History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 30

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840

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PROGRESS OF THE VILLAGE.

The village of Syracuse was a mere hamlet of a few hundred inhabitants till the completion of the Erie canal. This work was a new era in the pro- gress of the village, from which its rapid growth may be dated. The village was incorporated by act of the Legislature April 13, 1825, the same year of the completion of the canal, with the usual powers granted to like incorporations. The charter was amended in 1829, and again in 1834, increas- ing the power of village officers, regulating water works, fire department, &c. In 1835, the bounds of the original village were considerably enlarged. In 1839 and in 1841, there were further amend- ments of the charter, so as to enable the trustees to hold real estate for the purposes of a village ceme- tery, which was subsequently laid out and beauti- fied. The charter was also further amended in 1842 and in 1845, for the improvement of water works, to empower the trustees to borrow money on the credit of the corporation, to purchase a lot for a market and other public buildings, and for other purposes.

MUNICIPAL OFFICERS-VILLAGE GOVERNMENT.

At the first election for village officers under the charter, held at the school house in Syracuse May 3, 1825, Joshua Forman, Amos P. Granger, Moses D. Burnet, Heman Walbridge, and John Rogers, were elected Trustees ; Joshua Forman was chosen President ; James Webb, Alfred Northam, and Thomas Spencer, Assessors ; John Wilkinson, Clerk ; John Durnford, Treasurer ; Daniel Gilbert, Justice of the Peace, presiding.

The Trustees proceeded at once to lay out road districts, to organize a fire department, to purchase engines and apparatus, and other things for the

welfare of the village. Our space will not allow us to follow the list of officers further. They will be found in the records of the village and city.

EARLY LAWYERS.

John Wilkinson, Esq., was the first lawyer in Sy- racuse. He came to the place in 1819, and a few years after built an office on the corner now occu- pied by the Globe Hotel. The office was twelve by fourteen feet, and Mr. Wilkinson was heartily ridiculed for putting his office out in the field, as it was then, although the location is now in the heart of the city.

Mr. Wilkinson was long identified with the growth and progress of the village, holding many offices with honor and distinction. When railroads were first put in successful operation, he closely investi- gated their workings and principles and entered largely into railroad affairs. He was for several years President of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, and by his influence succeeded in having the work- shops of that road located at Syracuse. He was afterwards President of the Michigan Southern Railroad, and under his skillful management that road became one of the best in the Union. In 1824 he built a residence a little south of his office where he resided till he built his fine residence on James street.

The next attorney after Mr. Wilkinson, was Al- fred Northam, Esq., in 1824. Then came Harvey Baldwin and Schuyler Strong, Esqs., in 1826, and were soon followed by Messrs. Wheaton and Davis, Hon. E. W. Leavenworth, Hon. B. Davis Noxon, Hon. James R. Lawrence, and others who came with the removal of the Court House from Onon- daga Hill. Hon. George F. Comstock was a law student here with Messrs. Noxon and Leavenworth and began his legal practice among the early mem- bers of the Syracuse Bar. Hon. E. WV. Leaven- worth came in 1827. Hon. Joshua Forman was also a lawyer, contemporary with Mr. Wilkinson, but his office at that early period was with his partner, Mr. Sabin, at Onondaga Hollow. He was made Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1813 .* Other early lawyers of Syracuse and the County were Grove Lawrence, John H. Hulburt, Daniel Gott, D. D. Hillis, George H. Middleton, Henry J. Sedgwick, William J. Hough, John Ruger, John G. Forbes, and J. W. Nye.

Of the above list all are deceased except Hon. E. W. Leavenworth and Judge George F. Comstock.

The following have also been members of this Bar, and have died within the past 24 years : Fin-

* See Biography of Judge Forman,

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IHISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

lay M. King. Thomas T. Davis, Z. C. Foot, N. B. Smith, James Barrett, H. S. Fuller, William J. Do lge, Col. A. W. Dwight, Barnard Slocum, Rich- ard Raynor, Col. C. M. Randall, Frank Wooster, S. L. Edwards, Jr., D. J. Mitchell, John A. Clark, Henry Horton, Cyrus R. James, D. Redfield, John J. Miles, John Malloy, Charles C. Bates, V. M. Gardner, A. Coats, P'. Outwater, Jr., O. A. John- son, E. A. Brown, John Huning. G. D. Z Griswold, E. A. Clapp, John H. Brand, II. H. Hitchcock, John Callamer, John L Newcomb, Thomas A. Smith, J. R. Lawrence, Jr., J. W. Loomis, Fred II. Gray. A. C. Griswold, D. G. Montgomery, Leonard H. Lewis, S. Rexford, J. J. Briggs, O. J. Ruger. C. M. Brosnan, E. Butler, R. S. Corning, A. J. Henderson, Z. L. Beebe, J. F. Sabine, George Murphy, Robert F. Trowbridge, Andrew J. Lynch, H. E. Northrup, Clinton M. Smith, Nelson M. Baker, I .. Harris Iliscock.

The following attorneys have been in practice in Syracuse 24 or more years : R. H. Gardner, James S. Lcach, Le Roy Morgan, Daniel Pratt, Hamilton Burdick, C. B. Sedgwick, Thomas G. Alvord, Isracl S. Spencer, E. W. Leavenworth, B. Davis Noxon, George F. Comstock, Daniel F. Gott, William C. Ruger, M. C. Merriman, G. W. Gray, J. L. Bagg, 11. C. Leavenworth, II. Riegel, N. F. Graves, S. N. Holmes, D. Coats.

THE POWDER EXPLOSION.

On the evening of Friday, August 20, 1841, OC- curred an event ever memorable to the people of Syracuse-the Powder Explosion, which killed 26 citizens, and wounded 10 dangerously, and 43 others severely. It was caused by a fire originating in a joiner's shop on the tow-path side of the Oswego Canal, where twenty-five kegs of powder had been stored, and which exploded with terrific effect and with the sad consequences described. A gloom was cast over the whole village, and sadness filled every house and heart, at the terrible calamity.

"The effect of the explosion was felt for more than twenty miles around. A man upon the deck of a packet boat at Fulton, 26 miles distant, heard the report. At De Witt and Jamesville; five miles off. persons were startled from their sleep, supposing their chimneys had fallen down. At Manlius, ten miles distant, the earth trembled, and crockery upon a merchants shelves rattled for the space of several seconds, like the effect of a clap of thunder. At Camillus, it was compared to the crash of falling timber. At Onondaga, it was supposed to be an earthquake. Although the concussion was tremen- dous at Syracuse, the report was not so loud as might have been supposed. Glass in the windows a hundred rods distant was broken. Papers in the County Clerk's office were thrown from their places

upon the floor, and several buildings were more or less injured.

"The instant the explosion took place, the air was filled with fragments of the buikling, bits of lumber, &c., which lighted up the heavens with the brightness of day ; but in a twinkling it was total darkness : the explosion had extinguished every particle of fire. The scene at the moment was horrible beyond description : men, women and chil- dren screaming in horror ; none knew the extent of the calamity, and all were anxious to learn the fate of their friends. Quickly some three thousand persons were gathered, anxiously looking for those whom they most regarded. Very soon lamps were brought ; the wounded were carried off, filling the air with sighs and groans; the dead were sought and found, many of them so disfigured that they could be recognized only by their clothes or the contents of their pockets. For a long time small groups of persons could be seen with lights in all directions, carrying cither the dead or the wounded to their homes. The next day the village was shrouded in mourning ; the stores were all closed and business suspended. On Sunday the unfor- tunate victims were consigned to the tomb amidst the sympathies and tears of an afflicted com- munity."

INCORPORATION OF SYRACUSE AS A CITY.

The rapid growth of the village in population and importance induced the discussion of its incorpora- tion as a city in 1846. Meetings were held during that and part of the following year without arriving at any definite conclusion, till the winter of 1847, when the question was brought before the Legisla- ture. Considerable difference of opinion existed among the inhabitants as to the extent of territory the city should include. Some were for having it embrace the entire Salt Springs Reservation ; others only the village of Syracuse. At several spirited meetings the subject was warmly discussed, and re- sulted in the plan of uniting the villages of Syra- cuse and Salina, under one city charter with the name of the latter. The act of incorporation was passed December 14, 1847. (Chap. 475, Session Laws. ) and defined the limits of the city as fol- lows :

" The district of country constituting a part of the town of Salina, and including the villages of Syracuse and Salina, in the county of Onondaga, within the following bounds, that is to say :

" Beginning on the northcasterly corner of Man- lius 1 ..- , running thence to the northeasterly corner of the village of Salina, thence along the northerly line of said village of Salina, to the northwesterly corner of the same, thence south- westerly to the Onondaga Lake, thence along the southeasterly shore of said lake to the center of Onondaga Creck, thence southerly along the center of said creek to the line of the village of Syracuse, thence westerly and southerly along such line to

PROTO BY BONTA & CURTISS, SYRACUSE

Gurgo Stevens

The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Onon- daga, Onondaga Co., July 6, 1808. He was the second child in a family of three children of Gerry Stevens and Charlotte Hurd, the former a native of Killingworth (now Clinton), Conn., the latter a native of Washington Co., N. Y. His father came to Onondaga County about the year 1800, and hence was one of the pioneers of the county.

From the historical collection of John L. Barber, of Con- necticut, it appears that the Stevens' came from the county of Kent, England, to Guilford, Conn. Among the first planters there appear the names of Thomas and John Stevens. These families removed to Killingworth in the year 1665, and among the first settlers there are the names of Thomas and William Stevens. The latter of these had a son, Josiah, also called Deacon Stevens, aud sometimes called Captain Stevens, born A.D. 1670, and died March 15, 1754, from whom the subject of this memoir traces his descent, through his grandfather, Jeremiah. There is little doubt that one of the ancestors, named Thomas, is the same spoken of in Fox's Book of Martyrs, who suffered martyrdom by being burned to death at Rye, in the county of Kent, England, 1557.

Before George was three years of age his father died, leaving a wife and three children. She was afterwards married to Cyprian Heberd, a carpenter and joiner, who built some of the first manu- factories of coarse salt in Salina, and with whom George spent his early life learning the trade, attending the common school winters, and for two terms attended the Onondaga academy. At the age of sixteen he went to Troy, and afterwards to New York to complete his trade, and while there (1828) he laid a house-floor made of lumber matched with tongue and groove, and is said to be the first man in the United States, and possibly in the world, who laid such a floor. On arriving at age he returned to his native county, and for the next six years worked at his trade. He then built several salt manufactories in Salina, and was one of the first to manufacture fine salt. Altogether he has spent thirty-three years in the manufacture of salt, and

has been closely identified with that interest. He also carried on in the meantime the grocery business for four years ; was a manufacturer of potash for three years, and a forwarding merchant for four years. Until within a few years his life has been one of great activity, and his efforts have been such as to perform his part in contributing to the best interests of the city of which he is now an honored citizen in his seventieth year. Highly esteemed by his fellow-men, lie has held many offices of responsibility and trust, discharging the duties of the same with that integrity and consideration which has characterized his whole life.

He has lived to see the city, with all of its present wealth and business, rise from a village of three hundred persons. He was next to the last president of the village before its organi- zation as a city, and since which time he has served several terms as assessor, overseer of the poor, and supervisor of the fourth ward, in which he resides.

In the year 1864 he was elected police justice of the city, which office he held until a paralytic stroke in the year 1867 compelled him to relinquish the duties of that office and retire to private life. In the years 1851 and 1852 he represented his district in the State legislature.

In 1852 he became a director in the Merchants' bank, and has held the office until the present time. He was president of the same the year previous to his illness. He has been a director of the Onondaga salt company from the time of its organization.

For his first wife he married, in the year 1831, Harriet, daughter of Moses Stebbins, of Springfield, Mass., by whom he had two children,-Henry Howard (died in infancy) and Harriet (deceased), who married A. C. Chase, present postmaster of the city of Syracuse. His wife died in 1836, aged twenty-eight years. For his second wife, in 1840, he married Mrs. Lydia P., widow of Capt. Joseph Fitch, of New London, Conn., and daughter of Capt. Nathaniel Barns, of Westerly, R. I., by whom he has had four children,-Alice, George H. (deceased), Joseph F., and Kate.

Died April 7th, 1878, since the publication of the above.

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the south bounds of the town of Salina, thence east along the south bounds of the town of Salina to the east bounds thereof, thence northerly along the east bounds of said town to the place of beginning, shall hereafter be known as the ' City of Syracuse.''

Section second of the act divided the city into four wards, as follows :

All that part of the city lying east of Onon- daga Creek and north of Division and Pond streets, was made the First Ward ; all the rest of the city lying north of the center of the Erie Canal, was made the Second Ward ; the Third Ward included that portion of the city lying south of the Erie Canal and west of Montgomery street as far south as Burt street, thence west of Salina street to the southern boundary of the city; the remainder of the city constituted the Fourth Ward.

The following certificate of the Clerk of Onon- daga county shows that an election was held by the citizens of both villages, for the purpose of ratify- ing the charter, on the 3d of January, 1848 :

"Whereas, By the provisions of an act entitled ' An Act to Incorporate the City of Syracuse,' passed December 14. 1847, an election was held in each of the villages of Syracuse and Salina, on the third day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight ; and from the returns made and filed in the office of the Clerk of the County of Onondaga by the Trustees of said villages respec- tively, pursuant to said act, it appears that the whole number of votes given at said election at the poll held in the village of Syracuse, was one thousand eight hundred and forty-three ; of which the whole number of votes having thereon the word ' Charter ' was ten hundred and seventy-two, and that the whole number of votes having thereon the words ' No Charter' was seven hundred and seventy-one. That the whole number of votes given at said election at the poll held in the village of Salina, was four hundred and twenty-four; of which the whole number of votes having thereon the word ' Charter' was three hundred and eighty-five ; and the whole number having thereon the words 'No Charter ' was thirty-nine.

" A majority of votes at each of said villages having been thus given in favor of said charter, as appears from said returns on file in the office of the Clerk of the County of Onondaga, as aforesaid : I, Vivus W. Smith, Clerk of said County, in pur- suance of the provisions of the Seventeenth Sec- tion of Title X of said Act, do make and publish this statement. and certify that the said act of in- corporation becomes a law on the day of the first publication of this certificate.

[L. S.]

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said County of Onondaga, this 5th day of January, 1848.

V. W. SMITH, Clerk."

FIRST CITY OFFICERS.

At the first Charter Election, held on the first

Tuesday in March, 1848, the following officers were elected :

HON. HARVEY BALDWIN, Mayor.

ALDERMEN.

First Ward-James Lynch, Elizur Clark.

Second W'ard-Alexander Mckinstry, John B. Burnet.

Third Ward-William H. Alexander, Gardner Lawrence.

Fourth Ward-Henry W. Durnford, Robert Fur- man.

In January, 1849, a census was taken which showed that the city contained a small fraction less than 16,000 inhabitants.

MAYORS OF THE CITY OF SYRACUSE.

First Mayor, 1848, Harvey Baldwin : 1849, Elias W. Leavenworth ; 1850, Alfred H. Hovey ; 1851, Moses D. Burnet ; 1852, Jason C. Woodruff ; 1853, Dennis McCarthy ; 1854, Allen Munroe ; 1855, Lyman Stevens; 1856-57-58, Charles F. Willis- ton ; 1859, Elias W. Leavenworth ; 1860, Amos Westcott ; 1861-62, Charles Andrews ; 1863, Daniel Bookstaver ; 1864, Archibald C. Powell ; 1865- 66-67, William D. Stewart ; 1868, Charles Andrews ; 1869-70, Charles P. Clark ; 1871-72, Francis E. Carroll ; 1873, William J. Wallace ; 1874, Nathan F. Graves ; 1875, George P. Hier ; 1876, John J. Crouse ; 1877-78, J. J. Belden.

POSTMASTERS.

John Wilkinson, 1820; Jonas Earll, Jr., 1837 ; Henry Raynor, 1841 ; William W. Teall, 1845 ; William Jackson, 1849; Henry J. Sedgwick, 1853 and 1857; Patrick H. Agan, 1861 ; George L. Maynard, 1865 ; Dwight H. Bruce, 1871 ; A. C. Chase, 1876, present Postmaster.

THE OLD MILL-POND.

An improvement of no little importance to the city was the conversion of the old mill-pond into valuable building lots, which are now occupied by substantial manufacturing establishments, business blocks, public buildings and residences. It will be remembered that the first dam and mills were built by Abraham Walton in 1805. The dam was constructed of logs across Onondaga Creek at West Genesee street, and at that time the Genesee Turn- pike passed over it. About a year after its con- struction, it was swept away by a heavy spring freshet, and another log dam was built at the cross- ing of West Water street, which was removed in 1824, and a substantial stone dam erected in its place. Then came the stone mill erected by Samuel Booth for the Syracuse Company in 1825. The mill-

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

pond covered so large a surface and was for many years the cause of so much sickness in the village that it was finally emptied by tearing away the dam, and in 1848, under the administration of Mayor Bald- win, the work of improving this portion of the city was begun. It consisted of the straightening of Onondaga Creek and the filling in of portions of the mill-pond with earth from Prospect Ilill.

The work was carried forward under the adminis- tration of Mayor Leavenworth in 1849, who had Jefferson ( now Regimental) Park laid out in about the center of the ground formerly occupied by the mill-pond. The land then belonged to the State, and comprised about nine acres, including the site of the pond and the neck of land extending to the center of Onondaga Creek. Mr. Leavenworth had a map made. of the land including the Park, and obtained the consent of the Commissioners of the Land Office for its sale, on condition that it would bring $9,000 ; otherwise the sale was to be null and void. The land was offered upon this condition, and at the sale brought over $16,000.

The center of this ground is now occupied by the fine State Arsenal, while the Binghamton Freight and Passenger Depots and other substantial struc- tures occupy other portions of it.

The first Arsenal building was erected in 1858, in which year the site was conveyed to the State. The cost of the building was $8,coo ; the State ap- propriated $5,000, and $1,Soo was raised by indi- vidual subscription. This building was destroyed by fire in 1871. The present building-a much larger and more ornamental structure-was erected in 1872-74. at a cost of $So,coo; Iloratio N. White, Architect. This building is known as the State Arsenal, and is the headquarters of the 51st Regiment. 10th Brigade, 6th Division, &c., National Guard of the State of New York."

BURYING GROUNDS-OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

For the following brief sketch of the burying places in Syracuse, we are indebted to a little work entitled " Oakwood," a history of the incorporation and dedication of Oakwood Cemetery. The first white person who was buried within the limits of the city, and probably within the bounds of Onon- daga County, was Benjamin Nukerk, who came to the wilds of Onondaga as an Indian trader with Ephraim Webster in 1786. He died December 7, 1787, and was buried on a little eminence which overlooks the Onondaga Lake and its shores, now embraced in Farm Lot No. 310, lying directly in the rear of the residence of William Judson, on

W'est Genesee street. The head and foot stones are still standing, bearing the inscription :

BENJAMIN NUKERK, Died Dec. 7th, 1787, Aged 37 years.

About the year 1845, Joseph Savage, Esq., who owns the land occupied by this grave, had occasion to dig a trench two or three feet below the surface, and while doing so struck upon a line of graves. On examination they proved to be placed in a direct line for some twenty or thirty feet, and consisted of quite a number of bodies, The bones were mostly decomposed, except the skulls, and among them were found quite a number of bullets. Probably the ground was never used as a permanent burial place, but these bodies fell in some battle of which, perhaps, we have no record and were hastily buried here in the sandy loam of this beautiful little emi- nence. But it may be otherwise, as Mr. Savage found other remains in different places on the same little hillock, one, the skull of which had evidently been cleft by a tomahawk. A gun, brass kettle, flints and pipes were also found from time to time. Probably the Indians had occupied this spot after Ephraim Webster established his trading post here.

The first burials in the village of Salina were made on ground now known as Lot No. S in Block No. 18, near the intersection of Spring and Free streets. They, however, ceased to bury there be- fore 1794, and began to make interments on the ground now embraced in Washington Park, and near the spot where the Presbyterian Church (recent- ly removed) was afterwards built. Mrs. Nancy T. Gilchrist, the mother of Ira A. Gilchrist, and several members of the families of Dexter and Herring were buried here, - Mrs. Gilchrist in 1794. Burials were made here also but a few years, when finding the location too near the dwellings, they began to bury upon the ridge which runs through Block No. 40, in the rear of the residence of James Lynch, Esq., and in the immediate vicinity of that formerly occupied by the late Alfred Northam, Esq. This, too, was abandoned in iso1, when Sheldon Logan, at that time Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, laid out a piece of ground then owned by the State, for a public burying ground. It was used as such till the year 1829, and a few of the bodies buried in Washington Park, including that of Mrs. Gilchrist, and perhaps some from Block No. 40, were removed to the new grounds. Block No. 59 in the First Ward, covers the site of the grounds laid out by Mr. Logan.

By an act of the Legislature passed in 1829, (Chap. 243) Block No. 43 was substituted for Block

* See Roster of Officers elsewhere.

FARM, RES. AND BARNS.

SUMMER HOUSE .

RESIDENCE OF JOHN GREENWAY, SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

No. 59, for the purpose of a public cemetery. The trustees of the village of Salina, as by law directed, removed the bodies from the old ground to the new ; the former was sold at public auction, and Block No. 43 has been used as a cemetery from that time to the present. The lots are nearly or quite all taken up and occupied.

It may be proper to state here that Mr. Isaac Van Vleck, one of the best known among the early settlers, was buried on Lot 8, Block 13, on what has been designated the Schouten Lot.

In 1834, previous to the act of the Legislature (Laws 1835, Chap. 160,) incorporating Lodi with the village of Syracuse. the inhabitants of that lo- cality established a small cemetery upon the hill on Beech street south of East Genesee, on Farm Lot No. 197. The late Oliver Teall, Esq., who then held a contract for the lot, furnished the land and offered an acre of ground, or more if desired, on condition that the people in that vicinity would clear and fence it. About half an acre was en- closed, and it has been since mostly occupied, al- though of late years it has been almost entirely abandoned as a burying place.

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 30

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 840

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840