History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 23

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During the period from 1833 to 1840, when militia organizations were in vogue, Lanson Dewey rose rapidly by promotions till, as the commander of a regiment, he received a title generally bestowed. He has freely tendered to his children advantages of higher educa- tion furnished by academy and college, and, a patron of the press, keeps well informed upon the events of the times. Whether at home or at county and State conventions, Colonel Dewey is a man whose opinion is regarded and whose influence is felt. He is honored in the home circle and popular with the public,- kind parent, a patriot citizen.

LEMAN B HOTOHKI88.

THE subject of this sketch was born in the village of " Vienna," now Phelps, February 3, 1813. He early attended the district schools, and though the edu- cational advantages of those primitive days were meagre, still he improved every opportunity, and there laid the foundation for his future successful career. He fin- ished a common school education at Orleans, in this county, under the tutorship of Richard P. Marvin, a present justice of the supreme court of this State. Mr. Hotchkiss early manifested a desire for mercantile pursuits, and at the close of his school days, in 1831, then eighteen years of age, he commenced business in the village of Phelps.

May 1, 1844, he united in marriage with Lucretia, daughter of the late Thaddeus Oaks, of Oaks' Cor- ners. They had five children, viz. : Thaddeus O., Nathan, William B., Fannie T., and Alice L., all re- siding in Phelps, except Nathan, who was killed by falling from a tree, October 14, 1861.

The eldest son, Thaddeus O., is a successful banker,

and the present supervisor of the town. Leman Hotchkiss, the father of the subject of this sketch, was one of the pioneer merchants of Ontario County. He commenced the mercantile business in 1810, and died in 1826.

In 1857, Mr. Hotchkiss began the banking busi- ness in Phelps, and continued until 1869, when he was succeeded by his son. He is largely engaged in the manufacture and distillation of oil of peppermint and other essential oils, and ships this commodity to all parts of Europe. In this department of industry, as well as in others, succees has attended his efforts. This business is conducted on a large scale, and is one of the most important concerns of the kind in the coun- try. Leman B. Hotchkiss is a self-made man. In the various enterprises in which he has been engaged he has ever been found ready for every emergency, and through his remarkable capacity for large business transactions, coupled with perseverance and an indomi- table will, he has succeeded in accumulating a portion of this world's goods.

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PLATE XIV.

HON. SETH STANLEY.

BETHE STANLEY, son of Lucius Stanley, was born in the town of Seneca in the year 1831. He remained with his father until thirteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to the printing business, in the office of the Geneva Courier, then pub- lished by Ira Merrill. He remained there three years, and then entered the office of the Syracuse Daily Journal, where he con- tinned some time, and then worked in the office of the Seneca County Courier, and from thenoe went to Mayville, where he stayed but a short time, and went into the office of the Bufalo Express. He also at diferent times worked in the office of the Geneva Gasette. At the age of twenty- one years he left the vocation of the prin- ter and entered the employ of the Can- andaigus and Elmira Railway Company, and soon after met with a severe accident while coupling cars, from the effects of which he never recovered. About five years afterwards he entered the employ of George F. Marshall, of Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained but a short time, and returned to his native county. He served as towa collector three terms, though the town was largely Republican. Twice he

SETH STANLEY.

has held the office of supervisor of Senecs. The popularity of Mr. Stanley was clearly exhibited in 1875, when he was elected to the Legislature by a majority of three hundred and ninety-two. His opponent, Volney Edgerton, of Hopewell, was a very popular man, and one of the influ- ential men of the district. Mr. Stanley received a very flattering vote in his own town, which gave him seventy-one more votes than Mr. Edgerton, while the Re- publican State ticket received a majority of fifty-four. He was actively engaged in the coal and lumber business during the last twelve years of his life. September 17, 1861, he married Margaret A. Nichol, of Alabama, Genesee county, New York, who died Christmas-day, 1870, leaving two children, Bell Boyd, now eleven years of age, and George N., ten years. He was again married in the fall of 1874, to Julia Mulligan, of Parma, Monroe county. Mr. Stanley took an setive interest in all public affairs, and was one of the prom- inent and estimable citizens of the county. A gentleman speaking of Mr. S. at Al- bany, says, " In the House he was quietly attentive to his duties, and made a good record as a minority member." He died August 25, 1876.

RES. OF SETH STANLEY, STANLEY, N. Y.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the national system, and which once contributed to supply the country with the current paper of the day, a few are briefly recalled. The Farmers' Bank of Geneva, an associated institution, began business with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars on July 18, 1839, at Geneva. The Merchants' Bank of Ontario County, located at Naples, was conducted as an individual concern from March, 1846, till its closure. At the same village the White Plains Bank began June, 1844, as an individual enterprise, was in 1860 closed, and its notes redeemed by the bank- ing department. The Ontario County Bank, at Phelps, began business in November, 1855. On October 13, 1857, all the banks of New York city failed, with the sole exception of the Chemical Bank, and this was speedily followed by the suspension and failure of the State banks generally. . Specie payment was resumed in sixty days, but the Phelps bank was of brief existence, its failure having occurred March, 1858. Its bills were redeemable at par until August 11, 1864, at the Union Bank, Albany.

The national banking system marks an era unexcelled for convenience and security. Adverse to the ruinous speculation of a former date, the currency of the present, redeemable in " greenbacks," and secured by bonds deposited, while it affords material for political opinion, answers as none ever did before it,-the design of a circulating medium.

The First National Bank of Canandaigua was established during the early part of 1864. Articles of association were drawn February 17, to carry on the busi- ness of banking under act of Congress, entitled, "an act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States stocks, and to provide for the cirou- lation and redemption thereof," approved February 25, 1863. The name and title of the association is the " First National Bank of Canandaigua," and the place of business is No. 180 Sibley's block, Main street. A board was formed consisting of thirteen stockholders. The first meeting for the election of directors was held February 3. The annual meetings thereafter were appointed for the second Tuesday in January. The capital stock of the bank is seventy-five thousand dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each. There is a surplus fund of twenty-five thousand dollars. The circulation is sixty-seven thousand five hun- dred dollars. The first board of directors, nine in number, are named as follows : E. G. Lapham, E. G. Tyler, N. Grimes, Harvey Jewett, M. Lewis, R. D. Cook, M. D. Munger, H. W. Hamlin, and George Cook. The last-named was elected president, E. G. Tyler, vice-president, and M. D. Munger, cashier. Duties connected with Brigham Hall compelled a resignation of Mr. Cook on February 8, 1869; he was succeeded by Lucius Wilcox, in January, 1870; then Edward G. Tyler became president, March 10, 1873, and still holds the position. On the resignation by Mr. Tyler of the office of vice-president the place was filled by the election of Robert Chapin. There has been no change in the office of cashier.

Banking houses have been established at convenient points throughout the county. The office of John C. Draper was located within a building erected by him during 1871, upon the corner of Main and Chapin streets, where he conducts a general banking business.

The George N. Williams' banking house was originally conducted by G. N. Williams and Emery B. Remington, as the firm of Williams & Remington. They began the business of banking in 1868, within the present office, located in Jackson block, Main street. Mr. Remington died on April 19, 1875. Mr. Williams, senior member, succeeded to the business, which he still continues as banker, and Myron H. Clark (ex-governor) has been cashier since 1874. Interest is paid on deposits, collections made on all points, and a general banking business is transacted.

The banking office of William C. Moore, formerly and for ten years a banker in Rochester, was started during 1870, where now is Whalling's store, in Victor village. In 1872, Mr. Moore completed the large brick block on whose first floor he located and carries on the business indicated. The building, erected by Mr. Moore at a cost of about seventeen thousand dollars, is an ornament to the village and a credit to the projector ..

CHAPTER XXIV.

EARLY AND LATER MANUFACTORIES AND PRODUCTS.

THE colonists depended for machinery and goods upon the mother-country. She was no " alma mater" to them, and denied to their tradesmen the exercise of their calling. When the restraint was removed, associations and establishments sprang into being, and a commencement was made of that American invention and production which has given the republic a name among all nations. The early settlers of Ontario, consulting convenience, gave their attention chiefly to tillage

of the soil, and therein found their greatest profit. From the earth was drawn food and clothing. Flax from the field, wool from flock, and cotton from the south, were manufactured into cloth by the industrious matrons and maidens of the early day. In 1810 there were fourteen thousand families residing in Ontario County, and distributed among this population were nineteen hundred and three looms. There were twenty fulling-mills and clothieries, twenty-two carding- machines, and thirty-seven tanneries. The household manufactures in that year produced five hundred and twenty-four thousand five hundred and thirty yards of woolen, linen, cotton, and mixed cloths. There a diffusion of labor in household manufacture, which resulted in the aggregate shown, but which was opposed to successful tillage. Those parties who have invested capital, and sought to localize products needed in the community, are deserving of encomium and mention. Ontario, while containing no extensive factories, has many of moderate size, and a summary gives a creditable showing. The forerunners of manufacture were the blacksmiths' shops, rude mills, and humble tanneries. Wherever a fall of water could be obtained, there saw- and grist-mills were erected, and the town of Manchester was fortunate in having within her limits this natural power. Theophilus Short, in 1804, became the pioneer of lumber and flour manufacture at the place which bears his name. In 1822, the business warranted the erection of a large flouring-mill. During 1811, William Grimes erected, near Short's mill, a woolen-mill. It was fifty by thirty-six feet on the ground, two stories, and contained sixty-four spindles. Eight workmen were employed. In 1818, Stephen Brewster became the purchaser. By him the capacity was doubled, and . durable and lucrative business conducted.

THE ONTARIO MANUFACTURING COMPANY

was organized in 1811, by residents of Manchester village and vicinity, for the erection of & woolen-factory. Lands and water-power were purchased September 18. The first trustees of the association were Joseph Colt, Nathan Comstock, Jr., Jonathan Smith, Ananias Wells, and Isaac Lapham. Buildings were erected and ready for operation by the fall of 1813. The main building was about sixty feet square and three stories high. Within this structure were placed one spin- ning-jenny with seventy-five spindles, one jack. with forty spindles, six looms worked by hand, with rooms for fulling, dyeing, and other accessories to tho pro- duction of finished cloths. The factory at one time employed thirty to forty hands. After three or four years' activity the enterprise, proving a loss, was closed out. The buildings were sold to T. Short and others, and rented to Stephen Brewster and Addison Buck. The latter became sole owner, and remained in business until the property was consumed by fire in 1824. They were not rebuilt.

A PAPER-MILL

was established in 1817, by E. K. Case, Jet Abbey, and Alvin West. Their mill was the one now known as the Jones property. The business first employed eight hands. Exclusive attention was given to the manufacture of writing-paper. The process was effected by hand, in a laborious and crude manner. Stephen Brewster became one of the proprietors, and during his connection with it the Mormon Bible was printed from paper made here.

IRON-WORKS

were started in 1819. A stock company was organized, and buildings erected. J. N. Stebbins was manager. Business was done only four or five years, but during that time there was no lack of energy. Nearly a score of workmen were kept employed night and day at the works. Teams were employed mainly in winter to draw ore from the Ontario mines, twenty-four miles distant. Thirty to forty loads were often brought in one day. Pig iron and various descriptions of hollow iron ware were produced.

HONEOYE WOOLEN-MILLS,

at the Honeoye Falls, passed from the hands of A. C. Allen to the control of the Hunt brothers, who, from 1867 until 1875, had been running a mill at North Bloomfield. Their mill is supplied with two sets of machinery and eight hundred and thirty-two spindles. A variety of goods there finds manufacture.

J. & A. McKECHNIE'S BREWERY,

at Canandaigua, is one of the largest in the State of New York. James and Alexander McKechnie emigrated to Canada in 1830, to Rochester in 1837, and in 1843 came to Canandaigua, and purchased a small brewery built some sixty years ago by Mr. Wagoner. The capacity was about 500 barrels yearly. In 1871, all buildings were reconstructed. The malt floors cover an area of 40,000 square feet ; the kiln floors, 6000 square feet. There is a capacity for storing and malt- ing 100,000 bushels of grain. The brewery consumes 70,000 bushels of malt and 30 tons of hops annually. Six hundred tons of coal and 500 cords of wood are

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

used in the furnaces. Within three ice-houses, 60 by 60 feet, 100 by 40, and 20 by 20 feet, are annually stored 2000 tons of ice. The total cost of material is over $80,000. The buildings cover over five acres of land, and consist of the brewery and storage block, four-storied, and 58 by 112 feet ; malt-houses, 170 by 60, and 90 by 40 feet ; cooper-shop, wood-sheds, barn, and stabling for ten span of horses. Over fifty hands are employed, whose annual wages reach $25,000. To keep up the establishment requires the growth from 5000 acres of barley and 60 acres of hops. The capital in real estate is $50,000; the machinery, fixtures, and appa- ratus, $20,000. The motive machinery is a fine twenty-five-horse-power engine; boilers, two fifty-horse-power. The capacity of the brewery is 1000 barrels per week. About 5000 barrels are kept on hand. About 200 barrels are sent to Rochester each week. The brewing of lager beer was begun in March, 1875, and promises a heavy increase of facility and consequent capacity.

MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES.

From the census of 1865 we find the following statistics of manufacture : Agricultural tool and instrument manufactories-Rakes, at Phelps, $2000 capital; value of product, $3000. Sowers-East Bloomfield, capital, $5000; pro- duct, $5000. Manchester, $13,000; product, $19,000. Manufacture of metals, thirto-two establishments; capital, $15,000; product, $28,000. There were three iron-foundries at Canandaigua, Richmond, and Seneca. Their capital, $33,500 ; value of product, $202,000. Tinsmithing had six establishments, whose product is valued at $21,000. There were fifteen carriage and wagon shops, two spoke and hub factories, thirty-two grist-mills, thirty-five lumber-mills. The total num- ber of establishments was one hundred and ninety. There were 699 persons em- ployed: men, 592 ; women, 56; boys under eighteen, 44, and girls under eighteen, 7. Four men were employed at $18 per month, 90 at $35, 50 at $40, 55 at $50, and 2 at $65. Thirty-one grist- and flouring-mills reported an invested capital of $244,300. Twenty-eight of these report the cost of grain ground at $689,371. The mills employed about 70 men, and had over 100 run of stone. The census of 1875 gives agricultural implement manufacture at the town of Manchester as an important and growing interest. The report of some forty miscellaneous manu- facturing establishments in Ontario gives a capital invested of over $176,000. Value of income therefrom derived, over $200,000. In these' establishments 184 men, 19 women, and 30 boys are employed.

CHAPTER' XXV.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS AND CHURCH STATISTICS.

DIFFERING in name, but a unit in purpose, missionaries from the eastern churches traveled the hills and plains of Ontario to recall members to their duty, to organ- ise societies, and to augment their ranks from skeptical neighbors by powerful revivals. Ontario was long a great missionary field, yet the erection of meeting- houses is almost cotemporary with the earliest settlement. By legislative enact- ment, of date April, 1804, any religious denomination was authorized to appoint trustees, and form a body corporate capable of legal transactions. The history of a church generally dates from this action. Yet, in general, a deserted log house, a school-building, the open air, and the private dwelling witnessed many an act of adoration, resounded with many a ery for meroy and shout of gladness. Religious toleration has been a notable feature of Ontario churches. Union churches were erected and amicably occupied. A Presbyterian society is cheer- fully invited to occupy a Methodist church, pending the erection of a building; and an Episcopal society invites a Methodist to become their rector, and he, complying with their forms, accepts and serves them. The erection of buildings and the payment of salaries were great difficulties encountered by feeble organi- aations, and it is interesting in church histories to note the patience shown, and success resultant in a generality of instances. A new country was a crucial test of genuine religion. There were many infidel in belief; there were those who, professedly pious in the east, left their religion behind them when they came west; and there were many devoted men, with heroic wives, whose self-denying labors for the support of the gospel could, in recital, recount a chapter excelled by no other cause. In the histories of towns and villages is found the individual church record, while here is attempted but an outline of denominations and a summary of churches, value of property, membership, and other matters calculated to em- body evidences of growth and strength, and furnish a basis for a future com- parison.

METHODIST CHURCHES

are numerous, wealthy, and prosperous. Early in the field, their faithful circuit- riders rode everywhere, and while there were no organized churches, there were

bands scattered all through the community. The division of the society was into classes, societies, quarterly conferences, circuits, districta, and annual and general conferences. Wherever a few Methodists came together they were formed into a class, and a leader appointed. . When a class became sufficiently strong, it was organized into a church or society. The quarterly conference consisted of official members of the church, who were the class-leaders, stewards, and trustees. The presiding elder acted as chairman. A circuit consisted of several charges, to which, generally, two ministers were assigned for two years. A district composed several circuits, over which a presiding elder was placed for a term of four years. An annual conference was composed of all the ministers of a designated number of districts, over which a bishop presided. The general conference was made up from all the annual conferences in the United States. The Genesee conference em- braced all the territory from Ontario lake to one hundred miles south of Elmira, into Pennsylvania, and from Cayuga to Buffalo. The Ontario circuit was of vast extent. Joseph Jewell was presiding elder in 1805. Among the pioneer preachers were David Dunham, Benjamin Bidlack, Smith Weeks, and Roger Benton. The last-named recently deceased at Newark, Wayne county. In 1808, Rev. James Herron was presiding elder, Wm. B. Lacey and James Mitchell, preachers. The first quarterly conference was held July 9, 1808, at Boughton, town of Bloom- field, where the following-named were present : Elder Herron, Revs. Wm. B. Lacey, Jas. Mitchell, Smith Weeks, Abijah Wright, John Baggerly, Stiles Parker, William Smith, Moses Hall, Jonah Davis, Ambrose Phelps, Isaac Van Orman, Nathaniel Jenkins, Nathan Loughborough, and John Rose. Petitions were presented,-Palmyra asking that an exhorter's license be granted to Abram Albridge; Canandaigua praying that Moses Hull, of Farmington, be licensed to. preach the gospel; Penfield asking license for Eli Walker, and one from Victor, for Parker Buell. All were granted. The conference adjourned to meet at Charleston, near Lima Corners, in 1809. The meagre salaries and the weakness of the society financially is shown at this meeting, where the presiding elder received $4, Rev. B. Lacy, Ex., $2, quarterage, $16, and Jas. Mitchell, Ex., $1.50, quarterage, $16.89. Total, $40.89. Proceedings show a rigid discipline to sustain the church in purity, with a kindly effort at reclaiming those who fell below the standard. Rev. Gideon Draper was appointed to the district. The preachers on the circuit were Revs. Lacey, Henry, Monteath, and John Kimberlin. The first quarterly meet- ing was held at Pittsford, second at Norton's (now Honeoye's Falls), the third, Phelpstown, and the fourth, near Sulphur Springs (Clifton). In 1810 the Gen- esee conference was formed: The meeting was held near Lyons village, in Squire Davy's barn. Rev. G. Draper still continued in charge of this, the Susquehanna district. Revs. George Thomas, G. W. Densmore, and Noah Bigelow were preachers. The next quarterly conference was held at the house of Esquire Root, at " Number Nine," and the public services in his barn. People crowded to these assemblages, and the barn or the grove were the only places to accommodate them.

In February, 1811, the officers of the circuit were classified as follows: Rev- erends Hall, Jenkins, and Abel White; circuit stewards, N. Loughborough and R. Roct; class-leaders, Levi Ferguson, Thomas Powers, Levi Wood, Peter Baggerly, S. Booth, and Isaac Marsh ; exhorters, six ; class-leaders, ten. Total, twenty-six. In 1811-12, Thomas Wright, Joseph Kincaid, and Peregrine Hollett were the circuit preachers.

The arraignment during this year of a local preacher " for drinking spiritnous liquors to excess," his present acquittal and subsequent revocation of license for repeated offense, evidence the decided position taken by the Methodist Episcopal church in the cause of temperance.

The style of preaching adopted was argumentative and exhortatory. Strong appeals were made to the heart. Abijah Wright so preached in a barn in Victor, that a horror came upon the unconverted. Some fell, others leaped into the bog and fled away fearing to remain. It is related that people left their hay unout, their ripe grain unharvested, when it was known that "preaching" was to be held in the neighborhood.

In 1816 the eccetric but devoted Lorenzo Dow. visited Ontario, and filled a series of appointments at various points. The young regarded him with fear, and the old with curiosity, and crowds attended his meetings.

In 1821 there were six hundred and twenty-one members in the Ontario circuit, and in 1865 there were over three thousand members upon only a part of this territory. There were long discourses in those times, as it is recorded that one Peiffer preached three hours from Isaiah v., 3, 4. As numbers increased, the circuit was divided and sub-divided until the present status has been reached.

In 1837-38 a dissension arose regarding the word episcopal in some localities, and a branch was formed which was known as Methodists.

During the winter of 1842-43, came the disorders engendered by the Millerite excitement. Certain men, studying the prophecies, concluded that the time for Christ's second advent was the spring of 1843. Lecturers traveled and taught

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 23

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author:
Publication date:
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Number of Pages: 391