History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 70

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

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308

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Charles H. Austin, 1852 ; - Lewis, 1853; one of the years 1854 '56 were served by A. M. Fredenburgh ; L. B. Wells, 1857 ; J. Smedley, 1858; David Stone, 1859 '60 ; Charles Baldwin, 1861 : 1. Hall, 1862; the year 1863 not known ; Royal Houghton, 1864-'66 ; A. L. Smalley, 1867- 69; E. D. Thurston, 1870 : Moses Lyons, 1871; E. M. Mills, six months, 1872 ; William Colden, 1873-'74: J. C. Nichols, 1875 ; C. W. Lane, 1876; L. Northway, 1877 ; J. C. Nichols, present pastor.

Present membership forty.

THE JACK'S REEFS CHEESE FACTORY was estab- lished in 1872, by Dighton R. Marvin. In 1874. it was rebuilt thaving been destroyed by fire by the Jack's Reefs Cheese Factory Association, a joint

stock company incorporated in that year. The building is of wood, and cost, including fixtures, $1,450. The milk of about 200 cows is here made into cheese. The principal stock-holders are Henry Daboll, Elihu Parry, Nathaniel Somes, Joseph Somes, Philip Drake and Russell Foster. Philip Drake, President ; Edwin McDowell, Secretary ; Henry Daboll, Treasurer.

On Carpenter Brook, near Jack's Reefs is the saw-mill owned by Philip Drake, built by him in 1843. The first mill was built here as early as 1808. In 1815, Zenas Wright and Hollis Knowlton owned a mill on the same site. Mr. Knowlton is still living at Jordan, nearly 90 years of age.

CAMILLUS.

CAMILLUS was originally Township Number Five of the Military Tract. At the organization of the county it was included in the town of Mar- cellus, from which it was formed into a separate town March 8, 1799. A part of Onondaga was annexed to it in 1834.

The first town meeting was directed by law to be held at the house of Medad Curtis, who was elected Supervisor, and Daniel Vail, Town Clerk. The early records of this town were destroyed by fire some time prior to 1829, which is the earliest date to which any records now extant reach back. The first white settler was Captain Isaac Lindsay, about the year 1790, and directly after, his brothers, James, William and Elijah Lindsay. Their land was lot No. So, on which the northern portion of the village of Camillus is situated, and which they purchased for twenty-five cents an acre. Nicholas Lamberson settled in the town in 1793, William Reed, Selden Leonard, Mordecai Ellis, a family named White, and David Hinsdell and others, previous to 1806. Squire Munro settled on lot SI, now in the town of Elbridge, in 1799. His sons, John, David, Nathan and Philip A. Munro, were then young men, and have since been known throughout the county for their enterprise, industry, intelligence and wealth. Thomas Corey, who was killed by a fall from a wagon, was an early settler in this town, as well as Isaac Brown, Nathaniel Richman, Jacob Chandler, John Hess, John Pad- dock, and two others by the name of McCracken. David Munro settled at Camillus village, where his son, David A. Munro, now resides, in 1808. The

settlers at that period, although engaged in the hard work of clearing land, seem to have had in many respects a " jolly time," for the heavy labor was principally performed by the kind of cooperation known as " bees," to which a general invitation was extended to all the able-bodied men in town. Chop- ping bees, logging bees, husking bees, &c., were the "order of the day" among the early settlers, and they usually ended in a dance and frolic at night.

Isaac Lindsay erected the first frame house on Lot So, in 1795. In 1808, the village of Camillus contained but two frame houses. David Munro erected a substantial frame house in 1810. The White family and Captain Kimberly erected houses about the same time at Amboy. East and west, no houses had been erected at this time, except at Camillus village, between Elbridge and Judge Geddes', at Fairmount. The first school house, a log building, was erected in iSo8, and was followed by a frame building in 1813.

Isaac Lindsay kept the first tavern in the village in 1793; Thomas Corey in 1801. John Tomlin- son opened the first store in the town, at the village, in 1808 ; Munro & Benedict followed in 1810, and were followed by Gould & Hess, Iloar & Wheeler, William A Cook, John C. Ellis, and others.

James R. Lawrence opened the first law office in 1815 ; Grove Lawrence another in 1821. Other early lawyers were Samuel Hammond, Daniel Pratt, D. D. Hillis and others.

Dr. Isaac Magoon established himself as a physi- cian at the village of Camillus in ISO8, and was succeeded by Dr. Richards.

Photo, by W. V. Ranger, Syracuse,

The township of Camillus, embracing the present towns of El- bridge and Van Buren, was peopled mostly with settlers from New England.

Among these, in the year 1799, only nine years later than the first white resident of the town, came David Munro, then a lad fourteen years old, born December 8, 1784, and fifth in the line of deseent from John Munro, who emigrated from Scotland, and settled in Massachusetts at an early period.

David accompanied his father, Squire Munro, who had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and who then in the prime of life, being forty-two years of age, came from New England, bringing with him his four sons, John, David, Nathan, and Philip A., all of them sinee well known throughout the county, and settled near where the village of Elbridge now stands.

As Daniel grew up to manhood he developed into a large and powerful man, fully marked with the characteristic family traits of enterprise, untiring industry, economy, and self-reliance.

In 1807 he was married to Abigail Carpenter, of the same town, and in 1808 he purchased a farm on lot number eighty, Camillus, and settled where Camillus Village now stands, where only two frame houses were then ereeted.

The country was then covered with forests, and Mr. Munro cleared up his farm, which was heavily timbered, doing much of the labor with his own hands.

Here he resided for fifty-eight years, enlarging his farm by the purchase of adjacent lands from time to time. He died May 10, 1866, being over eighty years of age at the time of his decease. His wife was six years younger than himself, having been born December 3, 1790, and she survived him nearly two years.

There were eight children born of the marriage, of whom six still survive, viz. : John C. Munro, born October 17, 1809 ; James M. Munro, born November 13, 1813; David A. Munro, born August 17, 1818 ; Mary A., wife of Thomas W. Hill, of Eldridge ;

Hannah, wife of Payn Bigelow, of Baldwinsville ; and Lydia H., wife of David Porter, of Lysander.

Mr. Munro carried on a large and very successful business in farming all the earlier portion of his life, but the necessity of find- ing investments for the constantly inereasing results of his fore- sight, energy, and economy occupied the most of his attention in later years. He was the first postmaster in Camillus Village, holding the office from 1811 to 1824, when he was succeeded by James R. Lawrence. He held the office of justice of the peace many years, and was also one of the associate judges of the court of common pleas for a long time, becoming familiarly known to the people of the county as Judge Munro, by which title he was commonly called. He was a member of the State legislature in 1818, 1819, 1822, 1836, 1841, and again in 1842.

He was also a member of the convention which framed the third constitution of the State in 1846. He was a leading director in, and for a long time president of, the old bank of Salina an excellent portrait of him being engraved on the bills issued by that bank. He was also an influential director in the Salt Spring Bank from its incorporation to the time of his deeease. There was no business enterprise with which he was eonneeted which he did not inspire with the spirit of success. He was constantly in contaet with the leading minds of the county, and although his early education was limited, his strong native sense, natural dignity of presence, and the innate force of his character, never failed to make due impression on every one he met.

In person he was tall, of full habit, and corpulent in later life, hardy to the last degree, riding or driving bare-handed in the coldest weather, and he never postponed a business engagement on account of storms or railroads.

Mr. Munro's manner of address was courteous but impressive, and his knowledge of the men and events of the day was unsur- passed.

Photo, by Bonta & Curtiss, Syracuse.

JOHN C. MUNRO, ESQ.

John C. Munro, son of the late Judge David Munro and Abigail Carpenter, was born in the town of Camillus, Onon- diga County, on October 17, 1809. He was brought up on a farm and educated at the common schools, and at the age of manhood engaged in farming for himself, which pursuit he has followed unremittingly all his life.

On March 22, 1832, he settled on a farm at Belle Isle, in the town of Camillus, where he built a large house and re- sided till January, 1853, when, on account of the enlargement of the canal, he removed to where he now resides, having pur- chased the land in 1836. These adjoining farms now constitute an estate of three hundred and seventy acres. Mr. Munro has taken great pride and pleasure in the pursuit of his chosen ve- cnpation of farming, and his taste for social and mental culture finds gratification in his comfortable and well-furnished home.

lle was married. August 18, 1832, to Miss Emily Bennett,

daughter of James Bennett, an early settler, by whom he has had five children, viz. : David Bennett, born August 2, 1533 (accidentally killed, August 29, 1848) ; Henry Smith, born December 29, 1835 ; Sarah Samantha, born January 14, 1839 (Mrs. E. R. Hale, of Elbridge ) ; Emily B., born November 22, 1812 (deceased ) ; John C., Jr., born May 9, 1849, and residing at the home on the farm.

Mr. Munro has always been a Democrat in politics, and has steadily adhered to the principles of that party. He has served hi- town six years as member of the board of supervisors, and for sixteen years has held the office of justice of the peace. Hle is a member of the Presbyterian church at Amboy, of which he has been many years an eller.

Mrs. Munru is also a member of the same church, and has been in fellowship with the church at Amboy, and of that at Camillus, for fifty years.

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

A postoffice was first established in Camillus in 18II, and David Munro was appointed Postmaster. James R. Lawrence was postmaster in 1824, and was succeeded by Grove Lawrence and Robert Dickey.

The first surplus grain raised for market was in 1805, when it was carried to Albany on sleighs. Thousands of bushels of wheat were annually trans- ported to Albany from this town by sleighs and wagons, previous to the construction of the Erie Canal.

The north branch of the Seneca Turnpike was incorporated in 1806. In 1807-8, Squire Munro and his sons built so much of this road as passed through the town of Camillus, about eleven miles.

JUDGE JAMES GEDDES. - We have already had occasion to refer to the eminent services and dis- tinguished character of Hon. James Geddes, in his connection with the explorations and survey of that great State enterprise, the Erie Canal. His name stands not less conspicuously before the country than that of any other early citizen of Onondaga County. Mr. Geddes was born near Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, on the 22d of July, 1763. His father and mother were of Scotch descent, and, like Robert Burns, Mr. Geddes, in his youthful days, followed the plow, and carried a book in his pocket which he perused every time his team stopped to rest. Thus ardent was he in the pursuit of knowledge. A Mr. Oliver, a thoroughly educated teacher, was his instructor in mathematics. He studied languages without a teacher, and became a belles lettres scholar of the first order. His knowledge of the English language has been rarely excelled.

At an early age Mr. Geddes visited Kentucky, and also portions of Virginia, as appears from notes in his journal made upon a subsequent visit in 1792, the year preceding the selection of his salt works at Geddes. From these notes, now in the pos- session of his son, Hon. George Geddes, it appears that he spent the entire summer of 1792 in travel, looking for a place of future residence. He des- cribes many places of interest in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the interior regions of New York, then almost an entirely unsettled wilderness, and gives dates, distances, measurements of water- falls, &c., with the minuteness of a topographical survey.

In all the observations made upon this trip, we see the indications of the future engineer. The most interesting part of his journey is that where he visits the Genesee Falls, and speaks of them as " spoiling the navigation" of the river. He thought that the farmers who were just then beginning to

cultivate the Genesee Valley would have to export their wheat " down the Newtown Creek." In sixteen years he is again at the Falls of the Genesee, with his level, marking out the route of the Canal, which was to carry wheat, not via Newtown Creek, as he first guessed, but east to the sea.

These notes of Mr. Geddes show that his mind was occupied with the subject of internal navigation during his explorations upon this visit in 1792, more than a decade before the Erie Canal had been thought of. Under the head of " Particulars Re- specting the Lake Country," in the notes referred to, he speaks of " such a navigation as will bring much European goods on such terms as will tempt people to depend on them more than they ought." And again : " such an inland navigation as may bring salt, sugar, or whatever the country produces, to people's doors, in a manner."

Mr. Geddes having completed his examinations of the country, returned home determined to settle at the Salt Springs. The following year he came to Onondaga and selected his location at the head of the lake, on ground now occupied by a portion of the village of Geddes. He returned and organ- ized a company at Carlisle, Pa., for the purpose of manufacturing salt, and in 1794 came by the way of Seneca Lake with the necessary equipments for engaging in that business. The other members of the company came on in the month of June follow- ing. Mr. Geddes lived at " Geddes Salt Works" about four years. In 1798, he removed to lands which he had purchased of the State, at Fairmount, in the town of Camillus, where he lived the remain- der of his life. In May, 1799, he married Miss Lucy Jerome, daughter of Timothy Jerome, Esq., of Fabius.

The services of Mr. Geddes were required immedi- ately upon coming into the county, to fill important stations of trust and responsibility. He was ap- pointed by the Council of Appointment Justice of the Peace in 1800, and in 1804 was elected a mem- ber of the Legislature. But it was as an engineer that he became best known to the public. Soon after coming into the country, he was employed by the Surveyor-General as one of his assistants, and he devoted himself to the profession of surveying and engineering until age disqualified him for the fatigue of out-door labor. His maps, plats and field-books, deposited in the Surveyor-General's Office, show him to have been a man of great accu- racy, and his accompanying remarks reveal the sagacity and penetration of his mind.

The project of connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River became an important one. Mr.

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK

Weston, a celebrated engineer from England had examined the Oswego River and other water-courses, with a view to improving their navigation, and among men of enlarged views the scheme became an engrossing topic. Mr. Geddes, at an early period, enlisted in the matter and commenced with ardor the gathering of facts. In 1804, the Surveyor- General said to him that Gouverneur Morris had suggested the project of "tapping Lake Erie." The Surveyor-General considered this a "romantic thing," but not so the man to whom he communi- cated the crude, undigested thought. Mr. Geddes knew that Mr Weston had reported the Oswego River from the Falls to Lake Ontario as " hardly susceptible of improvement by means of canal- ing," and if there was a way that the waters of the upper lakes could be led across the country without going down to the level of On- tario and then rising to the summit again at Rome, that vast results must follow from it, and at once his untiring energy and industry were put in requisition. Maps were examined, surveyors were enquired of, and every means within his reach resorted to, to ascertain the topography of the country through which has since been constructed the Erie Canal.

In 1807, Judge Joshua Forman was elected to the Legislature from this county upon the express under- standing that he would try to provide the necessary appropriation of money to make examinations of the country. No man could have been better qualified than was Judge Forman to succeed. A man of eloquence, ardent and peculiarly fitted to make men think as he himself thought upon any subject, he did succeed, and as was understood, the Surveyor- General, who had the selection of the man to make the surveys, if he did not himself do it, appointed Mr. Geddes. He "entered with enthusiasm upon the work assigned him by the Surveyor-General," and made surveys not only of the Oneida and Os- wego Rivers, and around the Falls of Niagara, but he reported a route which, in the language of the Surveyor-General in his letter to Mr. Darby, of February 25, 1822, " was almost precisely in the line which, after repeated elaborate and expensive exam- inations, has been finally adopted."

The report made by Mr. Geddes made such an impression upon the Legislature that, in spite of the prejudice and opposition from different sources, that body was induced, in 18to, to organize a Board of Canal Commissioners, with powers and means to prosecute the work. His survey furnished the necessary information to justify prudent men in committing themselves in favor of a canal. And i

Mr. Clinton, grasping with his powerful intellect at once the vast advantages of the scheme, embarked in it with uncompromising zeal, and by his elevated position in the State, was enabled to render such assistance as ensured success.

In 1816 the Commissioners appointed five prin- cipal engineers, placing Mr. Geddes at the head of the list, who, throughout the progress of the work, maintained a high standing as a civil engineer, and whose labors and opinions the Commissioners most favorably estimated, as shown in various instances in their reports.

In 1822, the State authorities of Ohio applied to Gov DeWitt Clinton to select a proper person to make the necessary explorations for their canal from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, and he, in the most com- plimentary manner, recommended Mr Geddes as the most competent man in the service of the State. Mr. Geddes accepted the proposals from Ohio and assumed the responsibility of Chief En- gineer of the Ohio Canal. This duty he discharged to the perfect satisfaction of the authorities of the State of Ohio. In 1827 Mr. Geddes was employed by the General Government (associated with Mr. Roberts, in locating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In 1828 he was engaged in locating the Pennsylvania Canals, and in the same year was ap- pointed by the General Government to examine the country with reference to the connection of the waters of the Tennessee and Altamaha Rivers, in the States of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. "This appointment he declined, on account of dis- tance from home and his advanced age.

In civil and political affairs Mr. Geddes also held a prominent position. In 1809 he was appointed an Associate Justice, and in 1812 a Judge of On- ondaga County Common Pleas. In 1813 he was elected a Member of the XIIIth Congress, and in 1821, was again elected a Member of the State Legislature.

The infirmities of age crept upon him apace, and during the last year of his life, his constitution gave way rapidly, and he closed his earthly career at his residence, in the town of Camillus on the 19th of August, 1838, being a little over seventy-five years of age. He was the father of seven children, all of whom are deceased except his son, Hon. George Geddes, of Fairmount. Says his biographer, Mr. Clark :

" Perhaps it is safe to say that no man who had been so much in public life and who had come in contact with so great and conflicting interests, repre- sented by men so different in capacity and character, ever died having fewer enemies. His reputation for integrity was probably never questioned by those

MRS. ROBERT HOPKINS.

ROBERT HOPKINS.

Robert Hopkins was born in Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., February 10, 1789. His parents, Samuel and Mary Hopkins, came with their family, in the month of March, 1807, to Camillus, Onondaga Co., N. Y., where they purchased a farm, and at once began to combat with the stern realities of fron- tier life. Of course, under such circumstances, the educational and social advantages of Mr. Hopkins were very limited. But, notwithstanding, his determination to get an education over- came all obstacles. By faithfully improving his leisure hours at home, he obtained a good practical business education, which proved of immense importance to him in later life, when called to positions of trust requiring an accurate and thorough knowledge. When he attained his majority his father kindly consented to allow him to cultivate a portion of the farm. In the capacity of lessec, he remained until twenty-eight years of age, when he had acquired, by judicious management, a sum large enough to purchase a fine farm in Camillus. To grace and adorn his new home, he married, January 9, 1816, Pru- dence Wells. All of their children living, viz., Harlow W., born March 29, 1818, Emeline, born May 1, 1824, and Edwin, born December 4, 1833, have received good educations, and are pleasantly domiciled in the old homestead where they were born.

Mr. Hopkins devoted his attention throughout life principally

to agricultural pursuits. He kept himselt well informed on agricultural topics, and aimed to conduct his farm on the latest scientific principles. Like Cincinnatus, he was frequently called from the plough-share to enter the sanctuary of public office.

As justice of the peace for twenty-four years, he proved one of the most equitable and rigidly honest dispensers of public justice that the town of Camillus ever had. None ever dared to taint his ermine with any proposal to compromise justice. Unlike many, he always endeavored, in a Christian spirit, to reconcile litigants coming before him before having recourse to law, and in this way he remarkably lessened that bad spirit in many to go to law for every imagined injury or irritation. Also as assessor for six years, one of the most delicate and unthankful town offices, he gave equal acceptance. For over thirty years he was a prominent and influential member of the Presbyterian church of Camillus, and endeavored to exemplify in every-day life the morals taught in the Book of books.

Politically, although a Democrat, yet he did not allow party feelings to mar a pleasant and social intercourse with all men. August 7, 1859, he died, leaving to his children an irreproach - able name and life. His wife followed him September 27, 1864. Few men were more missed by the town of Camillus, or more highly respected than Mr. Hopkins.

ENOS PECK.

MAS. ENOS PECK.

ENOS PECK.

An example of untiring industry, a pioneer of Onondaga County, and a present citizen of most honorable standing, is Enos Peek, of Camillus. He was born in the town of New Haven, Vermont, Aug 15, 1790, and was the sixth chill of Enos Peck, who was a very early settler in Vermont, In 1795. Mr. Peck removed with his family to the town of Pompey, Onondaga County, where they remained until the year 1506, when they removed to Cato, Cayuga county. At the age of twenty one years ( 1511) our subject branched out in life for himself as a former, taking his father's farm on shares for a term of five years, and, with the persevering energy of the New England farmer, set in work clearing away the dense forest and thicket, and bringing the then improved portions to n higher state of cultivation, which compensated him well for his labur, as at the expiration of his lease he had saved five hundred dollars.

At the age of twenty-five he married Annis Hopkins, daughter of Nathan Hopkins, of Camillus, and to them were born four children, viz., A H., Isane M., Jane, now Mrs. Wmn. Mack, of Rochester, N Y., and Edwin Peck. Soon after his marriage be removed to Camillas, where he purchased ninety six Here's of land, and in due time erected his house in the woods, which were so dens that one could look out of the chimney and see the tree tops Here Mr Peck has spent his days, making additional purchases of land to the extent of some four hundred

and twenty acres, and now, at the age of eighty-zeven, lives with his son, A. H., in the house created by himself.

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 70

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