USA > New York > Onondaga County > History of Onondaga County, New York > Part 49
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His charities are always exercised in an unob- trusive manner. He was one of the originators and has been a trustee of Oakwood Cemetery since its organization.
On the 16th day of June, 1831, he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine, daughter of Ansil White, of Whitestown, N. Y. For nearly fifty years she has been his faithful and honored com- panion in the voyage of life.
At the time of writing this-1878-both Mr. and Mrs. Crouse are enjoying excellent health. They have two sons, previously mentioned in this sketch, John J. and Daniel Edgar Crouse. The former has occupied many important positions of political responsibility and financial trust.
He has served successively as Alderman, School Commissioner and Mayor of Syracuse.
He is President of the State Bank of Syracuse, and of the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, and Trustee of the Onondaga County Savings Bank.
Daniel Edgar, the second son, is a Director of the First National Bank of Syracuse, and also a Trustee of the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga.
The life of John Crouse, briefly sketched above, is not filled with great events in the ordinary sense of the term, and yet his successful career furnishes abundant food for the reflecting mind. It serves to point a moral and furnish an example that all should try to emulate.
Beginning life a poor boy with but few advan- tages, he has, by energy, perseverance and un- swerving integrity of purpose, attained the topmost pinnacle of business success. His success has not been achieved by doubtful means or questionable methods, but has been worked out and won by early
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struggles, by frugality and industrious perseverance, and by the rigid and unalterable practice of honest and honorable rules of business. For fifty-one consecutive years he has been actively engaged in business, and is still the head of his business firm. With faculties unimpaired, and a mind as bright and clear as in his younger days, his hand still directs the helm that guides his house successfully forward.
The city or the State of New York can furnish few examples of this nature.
His experience during his extended business career of over half a century has been a varied one. Fifty years ago he commenced his journeys to the city of New York to purchase goods, traveling by the packets on the canal and by steamers on the Hudson River. He has seen the country during those years develop from a wilderness, with here and there a hamlet or village, into prosperity. Cities and villages have sprung up and the great railways have encircled the country with a network of iron.
The stage coach and packet boats of his early life, with their snail-like locomotion, have given place to the palace on wheels of the lightning ex- press, and still to-day, with the same energy, in- dustry and enjoyment, he makes his routine trips to the metropolis to purchase goods for his house, as he did fifty-one years ago.
HON. PETER BURNS.
The subject of this sketch was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, July 31, 1814. He was the only child of David and Mary [Dimpsey] Burns, both natives of Dublin. When Mr. Burns was five years of age his mother died, at about the age of 26 years. In the spring of 1820, he immigrated with his father to America, on board a merchant vessel en route from Dublin to New York. After a voyage of thirteen weeks the vessel was wrecked off Sandy Hook, but nearly all of the passengers were saved, being rescued by wreckers. After arriving at New York, where he remained a short time, he came with his father to the county of Delaware, to a place on the east branch of the Delaware river, where Mr. Burns was left with relatives and his father returned to New York and engaged in his previous business of brewing and distilling. His father remained in New York about five years and removed thence to the county of Ulster, where he remained until his death, which occurred about the year 1850.
At the time of Peter's residence in Delaware county, the country in that section was new and
comparatively unsettled, and afforded very limited advantages for schooling. He lived most of the time with a French family and learned to speak the French language quite fluently. At the age of twelve years he went to the county of Ulster where his father was, and spent the next five years in a family of Hollanders, working on a farm and having very limited opportunities for education from books; but he was schooled in habits of industry, economy, frugality and morality, and disciplined carefully in the doctrines of the Dutch Reformed Church. It was in this model family that the turning point in his life was reached, and from those five years' experience he dates the beginning of his future career.
At the age of seventeen he entered as an ap- prentice to the saddle and harness maker's trade in Kingston, Ulster county, and remained there and at Woodstock until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went to New York to perfect his mechanical skill. He remained there two years and came to the village of Syracuse in 1836. After following his business as a journeyman till the spring of 1840, when, on account of impaired health, he made a tour of the Western States, return- ing to Syracuse the next autumn. Feeling the need of additional education, and unable physically to pursue his trade, he spent the following two years at Onondaga Academy, with a view of fitting himself for a teacher ; but after obtaining his diploma, he was induced to enter upon a clerkship in a saddlery hardware store in Syracuse, where he remained for five years. By his principle of living within his means and saving something besides, he had accumulated sufficient at this time to embark in trade for himself, and accordingly opened a saddlery hardware store which he conducted till the year 1853, when he sold his stock and interest and began the manufacture of saddlery hardware stock in partnership with the late Kasson Frazer. This business was continued with increasing success until the death of Mr. Frazer in the year 1876. After one year Mr. Burns retired from the business leaving his son, Willis B. Burns, in full possession of his interest. During his active business life as a manufacturer his trade, from small beginnings, extended over most of the States of the Union, and was one of the leading manufactories of the United States. In politics Mr. Burns started in the Whig party ; afterwards he was identified with the anti-slavery party, and upon the formation of the Republican party became an ardent supporter of its principles. He has been connected with various offices of trust in the city, and served his
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county in the State Legislature for two terms- 1871-'72. He was Supervisor for the Sixth Ward in 1859-'60, and was several years Chairman of the Board of Inspectors of the Onondaga County Penitentiary. He was one of the first Police Com- missioners to organize the present police system of the city, and as Chairman of that Board assisted in the organization of the present police force. He has been for several years a director of the Mer- chants National Bank of Syracuse, and of the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, and Vice-President of the latter.
At the age of twenty he became a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, and upon coming to
Syracuse he united with the First Presbyterian Church, and was Superintendent of its Sunday School, He was one of nine persons to organize the Dutch Reformed Church on James street, and subsequently connected himself with the organiza- tion, and contributed liberally toward the erection of the present Plymouth Church, of whose Board of Trustees he has been for a number of years President. In the year 1850, May 9th, he married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Bates and Jane Phillips, both natives of Chesterfield, Mass., but at the time of her marriage of Syracuse. They have two children, Willis B. and Flora E., wife of Lyman C. Smith, of Syracuse.
SYRACUSE WHOLESALE BUSINESS.
D. MCCARTHY, SONS & Co.'s wholesale house was established in the spring of 1862, under the firm name of McCarthy & Sedgwick, and the busi- ness opened in the upper portion of the retail house, corner of South Salina and Fayette streets. The wholesale firm of McCarthy & Sedgwick continued till February 1, 1867, when Mr. Sedgwick retired and the style was changed to D. McCarthy & Son, Mr. David K. McCarthy being taken in as partner. On the first of February, 1869, Mr. Thomas Mccarthy and Mr. Patrick Phelan were admitted as partners and the style of the firm be- came D. McCarthy, Sons & Co. February 1, 1871, Mr. Thomas Emory became a partner, and February 1, 1875, Mr. Dennis McCarthy, Jr., was admitted. All these are at present members of the firm.
In 1876 the wholesale business had outgrown its accommodations in the retail building and a sepa- rate house for it became necessary. The firm ac- cordingly purchased the site on the corner of West Washington and Clinton streets and the present elegant block was completed and occupied in Jan- uary, 1877. This block is one of the finest busi- ness houses in the city. It is of brick and Onon- daga limestone, wrought in fine ornamental work, yet solid and substantial, presenting an imposing and beautiful front on both streets. The height is the same as the five story building adjoining, but for convenience is divided into four stories and basement, the latter running under the entire side- walk on both sides of the building. It is 70 feet on Washington street by 103 on Clinton street, with an L extension of 60 by 33 feet, heated
throughout by steam, and has an elevator running from the basement to every floor. The immense stock of goods carried by this house is conveniently arranged, as follows :
First floor-Foreign and Domestic General Dry Goods, counting room, fire-proof vaults, &c.
Second floor-Hosiery and Notion Department. Third floor-Hat and Cap Department.
The other floors, including basement, are used for packing, shipping, &c.
The sales of this firm in the Wholesale House amount to one million dollars annually, and in the Retail to about eight hundred thousand dollars a year.
Another important branch of the wholesale trade of this city is the house of
CHARLES CHADWICK & Co., situated on Clinton street, Nos. 16, 18 and 20. The general trade of this house is dry goods and notions, exclusively wholesale, and was established in 1871.
VAN WAGENEN & BRODHEAD .- The establish- ment of a wholesale crockery house in Syracuse is of quite recent date, and shows how one important interest after another is introduced and built up as the city assumes more of a metropolitan character. The founders of this business are both young and energetic men, but not without experience, having been connected with this line of trade for the past twenty years in this city. In April, 1875, the house was opened at No. 67 South Salina street, in new and fresh apartments, where the variety and arrange- ment of the extensive stock will delight the eye of the visitor ; for here will be found almost everything
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of ornament or utility belonging to a first class es- tablishment of this kind. The business of the house includes both wholesale and retail, and the firm import largely of all the goods they handle, especially china, earthen, fancy wares and bronzes, This house is an important addition to the business of Syracuse.
KENYON, POTTER & Co. are the only exclusively wholesale druggists in the city. There are many fine retail drug stores, the capacity and elegance of which are unsurpassed, and several that connect a jobbing trade with their retail business ; but none, we believe, except Kenyon, Potter & Co., devoting themselves exclusively to the wholesale drug trade. The origin of this house goes back to 1845. at which date the firm was Livingston & Mitchell. In 1852, it changed to Mitchell & Kenyon, and in 1854, to Kenyon, Rogers & Co. In 1859, Kenyon & Potter succeeded to the business, and in 1864, the firm style became Kenyon, Potter & Co. Since then there have been a few changes in the partner- ship, but the house has retained the same name. The partners are Gansevoort M. Kenyon, Oliver C. Potter and George H. Perry. Mr. Potter has been partner in the house since 1856, Mr. Kenyon since 1871, and Mr. Perry since 1864.
The stock of the house is very extensive, includ- ing all the departments of the drug trade, and oc- cupying the whole of the building, No. 47 South Salina street, 22 by 135 feet, four floors and base- ment, and two floors and basement of the adjoining building. Several traveling salesmen are employed, and the whole working force of the establishment numbers about twenty.
Few men are more favorably known in the busi- ness circles of the city than the partners in this firm, and it is safe to say that the future of the house is in good hands.
Since the above was written, Messrs. Kenyon, Potter & Co. have removed to their elegant new store erected in the fall and winter of 1877, Nos. 34 and 36 South Clinton street. This building is five stories and basement, 132 by 45 feet, of brick, with Onondaga Limestone trimmings, supplied with a steam elevator and all modern conveniences.
MOORE & HUBBARD, Wholesale Druggists, 73 South Salina street .- The business of the prede- cessors of this house, Messrs, Foote & Farrington, was established in the Malcolm Block in 1855, and was among the first wholesale establishments of the city. They were succeeded by Marsh & Farring- ton, and they by Farrington & Utley. In 1865, Mr. J. B. Moore, head of the present firm, bought Mr. Utley's interest and entered into business with
Mr. Farrington, under the firm style of Farrington & Moore, which was continued until 1868, when, Mr. Farrington retiring, it became J. B. Moore & Co, and was so continued until 1874, when Charles Hubbard became a partner, since which the firm has been Moore & Hubbard, as at present.
Mr. Moore came from Albany county to Syracuse in the spring of 1865, having spent the preceding nine years in California. In the spring of 1868, the stores on Salina street south of the First Presby- terian Church, having become active property, Mr. Moore purchased the store now occupied by the firm, and removed the business from the Malcolm Block.
The sales of this firm ran up largely during the war. At present they aggregate from $350,000 to $400,000 a year.
Mr. Hubbard, the junior member of the firm, is a native of the city of Troy, and has been fifteen years in the drug business in Syracuse.
The wholesale grocery business of this city amounts to quite an item, there being two houses at least, whose sales reach two millions each per an- num, and quite a number of smaller houses doing a business ranging from one hundred thousand dollars to half a million annually. The oldest wholesale grocery house in the city is that of
JOHN CROUSE & Co., established in 1853 by John and James Crouse, brothers, who came from Montgomery county. James Crouse died in 1858, and the firm was changed to John Crouse & Co., which it has remained ever since. (See biography of John Crouse. )
CROUSE BROTHERS, Wholesale Grocers, corner of Clinton and Water streets, established under the firm name of Jacob Crouse & Bro's, in 1869. The original partners were Jacob Crouse, George N. Crouse and James S. Crouse, the same as now constitute the firm. The premises of the firm are those occupied from the first. The lot where their fine brick building stands was purchased in 1868, and the building erected and occupied the following year. It was originally 86 by 77 feet, five stories in height, but has since been extended, making its present dimensions 86 by 121 feet, and also, to in- crease the room required for the business an L of 40 feet has been added. The entire block is the property of Jacob and George N. Crouse. The sales of this house amount to about $2,000,000 per annum.
CROUSE & WALRATH .- The original firm, started in 1871, consisted of C. E. Crouse, F. W. Walrath and Jacob Crouse and Brothers. They did a manu-
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facturing and jobbing business in spices, coffees and teas, occupying two of the three stores used by the present firm. In 1872 Mr. Walrath retired from the firm, and Messrs. C. E. Crouse & Co., conducted the business till 1876, when C. E. Crouse bought out the interest of Jacob Crouse and Brothers, and formed a copartnership with Mr. Walrath, since which the firm has been Crouse & Walrath, as at present. Their sales amount an- nually to about half a million dollars.
A. N. PALMER & Co .- Among the enterprising wholesale grocery houses of the city is that of A. N. Palmer & Co., composed of A. N. Palmer and Charles Tallman, located on West Fayette street- the office and main salesroom being No. 46. This is a portion of the block 71 by 208 feet and four stories, extending through to Walton street, built by Messrs. Tallman and Palmer.
The entire floor area used by A. N. Palmer & Co., in their business is about twenty-five thousand square feet-embracing tivo floors of No. 46 West Fayette street and extending through the entire block ; also two floors of Nos. 7 and 9 Walton street, and four floors of No. 11 Walton street. In the rear of No. 11 Walton street they have erected two fire-proof smoke houses with capacity for smok- ing thirty tons of hams at one time.
The firm are among the most extensive curers of cut meats in the State.
Their trade in salt fish is also very large, particu- larly in the line of mackerel, which are purchased in full fares from vessels in the eastern seaports and repacked here to meet the requirements of their trade.
Starting in the summer of 1871, the firm prose- cuted the provision trade alone, until within the last two years, during which they have gradually added teas, coffees, spices, canned fruits, &c., until their stock embraces a full assortment of general gro- ceries and grocers' sundries, which in connection with their full line of provisions renders it one of the most extensive in the city.
KENNEDY, SPAULDING & Co. may be regarded as one of the representative houses of this branch of the jobbing trade of Syracuse. A brief history of their business will be given. In 1859 Bradford Kennedy and Horace J. Frizelle established a re- tail hardware business at 54 South Salina street, in a rented building. In 1861 Mr. Dennis Kennedy bought Mr. Frizelle's interest and the firm was changed to Kennedy Brothers. In 1863, Ross R. Spaulding became a partner, and the firm style as- sumed the form of Kennedys & Spaulding. In the fall of 1866, the style was changed to Kennedy,
Spaulding & Co., Mr. Bradford Kennedy retiring at that time and selling his interest to Abraham Howe. In 1871 Mr. Bradford Kennedy bought Mr. Howe out, but the style of the firm remained unchanged.
In 1862 the firm established the wholesale busi- ness which it has continued to conduct with increas- ing proportions from year to year. Removing from their rented store, No. 54 South Salina street, the firm purchased a five story building at 67 South Salina street, into which they entered, sup- posing the premises here would be sufficient for permanent quarters. But in this they were mis- taken. The business outgrew the place and they had to seek another location. In 1872 they pur- chased the lot and erected the building they now occupy on Clinton street, at a cost of $40,000. The building is an elegant business structure, of brick, 33 by 132 feet, five stories and basement, and is completely filled with the stock of the house, including also another store since erected in the rear of the main building. The trade of the firm has increased from $20,000 retail business in 1859 to a wholesale business which now aggregates half a million annually. The firm employ fourteen men in the store and three traveling salesmen constant- ly upon the road.
The Messrs. Kennedy are natives of the town of Lysander in this county. Mr. Spaulding is also a native of the county, born in the town of Spafford.
MCCARTHY & REDFIELD, Wholesale Hardware Dealers, Nos. 50 and 52 West Water street. The firm was established as Murphy & McCarthy in 1850, changed to McCarthy, Radigan & Co. in 1856, and in 1859, to McCarthy, Redfield & Co., Mr. C. T. Redfield and Mr. William H. Pierce pur- chasing the interest of Mr. Radigan and becoming members of the firm. Mr. Pierce retired in 1869, and the firm has since been McCarthy & Redfield.
The first location of the firm was on the corner of Warren and East Water streets. In 1875 they built their present stores, Nos. 50 and 52 West Water street. The building is 46 by 112 feet, four stories and basement, of Philadelphia brick and cut stone, fine architectural style and proportions, and arranged with great convenience for handling the goods. It is furnished with an elevator running to all the floors, which in the basement delivers its contents directly into the wagons, the teams being driven directly into the cellar from the yard in the rear of the building. The firm moved into this building January 1, 1876.
Messrs. McCarthy & Redfield are importers and jobbers of shelf and heavy hardware, tin plate,
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agricultural tools, &c., &c., and do a business aggregating half a million dollars a year, their sales being chiefly in Northern, Southern, Central and Western New York.
Mr. Robert McCarthy, the senior member of the firm, is a native of the First Ward of this city and has resided here all his life, being well-known and highly esteemed in business and social circles.
Mr. Charles T. Redfield is a son of Lewis H. Redfield, Esq., a well-known citizen of Syracuse, whose biography appears in this work, and a portion of whose record is found in connection with the history of the press.
HIER & ALDRICH, NOS. 31 and 33 North Salina street, are extensive manufacturers and jobbers of tobacco and cigars. Mr. Hier established the bus- iness in 1860, and in 1865 the present firm was organized, Mr. Bruce S. Aldrich being admitted as a partner. The building occupied by the firm is 44 by 154 feet, of brick, four stories and basement, and was erected by the firm in 1872. The basement and front room of the third story are used for storage of leaf tobacco, the average stock carried by the firm being valued at $125,000. The cigar making department is in the rear of the third story, a large, well-lighted room, filled with all the appli- ances for the manufacture of cigars, either by hand or by mold-presses, as may be desired. The amount of cigars made by this firm-and they make but few cheap cigars-is over two and a half milions per annum, and they give employment, in the various branches of their business, to from 150 to 250 hands. In the front apartment of the first floor they have an elegant sample and sales room, embracing every variety of goods belonging to the trade.
Mr. Hier has been a resident of Syracuse since 1843, and for some years was foreman of his brother's manufacturing business.
Mr. Bruce S. Aldrich has been many years con- nected with the trade of this city, and spends a portion of his time in traveling for the firm of which he is a member.
GEORGE P. ITIER & Co .- This firm is located at No. 25 North Salina street. Mr. George l'. Hier, the senior member of the firm, has been a dealer in leaf tobacco for twenty years, and for the past fifteen years this has been his exclusive business. He was Mayor of the city in 1875, and has held other responsible local offices. His partner is George S. Hier, who became a member of the firm in 1876.
SEUBERT & WARNER, NOS. 58 and 60 West Fay- ette street, are another firm of heavy manufacturers
and jobbers of tobacco and cigars. The building occupied is large and well adapted to the business, being 32 feet in width by 210 in depth, extending through to Walton street, affording convenient ship- ping and receiving rooms, and light and airy work rooms in the manufacturing department. Three floors of the building are occupied, considerable of the space being devoted to the storage of the heavy stock carried by the firm. Their stock is especially large in Spanish tobacco, of which they purchase six months' or a year's supply at a time.
This firm have given employment to 125 persons, two-thirds of whom were cigar makers, and have manufactured as large an amount as $5,000 cigars in a single week. The production at present is not so large, but the grade of cigars ranges higher than usual, the average of the entire product of the fac- tory being $60 per 1,000, wholesale.
The members of the firm are Justin Seubert and William H. Warner. The firm was established in May, 1872, Mr. Seubert having been for five or six years previously engaged in the manufacture of cigars in this city.
CARR & CUSHING, Manufacturers of Cigars and Dealers in Tobacco, No. 53 West Fayette street. This firm was established on the first of January, 1871. Mr. John Jay Carr, the senior partner, started in the cigar business in this city in the spring of 1866, at No. 17 James street. He re- mained there about sixteen months, steadily build- ing up a business, when his operations in that locality were suddenly cut short by a fire which consumed his entire stock, about the middle of Au- gust, 1867. He then opened business at No. 44 East Water street, in company with Mr. J. H. Noll, and remained till January, 1871, when the firm of J. J. Carr & Co., was formed, and business opened at No. 7 West Fayette street. Mr. Quincy F. Cushing, the present partner, became associated with Mr. Carr in the above firm. January 1, 1873, the firm style was changed to Carr & Cushing.
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