American navy, and died in 1874. He served on the lakes during the war of 1812-15 ; commanded a boat in an encounter with a piratical eralt on the coast of Cuba in 1823; was in command of a steamer on the lakes in 1845; a steam frigate of the East Indies Squadron in 1851, and was in command of the African Squadron in 1859-61.

John commenced business life as a teacher in North Carolina, visited Europe, studied law, and subsequently achieved considerable distinction in connection with the press. He was editor at various periods of the Standard, the Spirit of the Times, and the New York Mirror. He was subsequently editor of the Commercial Advertiser and the Columbian Magazine, and was a frequent contributor to other periodicals. He died Aug. 30, 1850.

" Henry, born at Utica Oct. 28, 1801, early manifested a taste for art, entered the studio of Jarvis, and at first devoted himself to miniature painting, but afterwards turned his talents to good advantage in portrait, landscape, and

# Hough's History of Lewis County.

+ Pioneers of Utica.

267

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

genre painting, and attained such distinction as to be chosen vice-president of the National Academy of Design. He visited England in 1844 and painted portraits of Words- worth, Chalmers, Macaulay, and others. He afterwards undertook a series of pictures for the national Capitol illus- trating the settlement of the West, but did not live to accomplish the first of them. Among his last efforts are his portraits of Chief-Justice Marshall and Bishop White, his ' Rip Van Winkle waking from his Dream,' ' Mumble the Peg,' and ' Boyhood of Washington.' He was one of the most versatile of American artists. He possessed the choicest social qualities and the finest sensibilities. His conversational qualities were of a high order, and he had a large fund of anecdote and wit. He died in New York Jan. 17, 1846." * (Drake's " American Biography.")

Watts Sherman, from Newport, R. I., came to Utica about 1795. He was a carpenter by trade, but subsequently gave up the business and became a prominent merchant.

In 1802 he formed a partnership with Arnold Wells, but it did not continue long. He was an enterprising man, and was among the foremost of a company which established the first glass-manufactory at Vernon, and was a director of the company. In 1813 he entered into partnership with Henry B. Gibson and Alexander Seymour, under the name of Sherman, Gibson & Co. Mr. Sherman remained in Utica, while his partners established themselves in New York, and they all prospered. He died about 1820.

The earliest appearance of a tailor in Utica seems to have been in the person of one Daniel Banks, who, according to Dr. Bagg, lived alone in Whitesboro' Street, and who came to a tragic end in this wise: Being sick with fever, and, according to the custom of medical practice in those days, denied the use of water, he became delirious, left his bed when the attendant was away for a moment, and being missed, search was made, and his lifeless body found in an adjoining well. This occurred in 1799, and the epitaph on his tombstone in the old burying-ground is the oldest one legible in the place. Among other settlers of the year 1795 were Samuel Jewett and Lewis Crandall.

The year. 1795, according to the Western Centinel, the first paper published in the county, was sickly beyond any previous experience. It says, " Scarcely a family escapes, and numbers of whole families labor under the infliction. The diseases mnost prevalent are the lake (or Genesee) fever, and the intermittent, or fever and ague. We bave authority to say that the lake fever is not confined wholly to lake towns, but is frequent in the most inland ones."

The prominent arrivals of the year 1796 were Ezekiel Clark, Dr. Alexander Coventry, and Talcott Camp.

Mr. Clark at first opened a small store in Bagg's tavern. He resided in the place for many years, and alternately pursued the calling of a merchant, innkeeper, baker, cooper, and merchant a second time. In 1817, at the date of the publication of the first directory of Utica, he was doing business in a store located at No. 40 Genesee Street.

Dr. Coventry at first began business in Utica as a mer- chant, but having been educated for a physician he soon opened an office in obedience to his own natural tastes and

the demands of the community, and practiced during the rest of his life. His mercantile experience began as a partner with John Post. About the year 1804 he was in the medical practice with Dr. David Hasbrouck. Soon after this he purchased a farm in Deerfield and removed thither with his family. Here he pursued the calling of a farmer with great assiduity, and became quite famous as a fruit- grower. In 1817 he formed a partnership with Dr. John McCall, who was also a resident of Deerfield, and the firm occupied an office in a small frame building on the north- west corner of Broad and John Streets. From the time of his removal to Deerfield to his death his time was divided between his farm and his profession. His son, Dr. Charles B. Coventry, practiced with him as a partner during the latter years of his life. He was one of the principal pro- moters of the County Agricultural Society, organized about the year 1817, and was its secretary and most efficient member.

Dr. Coventry was a native of Hamilton, Scotland, where he was born Aug. 27, 1766. His father, Captain George Coventry, had been an officer in the service of George II. during the French war. The doctor was educated at the schools of Glasgow and Edinboro', and came to America in July, 1785. He settled at first at Hudson, where he prac- ticed his profession, and also busied himself in agricultural pursuits. From thence he removed to Romulus, on Seneca Lake, but left that locality on account of sickness, and came to Utica (or Old Fort Schuyler), as before stated, in 1796. He died of influenza on the 9th of December, 1831. His wife, Elizabeth Butler, of Brantford, Conn., had died some years previous. His family consisted of seven sons and four daughters, of whom only one son made a permanent residence in Utica.t

" Talcott Camp was born in Durham, Conn., March 14, 1762, and was the son of Elnathan Camp and Eunice Tal- cott, daughter of one of the original proprietors of the town."} He was at college in New Haven when the war of the Revolution broke out, and entered the army, serving during the greater part of its continuance in the commis- sary department. He settled after the war in Glastonbury, in his native State, where he was engaged in the mercantile business, and also in the manufacture of iron. At this place he was married, in 1785, to Nancy Hale, and here all his children, save the youngest, were born.

Upon his arrival at Old Fort Schuyler he continued the mercantile business for some years, but eventually disposed of his wares and engaged in the purchase and sale of lands. In 1809 he was chosen president of the village council, and held the office for five successive years. The latter years of his service covered a portion of the war with Great Britain, during which many hundreds of soldiers and re- cruits passed through Utica, on their way to and from the frontiers. The position was an onerous one, but he bore himself with such good sense and sound judgment that many difficulties were avoided and the peace was rarely broken. He was a prominent trustee of the Presbyterian Church, and one of the original board at the founding of

+ For a further account of Dr. Coventry, see article in Chapter XVIII., upon the Medical Society. į Dr. Bagg.

# Pioneers of Utica.

268

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the Utica Academy, in 1814. He also filled the position of magistrate, and was greatly esteemed for the upright and honorable course which he invariably pursued. " He was a man of intelligence and integrity, of sterling sense and judgment, of marked and dignified appearance and courte- ous manners, who always commanded respect, and in his later years veneration." *

He lived on Whitesboro' Street, near Mr. Burchard, and subsequently on Main Street, on the same lot where the village school-house stood.

He died Sept. 3, 1832, aged seventy. His wife died Aug. 31, 1806. They had eight children.

The heaviest general merchants in the place in 1797 were Clark & Fellows, whose store was situated on Whites- boro' Street, or road, near what is now Division Street. John Post's trade was mostly with the Indians. William G. Tracy at this time kept an extensive stock of merchan- dise at Whitesboro', which was still the most important point in this vicinity.

The nearest market for grain and potashes, then import- ant commodities, was at Canajoharie, where Messrs. James and Archibald Kane kept the largest stock of goods to be found west of Schenectady, and were doing a very extensive business.

On the 4th of July, 1797, Bryan Johnson, the grand- father of the late Judge Alexander S. Johnson, arrived in Utica. He was a native of England, and had heard such pleasing accounts of America from a brother who had been in the country, that he determined to emigrate and cast his fortunes in the " New World."

France and England were then at war, and the vessel upon which Mr. Johnson had taken passage was captured by a French ship, which took off a portion of the pas- sengers, and put a small prize-crew aboard the captured vessel. Mr. Johnson remained on board the prize, and in an unguarded moment the passengers recaptured the vessel from the French crew and sailed for New York, where they arrived in safety. Mr. Johnson proceeded up the river to Albany, and thence to Old Fort Schuyler, where, as before stated, he arrived on the 4th of July, while the people were celebrating the anniversary of independence. A grand dinner was given on that day in the rear of where the York House was afterwards erected, and Francis A. Bloodgood, Esq., a young lawyer, delivered an oration. Mr. Johnson had intended to locate in Canada; but being well pleased with the place and its people, and believing it a good point for trade, he concluded to make it his home.

He accordingly established himself in a small building which had been used as a blacksmith shop, on the Whites- boro' road near where is now Division Street, and, pro- curing a good stock of goods, began business. He com- menced at once to buy produce, for which he paid money down, a plan which had not heretofore been adopted by any of the merchants who had preceded him. This speedily began to divert the large trade which had formerly gone to Canajoharie, and the Messrs. Kanet soon felt the drain ; for Mr. Johnson's shrewdness was reaping its just reward, and the heavy trade which had formerly gone down

the Mohawk now stopped at Old Fort Schuyler, and the Canajoharie firm found its " occupation gone." Being located on the canal, they began to inquire of the boats passing down loaded with country produce to whom the freight belonged, and soon learned that Bryan Johnson, of Old Fort Schuyler, was the cause of the falling off in their trade. The returning boats also seemed to be exclusively loaded with merchandise for the same establishment; and rightfully concluding that if they wished to do business they must go where business was, the Kanes soon after, in 1800, closed their business in Canajoharie and removed to Utica, where, under the firm-name of Kane & Van Rens- selaer, they carried on an extensive trade in competition with Mr. Johnson.

The advent of Mr. Johnson was the turning point in the early history of Utica, and it became thenceforth the prin- cipal market for produce, and the heaviest trading point on the river above Schenectady. Whitesboro', New Hartford, and Oriskany soon gave up the unequal contest, and the principal trade of a large tract of country concentrated at Utica. This vantage ground she maintained until the development of the western portions of the State built up the more eligibly-located cities of Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, to whom Utica, in turn, was obliged to give way.

About 1801-2, A. B. Johnson, a son of Bryan John- son, arrived from England, and became associated with his father in business, which rapidly increased and continued unabated until the senior partner withdrew in 1809. By strict attention to business and excellent management, he had accumulated a fine property, which steadily increased in value for many years.

His earliest residence was over his store. In 1800 he bought and reconstructed another dwelling on the opposite side of Whitesboro' Street, where he resided until his death, which occurred suddenly, April 12, 1824, at the age of sev- enty-five years. The following closing remarks upon Mr. Johnson we quote from Hon. P. Jones : " The last earthly record respecting Mr. Johnson is as follows : 'Here lies Bryan Johnson, the lamented father of Alexander B. John- son. He was a native of England. His mercantile enter- prise gave Utica its first impulse. For paternal affection he had no equal-for knowledge of the ways of man no superior. His life was abstemious and cheerful, his death instantaneous, on the 12th of April, 1824, in the seventy- fifth year of his age, and in the vigorous possession of all his faculties.' " His wife survived him twenty years, and died at the age of eighty-five.

Another prominent citizen of Utica was Major Benjamin Hinman, who settled here in 1797 or 1798. He was a native of Southbury, Conn., and was a soldier of the Rev- olution, serving in the various capacities of wagon-master, commissary, captain, and aid-de-camp to General Groene. It is said that thirteen Hinmans from the town of Woodbury, Conn., held commissions in that war. At one period du- ring the war he was stationed at Fort Stanwix, and was so well pleased with the Mohawk Valley that he determined to settle there ; and accordingly, about 1787, purchased a tract of 2000 acres of land near Little Falls, where he married a daughter of John Keyser, who had been an army con- tractor at Stone Arabia during the war.

# Dr. Bagg. f Dr. Bagg says Kane and Van Rensselaer.

269

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

He soon after exchanged his purchase for lands near Trenton, in Oneida County, whither he removed and erected a house, a saw-mill, and a trip-hammer shop. He did not remain long, and settled at Fort Schuyler, as above stated, in 1797 or '98. He occupied different places in Utiea, and kept a public-house in Deerfield, just across the river, but finally settled down on Main Street, near the square. He continued his works at Graves' Hollow, near Trenton, which were subsequently destroyed by lightning and flood during a terrible thunder-storm. While living in Deerfield he superintended the building of the dyke where the turn- pike now runs across the bottom-lands of the Mohawk. Mayor Hinman died while on a visit in Pennsylvania, April 7, 1821, in his sixty-sixth year. His widow sur- vived him until Aug. 20, 1863, when she died at Rushville, Ill., in her ninety-fifth year.

Rev. John Hammond, a Baptist preacher, who arrived about this time, was an Englishman, and came of a pious ancestry, several of whom were ministers before him. He lived on the public square, below Bagg's tavern. He preached in Deerfield and other places in this vicinity, and was probably the first Sunday-school teacher in Utica. He was also a surveyor of repute, as were three of his sons, and assisted by them he surveyed the celebrated "John Brown Traet," lying in what are now Herkimer and Lewis Counties. He continued to officiate as a gospel minister until he was nearly eighty years of age, and died in 1819. He was one of the seventeen seceders from the Welsh Baptist Church, who established the Second Baptist or Tabernacle Church. His wife taught, in 1804, one of the earliest schools in the village of Old Fort Schuyler.

FIRST SCHOOL.

The first school-teacher at Old Fort Schuyler, according to Dr. Bagg, was Joseph Dana, who taught in a building on Main Street, between First and Second Streets, which was also used for religions and secular gatherings previous to 1800. He also taught in Deerfield, and in addition was a teacher of singing. He subsequently removed to West- moreland, where he taught for the space of three years. He was afterwards a soldier in the war of 1812-15, and held the rank of sergeant in the regular army.

In or about the same year, 1797, came another noted man to the embryo eity,-Nathan Williams. He was born in Williamstown, Mass., on the 19th of December, 1773. His father's property fell a sacrifice to the vicissitudes of the Revolution, and at the age of thirteen, with only the rudiments of an education, he left the parental roof and launched into the world to take care of himself and seek his fortune. He made his way to the city of Troy, where in after-years he became a law student and was admitted to practice, and soon after appeared and located in Utica. He had been already admitted to the courts of Herkimer when the county of Oneida was organized, in 1798, and at the first term of Common Pleas was admitted to practice in the new county. The same year he was admitted in the courts of Chenango County. In the year 1802 he was appointed distriet attorney of Chenango County. He was a prominent . member of the united congregations of Whitesboro' and Old Fort Schuyler, and subsequently assisted in the organi-

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 70

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