History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 32

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

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more than ordinary executive ability, and many of the business men of the city to-day look back with honor to the faithful teacher who first gave them an insight to the road to wealth and prosperity. In the year Isot he entered the Army of the Rebellion as additional paymaster United States volunteers for the department of the south, with the title of major, and was mustered out a brevet colonel, Oct. 21, 1867, by command of General Grant, E. D. Townsend being assistant adjutant-general.

Returning to Syracuse, he received the appointment of warden and agent of Auburn prison, which position he held for one year and a half, and until the change of the State administration. Returning again to his own city, he spent the balance of his life mostly in quiet at home. Mr. Salisbury was identified with the Republican party, an ardent supporter of its principles, a man of a retiring nature, never solicitons of publicity, but stond prominently identified with every good work and enterprise tending to make society better. He died April 29, 1871.

On Oct. 12, 1512, he married Miss Sarah, daughter of JJohn Tallman and Clarissa Vrooman, of Onondaga County. She was born Feb. 10, 1818, and still survives her husband at the time of writing this sketch. She early became a member of the Presbyterian church at Castleton, Ontario county, and in 1840, coming to Syracuse, united with the Congregational church of this city, now called Plymouth church.

I49

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ing five dollars a year, a boarding house ten dollars, and a tavern ten dollars. In case Mr. Teall failed to exercise the rights and powers granted him by this act within one year from the date thereof, they were to revert again to the trustees of the village ; which they did, and were again conveyed to the said Oliver Teall, his heirs and assigns, for a period of thirty-five years, by an act passed April 22, 1834. (Laws, 1834, Chap. 151.) Nothing was further done till March 29, 1842, at which time an amendment to the former acts was passed, (Laws 1842, Chap. 108,) allowing Mr. Teall to charge ten dollars a year for supplying water to a private family, twenty dollars to a boarding house, and forty dollars to a tavern or hotel.

Under this amendment Mr. Teall began the con- struction of his water-works. The first wooden pipes or pump logs were laid in 1842, or early in 1843, and brought water to the village from the springs situated at the foot of the hill above Lodi street, on Blocks No. 404 and No. 504. Subse- quently Messrs. Ira Seymour and Aaron Burt were associated with Mr. Teall in the water-works, the firm being Teall, Seymour and Burt till 1849, or till sometime prior to the formation of the new com- pany.

On the 15th of April, 1849, the present Water- Works Company was incorporated by special act of the Legislature under the name and style of the Syracuse City Water-Works Company. The orig- inal incorporators were Oliver Teall, Ira Seymour, John Wilkinson, Hamilton White and Robert Fur- man.

The act of incorporation was amended April 8, 1851, (Laws 1851, Chap. 104,) requiring the Com- pany to supply water on certain terms to the Com- mon Council of the city for extinguishing fires and other purposes. Again, it was amended March 22, 1853, (Laws, 1853, Chap. 35,) so as to allow the Company to increase their capital stock from $60,000 to such an amount as the Directors might deem ad- visable not exceeding $150,000, such increased stock to be divided into shares of $50 each. The third amendment, passed February 6, 1855, (Laws 1855, Chap. 16,) conferred upon the Board of Di- rectors the power to establish rules and regulations for the use of water from their works so as to pre- serve the same from waste, and to impose such penalties as they should see proper for the violation of said rules and regulations, not exceeding in any case the sum of fifty dollars. Other amendments were passed in 1864, 1865, and 1877.

In 1849 the Company constructed a system of water-works described as follows: The springs

in the valley of Furnace Brook, in the town of Onondaga, were selected for the supply of water. The water was conducted from these springs by aqueducts to a large stone well, about eighty rods distant from each, which was seventeen feet deep and constructed of substantial masonry. The well was on Lot 89, in the town of Onondaga. From this well there was a main culvert or aqueduct laid towards the head of the Cinder Road (West Onon- daga street) and terminating on the high ground. The length of this aqueduct was about a mile, and it was constructed of masonry two feet square in- side. At the termination was a large open reser- voir, capable of holding 3,000.000 gallons of water, from which the water was conducted down the hill through brick culverts and stoned wells to a point where a log aqueduct of nine inches bore conveyed it through Onondaga street to Fayette Park, and thence to the railroad in Lock street, where it con- nected with the aqueducts before laid.

In 1853, the first iron pipe was laid-852 rods, extending to Salina, around Fayette Park and on James street. A reservoir of 107 feet head above the Erie Canal at Salina street, and of 1,500,000 gallons capacity, was also constructed during 1853. This large reservoir on Onondaga Hill was com- menced in 1862, and finished in 1865. During this latter year an additional distributing reservoir was constructed on Lot No. 89, town of Onondaga.

Without attempting to follow the history of these works more in detail, we may say that the Syracuse City Water Works are located southwest of the city in the town of Onondaga, the water being ob- tained from Springs, from Furnace Brook and from Onondaga Creek. The main reservoir is at Onon- daga Hill, covering 19 acres, forty feet deep, and fed by Furnace Brook. There are two Distribut- ing Reservoirs-one of 165 feet head, and the other of 107 feet head, above the level of the canal at Salina street. The lower, (107 feet head) is supplied by springs, and in dry weather by water pumped from Onondaga Creek at the Pump Works. Two pumps are employed, viz : a Holly Pump of 3,000,000 gallons capacity, and a Worth- ington Duplex Engine of 10,000,000 gallons capac- ity daily. These pumps are connected with the reservoir by a 30-inch cast iron pipe. The water reaches the city by gravity pressure the mains connecting with the reservoirs being respectively 10 inches, 12 inches and 24 inches in diameter. For fire purposes, steam engines being employed, the water is supplied by hydrants at the street corners, and in some instances at the middle of the blocks.

DIG TWENTEAL SKETCH

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

JOHN WILKINSON.

In addition to the casual references already made to the life and services of Mr. Wilkinson, in con- nection with the history of the city and county in which he took so early and important a part, a more extended memoir would seem to be necessary. For more than forty years of active and professional life, Mr. Wilkinson held a place second to none in the industrial and social development of his city and county, and has left behind him abundant proofs of his ability and wisdom, in a family trained to lives of usefulness and honor ; a large fortune accumulated slowly and honestly ; in buildings which adorn his city, and in many enterprises to which he gave the first impetus, tending to ensure the prosperity of Syracuse.

It may be said of him with truth, that his hand and tongue and pen and pocket were always at the service of the city he named, loved and helped to create.

He was the fourth in descent from Lawrance Wilkinson of Harperly House, Lanchester, County Durham, England. This ancestor was captured by Lord Fairfax, leader of the Parliamentary forces, while serving his King under General Cavendish, (afterwards Duke of New Castle) at the decisive battle of Marston Moor. His estates were sequest- ered by Parliament, but he himself was released by Lord Fairfax, and permitted to go to New England. In the Register's office at Durham the record reads as follows, and may still be seen : "Sequestrations in Durham 1645-'47. Lawrance Wilkinson of Lanchester, officer in arms, went to New England."

On his arrival in the new world, having little in common with the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, by whose party he had been ruined and expatriated, he settled in Providence, Rhode Island. There his name may still be seen in the " First Book of Records" as signed by himself in the year 1650-'51, as one of the original founders of that colony.

He married Susannah Smith. His third child was John Wilkinson, born March 2, 1654. John Wil- kinson married Deborah Whipple, April 16, 1689. His fifth child was Daniel Wilkinson, who was born June 8th, 1703, in the town of Smithfield, part of of the present city of Providence. Daniel Wilkin- son married Abigail Inman, September 22, 1740. His seventh child was named John Wilkinson, born

November 13, 1758. John Wilkinson married, December -, 1782, Elizabeth Tower, whose mother was a cousin of John Hancock.

This John Wilkinson was not seventeen years old when the clash of arms resounding through the civilized world, announced the Revolution which preceded the birth of the new Republic. He entered the service of his country soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. By the fate of war he was captured and confined in the notorious Jersey Prison Ship in New York Harbor. The records of the sufferings of these prisoners, who were densely crowded between the close decks and even in the noisome hold, where they died by scores, have only been surpassed in former days by the Black Hole of Calcutta, and later, by the cruelties of Libby Prison and Andersonville. After nine months he was exchanged, but with im- paired health, which was only restored after the care of years. After his marriage he lived for some years in Cumberland, R. I. In 1790 he removed to Troy, N. Y. He lived there nine years, and there the subject of this sketch was born, September 30, 1798.

In February, 1799, John Wilkinson. the father, left his home in Troy, to create for himself a new one in the then wilderness of Central New York. He performed the long and toilsome journey on foot, leading a cow. His wife and little ones, to- gether with all his household goods, rode upon a sledge drawn by a yoke of oxen. At a sunnier season he had been attracted by the lovely lake of Skaneateles and had selected the land for a farm in the midst of the forest one mile from its shores. Thither he came, and set to work literally to hew a home for his family, and also, as it proved, a grave for himself ; for he died in less than three years, from injuries received while building a barn. He was buried on his farm which still remains in the family.

Here in a log house, in the midst of a great forest filled with game, John Wilkinson grew up. Until the age of twelve he went to school at Skaneateles. Then his mother, not daunted by the additional burden entailed upon herself in her struggle with the wilderness for the support of four children, by the loss of her son's help upon the farm, or by the expense incident to the scheme. determined to give him the best education the country afforded and to

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

send him to the Academy at Onondaga. It was the nearest classical school, but it was thirteen miles from his home. With a perseverance and energy worthy of such a mother, he every week performed this distance on foot, walking over every Monday morning and returning Friday night to spend Sun- clay with his mother. Part of the time he was accompanied by the late Hon. Asher Tyler, of Elmira, whose parents resided in the adjoining town of Marcellus. One winter, he, with three other boys, kept house in Onondaga. The supplies of corn meal, pork and potatoes, were provided by each in turn, and his share was carried on his back all the toilsome thirteen miles which lay between his home and school.

While pursuing his studies in this arduous fashion, he attracted the notice of the Hon. Joshua Forman, then the great man of the county, and the principal patron of the Academy, and after he graduated he became Mr. Forman's clerk, and a member in his family. In the law office of Forman and Sabin he studied his profession. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1819, and was the first lawyer who settled in Syracuse.

It will not be inappropriate to quote in this con- nection an extract from the " Reminiscences of Syracuse, by Mr. T. C. Cheney, published in 1857 :

"In 1819, John Wilkinson, in company with Owen Forman, a brother of the Judge, came here from Onondaga Hollow, and, under the direction of Judge Forman, proceeded to lay out the 'Walton Tract' into village lots. This survey was not accomplished without the severest labor. The old lines and marks of the tract were nearly obliterated, and it was with the greatest difficulty that they found, with any degree of certainty, the starting point of the original survey. The survey was com- pleted after several weeks of hard labor. Part of the ' Walton Tract' was laid out into village lots, and the remainder into farm lots of from five to ten acres. After the completion of the survey, Mr. Wilkinson built an office on the corner now occu- pied by the Globe Hotel, and commenced the practice of law. Mr. Wilkinson was heartily ridiculed for putting his office out in the fields. That location, now forming the business center of a flourishing city, was then out of town.

" In February, 1820, a postoffice was established in Syracuse, and Mr. Wilkinson was appointed Postmaster. In 1825, when the first election for village officers was held, Mr. Wilkinson was elected Clerk. Mr. Wilkinson has since held several offices of profit and trust, with honor and distinction.

When railroads were first successfully put in opera- tion, Mr. Wilkinson closely investigated their work- ings and principles, and his gigantic mind compre- hending in an instant their immense advantages, and ultimate supercedence of the common post- roads, he entered at once largely into railroad affairs, and is now emphatically a Railroad King.

" 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 built at Syracuse, thus adding the hardy popula- tion of the Fifth Ward to our city. He is now the President of the Michigan Southern Railroad, and under his skillful management that road is now one of the best in the Union. Mr. Wilkinson is a great favorite with the traveling public, and is loved and respected by all railroad men, who would dlo anything for him."

As a lawyer, Mr. Wilkinson occupied a promi- nent place at the Onondaga Bar. The late Peter Outwater, Esq., was associated with him for many years, and later, James L. Bagg, Esq As counsel and advisor he had few equals and no superior.

The general estimate of his probity and wisdom was abundantly proved by the number of estates entrusted to him as executor, administrator, or trus- tee. In his later years, he derived much satisfac- tion from the fact that all trust funds committed to him had been increased in amount and enhanced in value while in his hands.

Mr. Wilkinson was a director in the Onondaga County Bank from its organization in 1825, until its close. Ile was also President of the Bank of Syra- cuse, which he, together with the late Horace White, Esq., organized in 1838, on the passage of the gen- eral Banking Law, and so continued till his death. Both of these banks were managed with prudence and were exceedingly profitable to their stock-hold- ers. Both have now been closed, all the men who organized them having passed away.

At Albany, February 24, 1825, John Wilkinson married Henrietta Wilhelmina Swart. Of eight children born to them, six are now living. Joshua Forman and Alfred Wilkinson are in business un- der the firm name of Wilkinson & Co., as bankers, on the site where their father's office stood and where they were born A rare instance of perma- nence in our mobile country. Maria H. Wilkinson married Mr. F. C. Welsch, and lives in Baden- Baden, Germany. Theodosia Burr Davis Wilkinson mar- ried Joseph Kirkland, and lives in Chicago. John and Dudley Phelps Wilkinson live in Chicago, and are among the leading merchants of that city.

Mr. Wilkinson was appointed Postmaster Feb.

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

24, 1820, which was announced in the Onondaga Register, as follows :

" A new Postoffice has been established at Syracuse formerly Corinth, in the town of Salina, and John Wilkinson, Esq., appointed Postmaster. The name of this village was necessarily changed, there being a Postoffice of the name of Corinth previously established in the State."

Mr. Wilkinson remained in office till July 26, 1840, when, as President of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad Company, which was carrying the mails, he was held by the Postmaster-General to be a contractor within the meaning of the statute, and was therefore compelled to resign one office or the other. With that wisdom which characterized every action of his life, he gave up the postoffice, and permanently retired from active politics.

In 1834 and 1835 he was elected Member of Assembly from Onondaga County, and occupied, while in that body, the position of Chairman of an important committee, viz .: On the Incorporation and Alteration of Banking and Insurance Com- panies.

Though an able debater, he never wasted time in forensic display, but spoke rarely and only upon business in his charge, or on that of which he was complete master. Therefore he never failed to command the attention of the House.

His great effort was a speech delivered April 2, 1835, in opposition to the State aiding in the con- struction of the Erie Railroad. What Mr. Wilkin- son then enunciated as a principle is now the settled policy of the State.

It was during his second year that the bill was passed which changed his life from one purely pro- fessional to one of active business. In 1836 the Syracuse and Utica Railroad Company was char- tered. In the following year, when its organization was completed and the construction of that road be- came assured, he was unanimously chosen by his associate directors as President. The road was opened July 4. 1839. The fact that it was built for $200,000 less than the capital stock subscribed for the purpose of building it, is a striking commentary upon the capacity and integrity of Mr. Wilkinson.

It is needless to say that from that hour till 1853, when the road was merged into the great New York Central Railroad, he had the absolute confidence of the stockholders.

His management of a railroad was characterized by great study, unremitting attention, untiring vigi- lance and a watchful eye which nothing could es- cape. lle made this railroad his sole care and thought and gave to it the fourteen best years of his

life. Personally, in common with all of the stock- holders, he received his reward in large dividends, and in the enhanced value of his stock, but his salary as President never paid his family and per- sonal expenses.

After the organization of the New York Central Railroad, he was appointed counsel to that company, a compliment which he richly deserved both as a lawyer and a railroad man.

While President of the Syracuse and Utica Rail- road he was also prominent in the direction of the following railroads, viz: the Hudson River, the Buf- falo and State Line, the Oswego and Syracuse, and the Rochester and Syracuse. The two railroads last named he projected, organized, and may be said to have built, as he was the Chairman of their Con- struction Committees.

Rival lines being under construction for the pur- pose of connecting the granaries of the West with the sea-board, Mr. Wilkinson felt the keenest anx- iety lest business should be diverted from the line in which he had a much greater interest than one of dollars solely-a line of which he had been a projector, constructor and manager, and he recog- nized the necessity of so improving the line from Albany to Buffalo, then managed by seven different companies, as to enable it to compete successfully with its future rivals. He found that the line be- tween Syracuse and Rochester could be shortened twenty-four miles and six hundred feet of grades could be eliminated by building a railroad on the line of the Erie Canal. This project of course en- countered the most vigorous opposition from the residents of Auburn, Geneva, Canandaigua, and lesser places on the Old Road, as well as from the stockholders of the two companies owning the line via Auburn. Their opposition ceased when they became convinced that Mr. Wilkinson was in carn- est, and that under the general railroad law, ad- vocated by him for this very purpose, a direct rail- road between Syracuse and Rochester was inevita- ble. The two companies then accepted Mr. Wil- kinson's plan of consolidation with the Direct Railroad-the consolidated company to build the new road.

The consolidation of all the railroad companies between Albany and Buffalo into the great New York Central R. R. Company, closed one er och in Mr. Wilkinson's active and useful career ; and before turning to other occupations, he resolved to allow himself that rest which he had so richly earned. To visit Europe had been a long cherished hope, and he availed himself of this opportunity to bring it to fruition. After a year of travel. all the advan-

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

tages of which his disciplined and well-stored mind fitted him to appreciate, he returned to his country and his home in the spring of 1854, ready to spend for both, his renewed strength.

Among other positions tendered him was the presidency of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad, which he accepted. He filled this office with his characteristic fidelity and ability for two years. During that time he built nearly two hundred miles of railroad, including the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad.

In the last years of his life, he operated the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, in his own name for two years as Trustee and Receiver. He returned it to its owners a reorganized Railroad, all interests having been protected and cared for. His management in this instance was acknowledged to be a great financial success.

After the death of Capt. Oliver Teall, he became President of the Syracuse Water-Works. He adopted the plan for collecting the water from springs and small streams into a reservoir. Few people in Syracuse know that five hundred feet above them, on Onondaga Hill, there is stored up for their use in Wilkinson Lake 150,000,000 gallons of water, or forty-three days' supply, at the present rate of consumption.

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 32

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