USA > New York > Onondaga County > History of Onondaga County, New York > Part 36
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Joshuas 11
S.IL.I.L NY
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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
of Gov. Van Buren, submitted his plan to a com- mittee of the Legislature then in session. At the suggestion of the Governor, he drew up a bill which became a law, and is known as the Safety Fund Act. It relieved the embarrassment of the State, and it may be safely affirmed that that no system in practice on this side the Atlantic, has better stood the test of experience.
In 1829-'30, Judge Forman bought 3,000 acres of land in Rutherford Co., North Carolina. He took up his residence at the village of Rutherfordton, greatly extended its boundaries, established a news. paper, and was considered the most enterprising individual in that part of the State.
In 1831, after an absence of five years, Judge Forman visited Onondaga County. He was every- where received with unqualified demonstrations of joy and respect, and every voice cheered him as the founder of the city and the benefactor of mankind. The citizens of Syracuse, through their committee appointed for that purpose, presented a valuable set of silver plate, in the form of a pitcher and six gob- lets, bearing this inscription :
A Tribute of Respect. Presented by the Syracuse,
Citizens of Syracuse to the (Clasped hands.)
Ilon. Yoshur Forman,
Founder of that V'illage.
I831.
On his return to North Carolina, Judge Forman took with him this token of the gratitude of his fel- low citizens, and it remained with him till the year 1845, when he presented it to his daughter, the wife of Gen. E. W. Leavenworth, of Syracuse, remark- ing that it constituted a part of the history of Syra- cuse, and that after his death there it should remain.
In 1846, this venerable man revisited his former friends of his earlier years and found in each a full, hearty and honest welcome. A public dinner was tendered him at the Syracuse House - then the great hotel of the city - which was attended by Moses 1). Burnet, Hon. George Geddes, Lewis H. Redfield, Amos R. Granger, Harvey Baldwin, and most of the prominent citizens of the village and many from the adjoining country. Hon. Moses D. Burnet presided. A formal address of congratula- tion on account of the great success of his early labors and the remarkable fulfillment of his hopes and predictions was made by the Hon. Harvey Bald- win, which was replied to in behalf of Judge For- man the being then unable to articulate distinctly on account of a paralytic shock ) by his son-in-law, Gen. Leavenworth. Gen. Amos R. Granger, Hon. Geo. Geddes, Lewis H. Redfield and several other gentle- men addressed the party in a very happy manner.
From Syracuse Judge Forman retired to his mountain home in the milder climes of the sunny South, and passed away at the village of Rutherford- ton, on the 4th of August, 1848. His remains were removed from Rutherfordton, at the request of his daughter, Mrs. E. W. Leavenworth, and now repose beneath the shades of Oakwood, the beautiful rural cemetery at Syracuse.
For a fuller and more detailed account of Judge Forman's relations to the Erie Canal, see Dr. Hosack's life of De Witt Clinton, pages 342 to 357. and for his relations to the city of Syracuse, see Clark's History of Onondaga, Vol. 2d, pages Go to 90 ; see also "Genealogy of the Leavenworth Fam- ily in the United States," pages 257 to 264
GEN. ELIAS W. LEAVENWORTH.
Elias Warner Leavenworth was born at Canaan. Columbia county, N. Y., December 20, 1803. His father removed from Canaan to Great Barrington, Mass., when he was three years old, where his early life was spent among the beautiful hills and valleys of Berkshire. Early developing an eager taste for knowledge, he was placed in the year 1819, at the Hudson Academy, then under the care of the Rev. Daniel Parker, father of the present Judge Amasa Parker of Albany. Ile also, pursued his prepara- tory studies, in part, under Erastus C. Benedict, Esq , at Great Barrington, in 1873 State Senator from New York city. In the fall of iszo, he en- tered Williams College, as a Sophomore well pre- pared, and remained there one year, and then en- tered Yale as a Sophomore ; was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1823 ; was grad- uated in 1824. and took his second degree in 1827.
On the 20th of September, 1824, he began the study of law with William Cullen Bryant, then practicing at Great Barrington, and on the 16th of May, 1825, entered the Law School at Litchfield, Conn. In January, 1827, he was admitted to prac- tice in all the courts of Connecticut.
On Monday, the 12th of November, 1827, he left Great Barrington for Syracuse, arriving, by dili- gence, at sunset, on the following Saturday. He was admitted in the Common Pleas as an attorney and counsellor at the February Term, 1828, on the motion of Gen. James R. Lawrence ; and in the Supreme Court nearly two years later at Albany. at the October Term, 1829, as an attorney, and as counsellor in 1833.
On reaching Syracuse, he studied and practiced with Alfred Northam, Esq., until February, 1829, when he formed a partnership with the late B.
1
YRACUFE NY
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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Davis Noxon, Esq., which continued with various members of the family until 1850, when he aban- doned his profession, entirely on account of the state of his health. In the great campaign of 1840 he had contracted bronchitis by constant public speak- ing to large audiences. In 1850, his condition be- came somewhat critical, and although enjoying prob- ably the largest and most lucrative practice in the central part of the State, felt constrained to retire from his profession and turn his attention to other pursuits.
Rest and care for two or three years and abstain- ing from public speaking, fully restored his health, and other pursuits having engaged his attention, he never returned to the practice of law.
In January, 1832, he was appointed a Lieutenant of Artillery in the 147th Regiment of Infantry, and in the same year was appointed Captain of the Ar- tillery in the same regiment.
In 1834, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 29th Regiment of Artillery, and in the follow- ing year was appointed Colonel of the same regi- ment. In the Fall of 1835, he was nominated at the Whig County Convention as one of the four members of Assembly from Onondaga County. But the county was hopelessly Democratic, or he would not have consented to be a candidate. In 1836, he was appointed Brigadier-General of the 7th Brigade of Artillery. In 1837, was elected Trustee of Syracuse village. In 1838-'39, and '40, was President of the village. In 1839, was elected Supervisor of the old town of Salina. It was the first election at which the Democrats had been beaten for twelve or fifteen years ; was reëlected in 1840. In 1846 and '47, was again President of the village.
While President of the village from 1838 to 1841, the Board opened, or extended many of the streets which are now the principal business ones in the city. In 1838, he drew up a resolution which was the means of procuring for the city Vanderbilt Square ; the rows of trees which still line each side of the railroad from Beech street to the heart of the city ; and the first public sewer, which still extends in Washington street, from the creek to Lemon street.
In the winter of 1839, while President of the vil- lage, he drew up and procured the passage of a bill to enable the trustees to make a contract with the Seneca Turnpike Company, to discontinue that part of the road running through what is now known as Fayette Park. In the same year he was instru- mental in securing to the city that beautiful Park which is now the pride of the Seventh Ward. In
the Spring of 1849, Mr. Leavenworth was elected Mayor of the city. Under his administration and by his efforts, the Armory Park was laid out and became city property. In the Fall of the same year he was elected a member of the Legislature to rep- resent the city district ; was chairman of the com- mittee on the Manufacture of Salt ; and a member of the Committee on Railroads ; and also drew up and had passed a bill on the subject of Salt. (Laws of 1850, Chap. 374, p. 794.) He also car- ried through the Committee of the Whole and pro- cured the passage of a bill to improve the naviga- tion of the Seneca River. In the same year he drew up and carried through a bill for the preserva- tion of Washington's headquarters at Newburg. In a series of able speeches, he defended the Gover- nor's veto in the celebrated " Mason Will Case," and it was mainly through his efforts that the veto of Governor Fish was sustained in that long and fiercely contested discussion.
In 1849-'50, General Leavenworth was one of the Building Committee of the First Pres- byterian Society. A majority of the committee wished to build a brick church, after some of the Grecian styles of architecture. By his efforts, aided by those of Mr. Thomas B. Fitch, one of the committee, the brown stone Gothic Church, one of the finest ornaments of the city, was finally se- cured. In the Fall of 1851, he lacked only six or eight votes of being nominated for Secretary of State, at the Whig State Convention. In the Fall of 1853 he was nominated for Secretary of State, almost without opposition, and was also elected. During his term as Secretary of State, he was very active in causing improvements to be made through- out the State, and through his efforts the State Asylum for Idiots was removed from Albany to Syracuse.
As Secretary of State, he was ex-officio visitor of the charitable institutions of the State, and saw the great want of some superior investigating and supervising power over the Trustees of the various institutions. He accordingly drew up a bill entitled : " An act in relation to charitable institutions sup- ported or assisted by the State, and to city and county poor houses, and to create a board of visitors for the same," which was introduced into the Senate by Hon. Mark Spencer. In substance the bill was passed by the Legislature, May 23, 1867, when he again drew the bill. In 1855 he was elected a corresponding member of the American Historical and Geographical Society of the city of New York ; and, also, the same year, of the New England Historical and Genealogical
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Society of Boston. In the fall of 1856, Mr. Leaven- worth was again elected to the Legislature ; was Chairman of Committee on Canals and a member of the Committee on Banks ; also, Chairman of the Select Committee of one from each Judicial Dis- trict on the Equalization of State Tax. As Chair- man, he drew up a bill, which was subsequently passed, entitled, " An act to equalize the State tax among the several counties in the State," which established the Board of State Assessors. He also drew up and introduced the bill entitled, " An act to provide for the investigation into the origin of fires in certain cases ;" also many other bills of equal importance. In the winter of 1858, Governor King nominated him to the Senate for State Auditor, but the Senate, being of a different party complexion, politely laid the nomination over. Mainly through the efforts of Mr. Leavenworth and Mr. Hamilton White, in 1858-'9, the Association of Oakwood was formed, which gave to the city one of the finest cemeteries in the State. In the spring of 1859 he was again elected Mayor of the city. In the fall of the same year he was again nominated for the office of Secretary of State, but was defeated by a small majority of from 1,000 to 1,500 votes, in a total of 600,000, mainly through the efforts of Erastus and James Brooks and the Know-Nothing party, on account of their hostility to Governor Seward of whom he was a warm friend. In the winter of 1860, he was appointed by the Legislature, one of the Board of Quarantine Commissioners and was chosen President at its organization. In the summer of the same year he was President of the Republican State Convention assembled at Syra- cuse to select delegates to the National Convention at Chicago. On the 5th of February, 1861, Gen. Leavenworth was chosen one of the Regents of the University ; and in 1872 was appointed by the Governor and the Senate, one of the commissioners to amend the State Constitution. In February, 1861, Mr. L. was nominated to the position of Com- missioner under the Convention with New Granada, and was duly confirmed by the Senate.
In the fall of 1874, Gen. Leavenworth was
elected a member of the 44th Congress from the 25th Congressional District, Onondaga and Cortland, but declined, at an early day, a reelec- tion in a letter to his constituents setting forth the reasons. There are many other public posi- tions which he has filled with credit and ability, which the want of space will not permit mentioning. Mr. Leavenworth at present holds the following positions : President of the Syracuse Savings Bank, President of the Syracuse City Water-Works Com- pany, President of the Syracuse Gas Light Company, President of Oakwood Cemetery, President of the I-listorical Society of Central New York, Secretary and Treasurer of the Cape Cod Coarse Salt Com- pany, a Trustee of the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum, a Trustee of the Syracuse Ilome Associa- tion for Old Ladies, a Trustee of the First Presby- terian Church, since July, 1837, a Trustee of the State Asylum for Idiots, a Director in the Syracuse, Phoenix and Oswego Railroad, a Regent of the Uni- versity of the State of New York.
Few men have led busier public lives than Gen. Leavenworth. Possessing a fine education, com- bined with highly respectable natural abilities, his services and talents for forty years past have been in constant demand, whether as a legislator, a states- man or a jurist. lle has left indelibly the impress of his character and tastes upon the institutions of the city in which he resides. Kind, sympathetic, generous and humane, he daily practices these lovely christian virtues which create sunshine wherever he moves. The great secret of his success is attrib- utable to his astonishing energy, and an endeavor to discharge to the best of his ability, every duty which is imposed upon him. Now at the advanced age of 75 years, he does more hard work than, perhaps, any other man in Syracuse, as can be seen by the numer- ous, arduous and responsible positions which he now holds. Age, instead of enfeebling his intellect, adds increasing lustre to his experience and wisdom. Few men in the State would adorn any public posi- tion with a richer experience or finer ability.
For a fuller account of Gen. L. see the " Leaven- worth Genealogy, 1873."
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Springfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., Feb. 8, 1817.
His paternal grandfather, John C. Wieting, was a native of Standal, Prussia ; was a classical scholar (and another member of the family taught a classical school in Vienna over one hun- dred years ago) ; came to America while a young man, about the time of the Revolutionary war ; enlisted on the side of the colo- nists; was in the battle of Sara- toga. After the war he married, taught a classical school at Green- hush, N. Y., and later was pastor of the Lutheran church of Minden and Osquake for twenty-two years, and died Feb. 17, 1817, in the sixtieth year of his agc.
His father, Peter Wieting, was born in the town of Minden, Montgomery Co., N. Y., Oct. 30, 1790; was a tanner and currier in the early part of his career, and subsequently a merchant, and died in the city of Syracuse in the year 1856.
His mother, Mary Elizabeth Manchester, was a descendant from a family of that name who came from Manchester, England, and settled in the State of Rhode Island ; was of English descent, and was born April 5, 1792, in Washington Co., N. Y. She died May 30, 1872. Her father was a Revolutionary soldier, and was a pensioner for many years before his death.
John M. was the eldest son in a family of four children, and at the time of the writing of this sketch is the only surviving one. He received sufficient education from the district and private schools, so that at the age of fourteen years he became a teacher. After that age, unaided pecuniarily, he spent the next four years in teaching winters and attending school at the Clinton Liberal In- stitute, and working on the farm summers.
During the following year he assisted in the preliminary survey for the New York and Erie railroad. At the age of twenty, in the year 1837, he came to Syracuse, and engaged as an engineer in the construction of the Syracuse and Utica railroad, which posi- tion he filled for some six years. In the mean time he surveyed Rose Hill cemetery, and graded many of the streets of the then village of Syracuse.
During these years he was an almost constant student of the natural sciences and mathematics. It was also about this time that he conceived the idea of leading a professional life, and began the study of medicine with Dr. Hiram Hoyt, of Syracuse.
Through the pecuniary misfortune of his father and his poor health, John M. was compelled not only to meet the obstacles of life for himself at this time, but also to provide for the support of the rest of the family, which he did, with the pride of a devoted son, down to the death of those who gave him birth.
In the spring of 1843, while a student of medicine, he was attracted by the lectures of Dr. Austin Flint, then lecturing in Syracuse with a manikin. John M. resolved to purchase the
V. m. Wieting, m.D.
manikin, and with the assistance of kind friends he accomplished his desire, and started on a tour of lecturing, confining himself to the subjects of anatomy, phys- iology, and the laws of life and healtb.
Soon after he began lectu- ring he received his diploma to practice medicine. His lec- tures were given mostly in the New England and Northern States.
From time to time, as his means would admit, Dr. Wieting added to his manikin other manikins, skeletons, models, and paintings, and such other illustrative appa- ratus as was calculated to render his lectures instructive and enter- taining.
His lectures increased in pop- ularity ; his whole time was occupied, when not in public speaking or rest, as a student, and for a period of some twenty years, more or less, he excited the curiosity and educated the masses, instructed the willing, lent a branch to the trunk of scientific research, and became one of the most successful and popular lecturers of the age.
He gave over one hundred courses of lectures in the city of Boston and vicinity during these years to crowded houses. His pure, intellectual efforts on these occasions are said to liave been very successful, and have placed him on record as a thorough master of the subjects before him.
Inured to the necessity of economy in his earlier life, Dr. Wis- ting has, by judicious management and his natural business ability, secured a competence which places him beyond the apprehension of want, and owns one of the finest and most valuable blocks in the city, called Wieting block. In politics, he has never been a very zealous party man ; not solicitous of public office; identified with the Republican party.
He was the first president of the Chenango Valley railroad, but has been very little connected with any public enterprise.
Dr. Wieting, in the strictest sense of the term, is a self-made man, endowed with that self-reliance, perseverance under diffi- culties, endurance of body and mind, resolution, with the greatest firmness and consideration, worthy of emulation by the young men of to-day.
In the year 1875, Dr. Wieting, with his wife (whose maiden name was Mary Elizabeth Plumb, born in Homer, N. Y., a daughter of Hon. Samuel Plumb, and on the mother's side grand- danghter of Colonel Cooley, of De Ruyter), visited the Pacific coast, Japan, China, Ceylon island, India, the leading countries of Africa and Europe, returning to his native country after an absence of one year, and making a trip around the world.
In this tour he added to his already large stock of information what neither reading or literary research will acquire, and was a discriminating observer of the customs and character of other peoples in the countries through which he traveled.
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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.
The history of the inception and establishment of this Institution was given in an address by Rev. A. J. Phelps, on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the " Hall of Languages," August 31, 1871. It has been approved by Chancellor Haven and others as a sufficiently accurate history of the University, and as such it is here introduced, with a few slight alterations.
Like many other great and noble enterprises, the Syracuse University seems not to have been the result of plan or concert, but rather, as we then thought and still believe, a sort of intuition or inspi- ration which came upon several minds almost simul- taneously. This enterprise, in its inception, con- templated the removal of Genesee College to Syra- cuse, and the first tangible expression within our knowledge, looking in this direction, was a note from Professor J. R. French, which was received in reply to a communication we had made to him, in the month of January, 1866, declining to cooperate with him in the proposed plan to raise Centenary funds for the endowment of Genesee College, on the ground that its location was quite too uncen- tral and ineligible to meet the demands of our edu- cational interest in the great Empire State, and strongly urging the imperative necessity of a first class college, under the patronage and supervision of our denomination, in some central position in which our people from all parts of the State might feel a common interest and where they might in- vest with better promise of grand results.
To these sentiments Dr. French promptly re- sponded, and fully committed himself in favor of the removal of Genesee College from Lima to some more eligible location. Almost instantly after the receipt of this note we learned of an incidental con- versation occurring only a few days before, between Rev. E. Arnold and Professor Bennett. The spirit fell first upon the former, and the latter soon caught the inspiration, and as quick as thought there ap- peared screws under the sills, a locomotive on the track, and the time honored college seen trembling for its journey. At almost equal date Dr. Lore might have been seen in his sanctum, listening to this topic, when suddenly he replied by placing in the band of his friend a half column of " proof," on the removal of Genesee College, and the two agreed that the intuition or inspiration, which ever it was, must be good.
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The next fact of interest time will allow us to note, was the first college convention, called under the auspices of a centenary meeting at Elmira, and held at Syracuse, April 12, 1866. This convention of representatives of five central and western con- ferences, took action decidedly favoring the enter- prise, and adopted measures for its advancement. During the same month Black River and Oneida conferences took harmonious action, and constituted their visitors to Genesee College, Commissioners to confer with the Trustees and negotiate for the re- moval of the College to some central locality in the State.
At the annual meeting of the Trustecs, held at Lima June 27, 1866, the Commissioners being pres- ent, and representing their several Conferences, the Trustees responded in substance that, the Genesee and East Genesee Conferences concurring, we deem it best that Genesee College should be removed to some more central location in the State on condition that two hundred thousand dollars, irrespective of grounds and buildings, be raised by the Conferences east of Cayuga Lake, to equal two hundred thou- sand dollars to be furnished by the two Genesee Conferences.
(REV. E. O. HAVEN, D. D., LL. D.)
Immediately after this action of the Trustees, the Commissioners issued a call for a convention of Laymen and Ministers from Black River, Oneida, and Wyoming Conferences, which was held at Sy- racuse July 26, 1866. This Convention indorsed the basis agreed upon by the joint meeting of Trus- tees and visitors, and recommended that Syracuse and other eligible localities should be canvassed, to ascertain what inducements would be offered to lo- cate the college in their midst.
At the session of the Genesee Conference in the autumn of 1866 this whole plan was, with great unanimity, indorsed, whereupon the Trustees took measures to secure the passage of an act by the Legislature of 1866-'67, legalizing the removal of the college. Immediately thereafter parties entered upon the authorized canvass in several localities. In Syracuse private interviews were held with several distinguished gentlemen, by whose advice and cooperation a preliminary council was called, and thereupon a private note was prepared, as fol- lows :
" SYRACUSE, March 5, 1867.
" SIR : You are requested to mect several of our citizens at the office of the Salt Company of Onon- daga, Thursday, March 21, at seven P. M., to attend
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