History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 72

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

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The church building was then dedicated, followed by the election of Heman Warner, J. Skinner, Jonathan White, and William Reed, Elders ; Tru- man Skinner, Henry L. Warner, and Pardee Ladd, Deacons. Of these all, excepting Pardee Ladd, had elsewhere held the same offices

The first settled minister of the church was Rev. Alfred C. Lathrop. 1845-'47 ; Rev. Norman B. Sherwood, 1848-'49 ; Rev. D. H. Kingsley, 1849- '50 ; Rev. R. J. Cone, 1850-'52 ; Rev. Edward S. Lacy, 1852-'53 ; Rev. Hubert P. Herrick, 1853 ; Rev. Richard Dunning, 1854-'58; Rev. Lucius E. Barnard, 1859-'60 ; Rev. John S. Bacon, 1862-'70 ; Rev. Frederick Hebard, 1870-'72 ; Rev. A. J. Quick, 1872-'75, and Rev. Benjamin B. Dayton, June 1, 1876, the present pastor.

Since the organization of the church the roll of membership has included two hundred and eighty- two names. Of this number seventy-three have been dismissed to other churches, fifty-five have gone from earth, and eight have been suspended, leaving the present membership, (January, 1878,) one hundred and forty-six. The membership of the Sabbath School is one hundred and fifty-three.

BELLE ISLE

Is a post-hamlet on the Erie Canal in the eastern part of the town of Camillus. Thomas Machan has been Postmaster since 1860, and Justice of the Peace since 1868. William Ecker was Justice of the Peace from 1864 to 1868. The place contains one store, wagon and blacksmith shops. The store is kept by M. L. Hay.

The M. E. Church at this place was erected in 1851; Jaben Armstrong, Henry Safford, John C.

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Hatton, first Trustees and principal contributors to the church building. Rev. Mr. Coop was the first pastor ; present pastor, C. W. Rowley.

Robert Martin owns the present saw mill north of Belle Isle, known as the " Corwin Mills," rebuilt at a cost of $1,200, with an additional cost of $750 for cider press, and one run of stones for grain. In 1876, he manufactured two hundred barrels of cider, and is now doing a general business, working his farm of twenty-five acres in connection with his milling.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

BENNETT BROTHERS.

Among the representative farmers of Onondaga county for nearly forty years, were the Bennett Brothers, of Camillus. Their business relationship, commencing in 1836, was continued until the death of Mr. Lewis Bradley Bennett, in 1874: and, remarkable as it may seem, all transactions were planned and carried out without resorting to any written con- tract between them They lived, toiled and labored together as brothers, each trying to out-vie the other in the amount of work done. Yearly all accounts were examined and adjusted. In this, no doubt, lay one element of success.

These brothers, Lewis Bradley and Joel Barlow, in 18440, purchased one hundred acres of land, and during the twenty years which followed, added to that amount, until in 1860, their estate numbered nearly six hundred acres, at an average cost of sixty dollars per acre During the financial depressions of the country they prosperously, yet slowly, pushed forward. With energy, patience and industry they improved their entire estate, with respect to fences and buildings ; enriched the soil by means of stock, plaster and clover, until a high state of cultivation was reached. The strength and fertility of the soil, a sandy loam mixed with clay, placed their large farm among the very first in productiveness in Onondaga County.

The kind of farming followed was chietly grain and stock raising. During ten successive years the average sown yearly was nearly two hundred acres, or one-third of the entire estate, while often a herd of eighty cattle could be seen, with flocks of sheep numbering eight hundred. The largest product of grain in one year was six thousand bushels of wheat, barley, oats and corn-while in 1864, the highest price for produce was obtained,

fifteen hundred bushels of wheat being marketed for three dollars and a half per bushel. The nec- essary meadow land, yearly, was not far from eighty to a hundred acres. The winter season during fifteen years was spent in clearing wood land, until one hundred acres had been rendered arable. Thus their winter's harvests were nearly as profitable as those of summer

With a large and productive farm, finely located, gently sloping to the south ; with large and well arranged fields ; with barns of great dimensions, one of which for nearly twenty years was a model for the surrounding country : with the latest and most improved machinery, which they took great pleasure in introducing : with all these something else seemed necessary in order to have contentment. Each wished for a better house, and they planned to erect a dwelling for each which wouki be satis- factory. Mr. Lewis Bradley Bennett succeeded in finishing a structure, of beautiful exterior, whose interior arrangement and finish can not well be surpassed for a farmer's use. Containing, as it does, large and conveniently arranged rooms, with the modern improvements of bath rooms and furnace, one looks upon it with feelings of pleasure and almost pride. Soon after the completion of this beautiful structure its builder died, having occupied it only a few months.

Not long after his brother's death, Mr. Joel Barlow Bennett took possession of this house, where with his wife, Rosanna S., he now lives, carrying on a farm of two hundred and forty acres, which remains from the original estate. Through the taste and patience of a nephew, Mr. Charles B. Brown, the grounds have been tastefully laid out, and a lawn neatly and carefully made, and to-day the landscape gardening of this residence attracts and merits universal attention.

Mr. Joel Barlow Bennett was born in Camillus, Onondaga County, N. Y, July 22d, 1815. His brother, Lewis Bradley Bennett, was born in Camil- lus, September 29th, 1813, and married Mary War- ing, of Saratoga, Saratoga County, N. Y., February 15th, 1842. He died December 22d, 1874. in the sixty-second year of his age. At the time of his death he was a member of the Congregational Church in Elbridge, and one of the Board of Trustees of the church, and also of the Munro Collegiate Institute In June, 1874, he made a legacy to the church of which he was a member of $1, 000, to be used for its support. At the same time he bequeathed large amounts of property to his imme- diate relatives. He left a widow, lut ro children. He was of mild disposition, yielding. yet firm and

RES. OF J. B BENNETT, CAMIL

LB. Bennett

ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

"HAY BARN." "

DAVID WINCHELL.

HENRY WINCHELL.

RESIDENCE & FARM OF HENRY WINCHELL, CAMILLUS, ONONDAGA CO., N. Y.

FORMER RESIDENCE of JOHN HALSTED, LYSANDER, ONONDAGA CO. N.Y. (BUILT BY JOHN STARR IN 1817 )

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

persevering. While he was energetic in business affairs, he was peaceable in the community in which he lived. He did not love public positions and only accepted them when urged upon him. The com-

munity in which he lived, his employés and family friends only knew his true worth. Among the many monuments he left, none are so good as those of friendship and affection.

LYSANDER.

LYSANDER was formerly Township number one of the Military Tract, and became one of the eleven original towns of Onondaga County at its organiza- tion in 1794. It then embraced the townships of Lysander, Hannibal and Cicero. The first town meeting was directed by law to be held at the house of Ryal Bingham, Esq., then residing at Three River Point. Hannibal, now in Oswego County, was taken from it in 1806 and Cicero in 1807. In 1816, when the county of Oswego was organized, thirty-three lots of the township of Lysander were included in the county of Oswego and town of Granby, which leaves but sixty-seven lots in the town of Lysander. This town is situated in the north- west corner of the county. It is of a peculiar shape, owing to the crookedness of the Seneca River which forms the boundary between this town and Elbridge, Van Buren, Geddes, Salina and Clay. One little lake, viz : Mud or Beaver Lake, exists within its boundaries. The soil is good, and com- pares favorably with any portion of the county for agricultural purposes.

Of the earliest settlers in this town the following is a partial list : Ryal Bingham, near Three River Point, in 1793 ; Jonathan Palmer, near the center of the town, the same year ; Adam Emerick, Elijah and Solomon Hall, Col. Thomas Farrington, Elijah Mann, Ebenezer Wells, James Cowan, Abner and Manly Vickery, Job Loomis and John P. Schuyler, all came in about the year [800, or some of them a year or two previous. Jacobus DePuy cleared off about fifty acres in 1805 and 1806 on the north side of the river at Baldwinsville and put it into wheat.

This town was at first considered unhealthy and settlements were somewhat retarded in consequence, but the clearing of the land and bringing it under cultivation produced a great change, and as im- provements extended its settlements increased with great rapidity. By cultivation and drainage the soil has become dry and free from stagnant surface wa- ter, so that the town of Lysander is now as healthy

and productive a locality as can be found in this portion of the State.

The town of Lysander was not fully organized till 1798, when the Supervisor, Mr. Asa Rice, who lived near Oswego, reported for the town, including the townships of Lysander, Hannibal and Cicero, the number of "fifteen inhabitants," and the valua- tion of taxable property for the town was estimated at fifteen hundred dollars. Mr. Rice was Super- visor till Hannibal was formed into a town by itself. The old records of the town are not to be found, those now in the Clerk's office going no farther back than 1808, at which time we find some of the principal officers as follows : Elijah Snow, Super- visor ; James Adams, Town Clerk ; William Wil- son, and James Clark, Assessors. In 1809, Elijah Snow was Supervisor, and Cyrus Baldwin, Town Clerk.

BALDWINSVILLE.

This important manufacturing village is situated in the towns of Lysander and Van Buren on both sides of the Seneca River, five miles west of the outlet of Onondaga Lake and twelve miles north- west of Syracuse. Its name is derived from its founder, Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin, who commenced improvements here in the spring of 1807. The place was then called " Columbia," and bore this name till the establishment of a postoffice here in 1817, when the Postmaster General, in conse- quence of there being another Post Town of the same name in the State, changed it to " Baldwin's Bridge." But the name of Baldwinsville being pre- ferred by the inhabitants, it was substituted by the Postoffice Department, and has since continued to be the name of the village.

Dr. Baldwin had purchased a place at Ovid, Seneca County, and was moving there with his fam- ily in 1799. Mrs. Baldwin having left her com- fortable home at Little Falls with regret, was assured by her husband that he would purchase the first place on their route that she might select. Upon

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

their arrival at the site of Baldwinsville, where they remained over night, Mrs. Baldwin was delighted with the place and remarked to her husband, " If our property lay here, remote from settlement and lonely as it is, I should be willing to stop and take up my residence for life." The result was that both were satisfied with the selection of this charm- ing spot for their future home.

The following night they lodged with John Mc- Harrie who had settled on the south bank of the river some forty rods above where the dam now joins that shore. From Mr. McHarrie Dr. Bald. win learned who was the owner of the favorite lot on the other side of the river. The following year (1798) he went to Philadelphia to the owner and purchased it. After residing a few years at Ovid he sold his property there and came to Onondaga.

In the meantime settlers had located in different parts of the town of Lysander and the north part of Camillus, now Van Buren, and finding themselves in need of mills, and knowing " McHarrie's Rifts " to be an excellent water- power, these scattering set- tlers assembled, drew up a memorial and sent it on by a strong delegation, in the spring of 1807, to Dr. Baldwin, then residing at Onondaga, urging him in the strongest terms to improve the water-power in the erection of mills upon those rapids. Hle had contemplated doing this at some future period, but not so soon by five or six years. Finally, yielding to entreaty, he resolved forthwith to enter upon the work. On account of sickness among the work- men and other hindrances, it was not till late in the autumn of the second year that Dr. Baldwin got his mill in successful operation. Desirable as this object was, it did not compensate for the personal sacrifices already made.

Although but the second year since the first blow had been struck, the settlement assumed the appearance of a " log town in the wilderness." For many succeeding years the local fevers prevailed, vitiating the healthfulness of this favorite spot and bringing many to premature graves.

The Seneca River being a public highway, and much used as such, it became immediately neces- sary to provide for the passage of boats around the dam. Dr. Baldwin therefore constructed a canal and lock for that purpose. In 1808 he petitioned the Legislature for permission to construct a dam, locks and canal at that point. But the State hay- ing previously transferred its title to the " Inland Lock Navigation Company," could not with pro- priety grant privileges to Dr. Baldwin. He there- upon purchased of said company their right and interest in all the waters between the outlet of

Oneida River and Cayuga Lake. In 1809, the Legislature granted his petition for such erections and improvements. This right was granted to Dr. Baldwin and his assigns for twenty years. The collection of certain tolls was authorized upon all boats passing through said canal and locks. At first the amount collected was small, but with the increase of business it became considerable, and in time would have repaid the outlay, had not the State changed its policy and taken the entire sub- ject of internal navigation and improvement under its own control. The completion of the middle sec- tion of the Erie canal rendered nugatory the busi- ness of the original route, since which this canal and locks have been of comparatively little import- ance. In 1809, the dam across the river was swept away by a heavy spring freshet, and such was the nature of the damage sustained that it became necessary to erect a new dam, which was not com- pleted till the following year. He this year erected a toll bridge across the river under provisions made by law, upon the site occupied by the pres- ent bridge. At the same time a new mill, of enlarged dimensions was erected by Dr. Baldwin. It was afterwards converted into a woolen factory and subsequently burnt down. He used his efforts sucessfully to procure the laying out of a State road between Onondaga Hill and Oswego, and also pro- cured the passage of an act authorizing the con- struction of a turnpike from Westmoreland to Sodus Bay

The village continued prosperous and flourishing till 1819, when the diversion of the business usually done on the Seneca river to the Erie canal seemed for a time to paralyze every interest. The growth of the surrounding country, however, in time ren- dered its water-power valuable, and new energies and investments of capital awakened a new spirit of progress. From this era its growth was steady and rapid.

" After 1807, saw mills were erected almost with- out number. In 1808, Dr. Baldwin erected one with six saws and carriages. In 1824, Messrs. Start & Mott erected a mill with two saws and carriages. In 1826, Mr. James Johnson built a mill with four saws and carriages, and Messrs. Stephen and Harvey Baldwin, a mill with a gang of fifteen saws. Start & Mott's mill burned down in 1834, and was rebuilt in 1847 by Richard M. Beach. In 1839 Thomas P. Campbell erected a mill with two saws and carriages. In 1848 Howard & Cook built a mill with two saws and carriages.

" Several grist mills were erected from time to time, and among others the noted mill erected by

RESIDENCE OF MRS. ELECTA VAN DERVEER, LYSANDER, ONONDAGA CO., N. Y.

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Sanford C. Parker in 1836-7. This mill was 60 by 100 feet in dimensions, four stories besides base- ment, and capable of manufacturing 200 barrels of flour daily, besides custom grinding."* This mill was burnt in 1861, and rebuilt by Johnson, Cook & Co., in 1862. (See Baldwinsville Manufacturers.)

EARLY MERCHANTS.

Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin opened a store at Baldwins- ville in 1807, and continued till 1813. In 1813, Judge Otis Bigelow commenced selling goods in the village and continued till 1863, a period of fifty years. Judge Bigelow was a prominent and leading citizen, father of the present Col. Payne Bigelow, and was born in Worcester County, Mass., February 1, 1785. He died June 21, 1864, aged eighty years.

John Hamill opened a store in 1816; Jonas C. Brewster, in 1821 ; Luther Badger, in 1823 ; Robins & Wells, in 1832; Sanford C. Parker, in 1835 ; John Tomlinson & Co., in 1838; D. C. Lusk & Co, in 1846.

BAR OF BALDWINSVILLE.

Reuben S. Orvis, Esq., was the first lawyer in the village. He commenced the practice of law here in 1816. Samuel H. Hammond, Esq., began as an attorney in 1826; and afterwards Cornelius Pugsley, Esq., and others established themselves as members of the Baldwinsville bar. Colonel I. T. Minard came here in 1833, and D. C. Green- field, Esq., in 1848. Present attorneys : DeWitt C. Greenfield, George Hall, N. M. White, Isaac T. Minard, F. A. Marvin, J. R. Shea and C. M. West.

PHYSICIANS.

Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin, on his first arrival at Baldwinsville, practiced medicine when necessary till other physicians arrived. In 1814, Dr. Cyrus Baldwin established himself as a regular physician, and Dr. Silas Wallace in 1816. Dr. Phillip Sharp settled about a mile and a half west of the village as early as 1823. Later, Dr. H. J. Shumway, Dr. Farnsworth, and Dr. Lee settled as physicians in the village, and were followed by Dr. Elijah Law- rence, Dr. John Briggs and others. The present physicians are Henry B. Allen, J. V. Kendall, J. C. B. Wallace, J. F. Wells, A. H. Marks and L. V. Flint.

POSTMASTERS.

A postoffice was first established at Baldwins- ville in 1817, Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin, Postmaster. He was succeeded by Stephen W. Baldwin, Otis Bigelow, Austin Baldwin, Dr. L. B. Hall, Dr. Daniel T. Jones, E. B. Wigent, Irvin Williams,

David S. Wilkins and W. W. Perkins, the present Postmaster (1878.)

Prior to 1817 mail matter was obtained from the postoffice at Onondaga Hollow and by boats from Salina. Any citizen who visited the Hollow would go to the postoffice and bring the mail for his neigh- bors. Col. Payne Bigelow relates that his father, Judge Bigelow, in 1816, used to get his mail at Three River Point, where it was brought by boat- men from Salina and deposited with a Mr. Sweet, who kept a log tavern on the Lysander side of the river.

After the postoffice was established in 1817, the mails were for some time carried on horse back. More than forty years ago, Walter D. Herrick, who kept a hotel in the present American Hotel build- ing, put on a line of stages running from Baldwins- ville to Syracuse, for the purpose of carrying the mail, passengers and freight. The road usually taken was through " Hardscrable," Belle Isle and Fairmount, to Syracuse.

At one time Col. Stephen W. Baldwin ran a small steamboat to and from Syracuse by way of the river, outlet and Onondaga Lake, for the ac- comodation of passengers, and it was not till the completion of the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad, in October, 1848, that Baldwinsville enjoyed full and speedy communication with all other sections of the country.

A tow-path on the north bank of the Seneca River extending from Mud Lock to Baldwinsville, connects the village with the Oswego Canal. Sen- eca River, with a fall of eight feet, furnishes one of the best sites for hydraulic works in this section of the State, and being surrounded by a country of great fertility and beauty, it must ever be a village of considerable activity and importance.

INCORPORATION.

The village was incorporated with the name of Baldwinsville under the provisions of the general incorporating act June 3, 1848. A new charter was obtained in 1868, and a law passed April 21, 1868, dividing the village into three wards.

The following were the first municipal officers, elected in 1848 :

President, LeRoy Morgan. Trustees, E. A. Baldwin, Elisha Hickok, Irvin Williams, Almon Farr. Clerk, E. B. Wigent.

Presidents of the village from 1849 to 1878, in- clusive :

1849-'51, Henry Case, Jr .; 1852, Samuel Bisdee; 1853-'54, Sanford C. Parker ; 1855, E. B. Wigent; 1856, John Boley ; 1857, D. D. Norton ; 1858,

* Clark's Onondaga.

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Sam'l Avery, 1859, D. C. Greenfield ; 1860, Stephen W. Baldwin ; 1861, Jas. Hamill ; 1862, J. O. Slocum; 1863, Eli Perry ; 1864-'65, W. W. Perkins ; 1866, L. H. Cheney : 1867, J. P. Shumway ; 1868-'70, J. J. Kaulback ; 1871 '72, Wallace Tappan : 1873, I. M. Baldwin ; 1874, J L. Voorhees : 1875, Erwin Fairbanks ; 1876-'78, Wm. F. Morris.

The present village officers ( 1878) are as follows : Wm. F. Morris, President ; Horace J. Frazee, Clerk ; James R. Blanchard, Treasurer ; Oliver Strong, Police Constable ; R. D. Pettit, H. Tappan, C N. Bliss, J. E Hilts, S. J. E. Paul, C. M. West, Trustees : Bradford Chase, S. H. Alden and Erwin Fairbanks, Assessors.

MANUFACTURIS.

The leading manufacturing interest of Baldwins- ville is the production of flour, there being five large mills in constant operation whose daily capac- ity aggregates over one thousand barrels. We shall pass each of these mills in brief review and then notice some of the minor manufacturing in- terests.

JAMES FRAZEE & Co .- This firm has a mill fifty by one hundred feet, four stories, including base- ment, erected in 1859-60. The proprietors are James Frazee and E P. Schoonmaker.

JACON AMOS & SONS -The mills are under the management of Jacob Amos, Jr. They were erected by the head of the firm in 1868, the building and machinery costing about $100,000. On this site stood the " Old Red Mill," erected by James John- son in 1835 or thereabouts, which was burned with the woolen factory in 1842.

G. H1. & A. T. HOTALING occupy the stone mill erected by Sanford C. Parker in 1836, and which was rebuilt by Johnson, Cook & Co., in 1862. In 1870 this firm commenced business. They have changed the mill into what is known as a " New Process " mill, and otherwise improved it. Its present capacity is two hundred barrels of merchant flour per day. The Hotalings are natives of this county, born in the town of Pompey, and were for- merly in the milling business at Jamesville.

D. & G. MORRIS .- The mill occupied by this firm stands on the "second privilege," and was known for a long time as the "Farmer's Mill of Van Buren."

W. L. WILKINS, Flour and Feed Mills, entirely custom work. Mr. Wilkins built his mill in 1854 and has run it constantly ever since. It has four run of stones and does a prosperous business. Mr. Wilkins is a native of Saratoga County and came here in 1846.

W' L. FRAZEE owns and operates the only saw mill in Baldwinsville.

J. C. MILLER & Co's Hosiery Mills were estab- lished in 1876.

WHITE, CLARK & Co., Centrifugal Pump Works, established in June, 1876. The building occupied by this firm was formerly the Ax Factory, and has been fitted up not only as a Pump Factory, but as a machine shop, where work of all kinds in that line is done. The shops have facilities for the en)- ployment of eight regular workmen.

SCHOONMAKER & Co .- Paper Mill. Started in December, 1874. Manufactures Straw Wrapping Paper, 4,500 pounds per day. The partners are Andrew S Schoonmaker, Theodore Haines and Jacob C. Kenyon. The building was formerly erected by Johnson, Cook & Co, in 1862, and used as a distillery in connection with the Stone Mill now owned by the Messrs. Hotaling-built by San- ford C. Parker in 1836, burnt in 1861, rebuilt in 1862.

JAMES R. BLANCHARD furnishes the village and surrounding country with Granite and Marble Monuments of every required description. This is the only shop of the kind in the village, and has been in operation fifteen years.

FULLER & BuIss, Planing Mill, Sash, Door and Blind Factory. The business of this firm was established by the present proprietors in 1866, and is one of the prosperous enterprises of the village. The proprietors are William L. Fuller and C. N. Bliss. An extensive lumber yard is kept in con- nection with the mill, and the business gives em- ployment to about twenty men.

JOHN M. YOUNG'S Fork and Rake Factory is an enterprise recently started. The works are located in a portion of what was formerly the " Ax Factory."

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 72

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