USA > New York > Oswego County > History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 29
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
these strata incline upward to the north, consequently the lowest stratum which comes to the surface in each county crops out in its northern portion.
In Oswego County the lowest stratum is the "Lorraine shales" or upper portion of the Utica slate, which last is the uppermost stratum of what is called by geologists the " lower Silurian" system. The Lorraine shales crop out in the extreme north part of the county, near the lake. Next above this, and therefore coming out south of it, is the gray sandstone, belonging to the middle Silurian system, which extends from the northeast corner of the county to a point near its centre, and thenee runs westward along the lake; the line between it and the next stratum south crossing the Oswego river about a mile from its mouth. This gray sandstone is very compact, and firmly resists the action of the elements. It has been quarried for grindstones in the town of Orwell, near Salmon river.
Next to this comes the Medina or red sandstone, also a part of the middle Silurian system. Its northern boundary is the same as the southern limit of the gray sandstone, and runs northeast from the eentre of the county to its north- eastern corner. It extends southward, occupying more than a third of the area of the county. It shows itself freely on the banks of the streams, and is largely quarried for building purposes.
The southernmost and uppermost of the Oswego County strata is what is known by geologists as the Clinton group (likewise belonging to the middle Silurian system), which occupies the entire border next to Oneida lake and river. It consists of parallel layers of shale and of red and gray sandstone. Iron ore is found in it, but in small quantities. Peat and marl are abundant.
Over all these rocky strata large amounts of soil, inter- mingled with loose rocks, have accumulated, the whole forming what geologists term "drift." The underlying rocks are rarely seen by the ordinary observer except on the banks of streams.
After this brief inspection of the foundation-walls of Oswego County, we will give one more glance at its outward appearance,-an appearance most encouraging to the lover of progress and civilization.
The Indian trails over which Champlain and Le Moine, Garangula and De la Barre, Sir William Johnson and Philip Schuyler, passed to and fro on their various missions of war, religion, and traffic, are now changed into the tracks over which the iron horse screams and thunders in his seemingly savage wrath. The forests have become groves, orchards, and fields. The wigwams have expanded into country farm- houses and city mansions. The place of the stump, hollowed on top into a mortar in which to pound corn, is taken by a score of mills capable of turning out over two million barrels of flour per year.
What is far more important, churches are now seen by the score, and school-houses by the hundred, in the territory which less than a century ago was devoted to barbaric ig- norance and pagan sacrifices. The wolf or the bear which strays into our county from the depths of the Adirondack forests is very liable to be trapped by a minister or shot by a school-master,-a fact which is perhaps no consolation to the animal in question. In short, in less than a hundred
years Oswego County has been transformed from the home of barbarisin to that of the highest civilization ; a change which it has shared with the greater portion of our country, but which is none the less the cause of perennial wonder to those who meditate upon it.
Having now given a résumé of the general course of events from 1615 to 1877, we will subjoin sketches of various organizations, buildings, etc., which pertain to the county at large, but which could not well be incorporated into the continuous narrative.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE PRESS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.
The American Farmer-The Oswego Gazette-The Oswego Palla- dium-The Oswego Palladium and Republican Chronicle-The Palladium Again ; How it Looked of Old ; Its Subsequent Changes; The Palladium Printing Company ; The Palladium of To-Day- The Oswego Republican-The Oswego Gazette and Advertiser- Dr. Burdell-Major Cochran-The Oswego Democratic Gazette- The National Republican-The Oswego Free Press-The Oswego Democrat-The Oswego Observer-Equal Rights-The Oswego Patriot-The Commercial Herald-The Oswege County Whig- The Oswego Daily Advertiser-The Oswego Commercial Times- The Oswego Times and Journal-The Oswego Timee; Various Changes : The Advertiser and Times; The Advertiser ; The Times again ; The Oswego Publishing Company ; The Times of To-Day -The Oswego Commercial Advertiser-The Oswego Press-The People's Journal-The Daily News-The Northern New Yorker- The Pulaski Banner-The Pulaski Advocate-The Advocate aud Aurora-The Port Ontario Aurora-The Pulaski Courier-The Richland Courier-The Northern Democrat-The Pulaski Demo- crat-The Fulton Chroniele-Ben Franklin-The Weekly Dis- patch-The Fulton Sun-The Fulton Mirror-The Fulton Patriot -The Fulton Patriot and Gazette-The Phoenix Gazelte-The Oswego County Gazette-The Fulton Times-The Phoenix Demo- crat-The American Banner and Oswego County Times-The American Banner and Literary Gem-The Phoenix Reporter-The Phoenix Register-The Oswego County Democrat-The Messenger -The Mexico Independent-The Deaf Mutes' Journal-The Han- nibal Reveille-The Hannibal News-The Sandy Creek News- The Lakeside News-The Lakeside Press-The Parish Mirror- The Central Square News.
THE press is so widely recognized as one of the most important agencies of modern civilization that in so full a work as this it naturally requires a special chapter devoted to its history.
" French's Gazetteer" asserts that the first newspaper in the county was the American Farmer, published at Os- wego before 1807. We have, however, been able to learn nothing of such a sheet from the oldest inhabitants, and, as there was no post-office at Oswego until 1806, and it was then a mere hamlet of between one and two hundred inhabitants, it is extremely doubtful if there was a news- paper published there at that time.
The first paper of which anything is definitely known was the Oswego Gazette, a small weekly, started at Oswego in 1817, by S. A. Abbey & Bro., and by them transferred to Augus- tus Buckingham. It was discontinued in 1819, but the material was purchased by John H. Lord and Dorephus Abbey, who began in that year to publish what is now by
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
far the oldest paper in the county, the Weekly Oswego Palladium.
This was at the period when the old Republican party, already more commonly called Democratic, had overcome all opposition, and was beginning to split into factions by its own weight. The Palladium affiliated with the " Buck- tail," or Anti-Clintonian faction. Mr. Lord afterwards be- came the sole proprietor, and continued the publication until 1830, supporting the administration of Monroe and Jackson, and opposing that of John Quincy Adams.
Mr. John Carpenter then became a part owner with Mr. Lord, and, after a few months, became sole proprietor. When Mr. Carpenter first entered the office the name of Republican Chronicle was subjoined to the former title, and for about a year and a half the paper carried the some- what top-heavy appellation of The Oswego Palladium and Republican Chronicle. The latter title was then dropped, and the journal in question has ever since been known only as The Oswego Palladium.
By this time parties had been organized ; the supporters of Jackson falling heirs to the old name of Democrats, while the opposition was composed of "anti-Masons" and " National Republicans," but was soon after consolidated under the name of " Whigs." The Palladium from the first allied itself with the Democratic party, and has ever since remained its stanch supporter, except for a brief period in and after 1848.
Mr. Carpenter, who still resides on a farm near Oswego, has a file of the Palladium while under his management, which he has permitted us to examine. It was a good- sized sheet of six columns, with the dark look noticeable in all old papers, and still observable in English, and, to some extent, in Canadian journals,-a look indicative of much ink, many " block-letters," and closely-printed adver- tisements.
In 1845, Mr. Carpenter sold out to Mr. Beman Brock- way, with whom Mr. C. S. Sumner was associated for about a year. In 1848 the Palladium supported Van Buren and Adams, and upheld the "Free Democratic," or, as it was commonly called, " Free Soil" party, until it was re-absorbed in the Democracy.
In 1850, Mr. Brockway started the Daily Palladium, which has been issued in connection with the weekly ever since. The next year Mr. Brockway transferred a share in the paper to Lloyd Mills, and for a short time it was issued by Brockway & Mills. Mr. Brockway soon disposed of his interest to Joseph C. Hatch, and the firm became Mills & Hatch. In 1853, Dudley Farling became the pro- prietor, selling out to T. P. Ottoway in 1854.
The last-named gentleman retained the control nine years, publishing a stiff Democratic paper during the rapid growth of the Republican party, and the early years of the war. In 1863 he sold out to S. H. Parker. Mr. Parker remained as editor and proprietor until 1866. From that time until 1870 the Palladium was published by C. Morrison & Co., and edited by John A. Barry. In the last-named year a stock company was formed, called the " Palladium Printing Company," by which the journal in question has ever since been published, Mr. Barry remaining the editor. G. A. Dayton has been president of the company since the for-
mation ; G. P. Briggs was secretary and treasurer during 1870; Dudley Farling during 1871 and 1872, and Simeon Holroyd since that time.
The Daily Palladium is now a handsome twenty-four- column sheet, a member of the New York State Associated Press, issued about four o'clock each afternoon, under the editorial management of John A. Barry, editor-in-chief; B. E. Wells, local editor ; and Simeon Holroyd, business manager. The Weekly Pulludium is a large paper of thirty- two columns, under the same proprietary and editorial control.
In March, 1825, Mr. William W. Abbey established another weekly newspaper at Oswego, called The Oswego Republican, to champion the newly-inaugurated adminis- tration of John Quincy Adams against the opposition of the Palladium. In 1827 it was sold to Samuel Osgood, who changed its name to The Oswego Gazette and Adver- tiser. The next year it was transferred to William C. Shope, who dropped its first name. In 1828 or 1829 the Adver- tiser was purchased by Dr. Burdell, whose mysterious murder, twenty-six years later, at the residence of Mrs. Cunningham, in New York city, caused such intense and wide-spread excitement. Dr. Burdell changed the name of the Advertiser to The Freeman's Herald, and issued it about a year, when he, too, gave up the unprofitable effort. About the same time, and probably on the same material, Major James Cochrane, a son-in-law of General Philip Schuyler, started the Oswego Democratic Gazette as a National Republican opponent of Jackson's adminis- tration, it being published for him by Burdell, but it lasted only a short time. In 1832 it was resuscitated by Mr. John Quincy Adams as The National Republican, and advocated the principles of the party whose name it bore for another year, when it finally ceased to exist.
Meanwhile the feeling against Masonry had reached its climax, and in 1830, Richard Oliphant established The Oswego Free Press, and published it for years as an anti- Masonic organ. In 1834, anti-Masonry having ceased to exist as a separate political organization, the Free Press was transferred to George G. Foster, who gave it the name of The Oswego Democrat. But the Palladium was too firmly fixed in the hearts of the Democracy to be dislodged even by a journal bearing their favorite name, and the next year the Democrat gave up the ghost.
Equally unfortunate was The Oswego Observer, a weekly begun by Bailey & Hawks in February, 1835, and dis- continued in the latter part of 1836.
A paper called Equal Rights was issued at Oswego for a short time about 1837. It was printed by Richard Oli- phant for unknown publishers.
The excitement caused in Oswego County and vicinity by the celebrated " Patriot War" was so great that a newspaper, called The Oswego Patriot, in sympathy with the insur- gents, was published from the Palladium office during the autumn and winter of 1838 and 1839. It was, so far as we know, the only recognized organ of the revolt, though the American frontier press very generally sympathized with it. When the Canadian patriots were all dispersed, transported, or hung, the Oswego Patriot was also sus- pended. Brief as was its existence, it had two editors ;
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the first being Mr. John Bonner, and the other a young lawyer, sinee quite well known to fame as General John Cochrane, of New York city.
In 1837, too, The Commercial Herald, devoted espe- cially to the eommeree of the lake and canal, was established at Oswego by Hull & Henry, and issued weekly until 1843.
In 1838, when the Whig party was rapidly growing in popular favor, The Oswego County Whig was founded at Oswego by Richard Oliphant, who published it until 1844, and then sold it to Daniel Ayer. The next year Mr. Ayer issued from the same office the Oswego Daily Advertiser, the first daily paper in the county. In 1847, C. D. Brigham became proprietor. He changed the name of the weekly to The Oswego Commercial Times, and of the daily to The Oswego Daily Commercial Times, but without relinquishing the Whig principles of his predecessors.
Mr. Brigham sold out in 1848 to James N. Brown, who continued the publication under the names last mentioned until 1854, when the paper was transferred to Winchester & Ferguson. These gentlemen also published the Weekly and Daily Journal, and united it with the Times, publish- ing the weekly issue as The Weekly Times and Journal, and the daily as The Oswego Times and Journal.
On the organization of the Republican party, in 1855, the paper adopted its principles, of which it has ever since been a faithful supporter. In 1857 the "Journal" part of its name was dropped, and the weekly and daily issues became respectively The Oswego Times and The Oswego Daily Times. From Winchester and Ferguson the Times went to N. M. Roe and W. B. Buekhout, and from them to Jonathan Tarbell, who edited and published it in 1859 and 1860. In the beginning of the war Mr. Tarbell sold out to James N. Brown, and entered the army, becoming afterwards a brigadier-general of volunteers and a judge of the supreme court of Mississippi. Mr. Brown, having for the second time taken the helm, retained it until 1865.
The Times was then sold to T. S. Brigham and J. A. Place, proprietors of the Oswego Commercial Advertiser, the consolidated paper being issued for a year as The Adver- tiser and Times. The name "Times" was then dropped, the weekly edition becoming The Oswego Weekly Adver- tiser, and the daily The Oswego Commercial Advertiser. In 1873 the Oswego Press was united with the Advertiser ; the proprietorship of the consolidated journal was vested in a stock company, called the " Oswego Publishing Com- pany." The names Press and Advertiser were both dropped and the old one of Times was adopted, under which title the paper has since been published.
About two years since, the weekly Times was enlarged to an eight-page paper of forty-eight columns, in which form it is still published. The daily is a four-page sheet of twenty-eight columns. The president of the company is Benjamin Doolittle; the sceretary and treasurer, John A. Place; the business manager, Frederick Thompson. The editorial staff consists of John A. Place, editor-in- chief; Frederick A. Dixon, local editor ; and Henry C. Stillman, commercial editor.
The Ostcego Commercial Advertiser, daily and weekly, was established in February, 1864, by T. S. Brigham and J. A. Place, Mr. Place being the editor. The Times was
consolidated with it early in 1865, as before stated, and the Advertiser continued under the same management and title until its transformation into the present Times, as just narrated.
The Oswego Press, daily and weekly, was founded by a stock company in 1870, and maintained a separate existenee until 1873, when it was consolidated with the Advertiser to form the Times.
The People's Journal, weekly, was established at Oswego in March, 1849, by O'Leary & Dean. The next year it was sold to L. A. Winchester. In 1851 it passed into the hands of Sumner & Poucher, who started the Oswego Daily News in connection with it. The next year L. A. Win- chester again bought it, and changed the name of the daily to the Oswego Daily Journal. Two years later, 1854, the People's Journal and the Daily Journal were united with the daily and weekly Times. The Northern New Yorker was founded at Oswego in 1873, by J. II. Oliphant. It was issued only fourteen months, being discontinued in 1874.
The first paper in the county outside of Oswego was The Pulaski Banner, begun in 1830, and published at Pulaski by Nathan Randall until 1832, by A. A. Matthewson & G. G. Foster until 1833, and by James Geddes until 1834, when it suspended.
In 1836 the old material of the Banner was purchased by Daniel Ayer, who issued a weekly paper called The Pu- laski Advocate until 1838. It was then sold to Mr. Diek- inson, the owner of the Port Ontario Aurora, who removed the latter paper from Port Ontario to Pulaski, and consoli- dated it with the Advocate, under the name of The Advo- cate and Aurora. Daniel Ayer again became the owner in 1840. He discarded the second name, and published the Advocate until 1842, when it was discontinued.
The Port Outario Aurora was published at the intended- to-be great city of Port Ontario, from 1837 into 1838, first by Mr. Van Cleve and then by Mr. Diekinson, the latter of whom removed it to Pulaski, and merged it in the Advocate, as just stated.
In 1843 The Pulaski Courier was started in that village, on the material of the defunet Advocate, by W. Winans. In 1847 it was purchased by A. A. Matthewson, who changed its name to The Richland Courier. After pub- lishing it until 1850, he sold out to Joseph C. Hatch, who thought it necessary to make another change of name. The appellation chosen this time was The Northern Demo- crat. In 1854 it passed into the hands of S. C. Miller, who gave it the title it still bears,- The Pulaski Demoerat. L. R. Muzzy, the present editor and proprietor, took control of the Democrat in 1869, and has ever since conducted it. Notwithstanding its name, it is independent in politics. It is a thirty-two-column sheet, of good appearance, and has a large circulation in the eastern part of the county.
The second paper in the county outside of Oswego was the Fulton Chronicle, first published as a weekly in No- vember, 1837, by Thomas Johnson. In 1840 it was sold to Isaac S. Clark and Edwin Thompson, who gave it the peculiar name of Ben Franklin. Unfortunately, however, for that style of nomenclature, the Ben Franklin died the very next year.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
The Weekly Dispatch was published in Fulton about a year, beginning in 1840, by E. C. Hatten.
The Fulton Sun was begun in 1841 by N. B. Northrop. The next year it was united with the Mirror.
The Fulton Mirror was established in August, 1842, by Daniel Ayer. Immediately afterwards it was united with the Sun, and the consolidated paper was published weekly as The Fulton Sun and Mirror until 1844. It was then sold to Speneer Munroe, and soon after discontinued.
The Fulton Patriot was started in 1846 by M. C. Hough. He transferred it to John A. Place in 1848, and he to T. S. Brigham, in 1854. In 1858 the Patriot was purchased by Hon. R. K. Sandford, who bought out the Oswego County Gazette the same year, and published the consolidated paper as The Fulton Patriot and Gazette. This is still the name borne at the head of its columns, though it is commonly called The Fulton Patriot. In 1861 Mr. Sandford disposed of his paper to Rodney L. Adams, who sold out in 1865 to Bennett Bros., who have been the editors and proprietors up to the time of the death of the lamented Mr. Charles T. Bennett, just previous to the issuing of this history. Having been enlarged three times in twelve years, the Patriot is now a thirty-two- column weekly, and a sturdy supporter of Republican principles.
The Phoenix Gazette, weekly, was started at Phoenix in 1851, by Jerome Duke. He sold out to George E. Wil- liams, who in 1853 removed it to Fulton, and changed its name to The Oswego County Gazette. Under that title it was published five years, when it was merged in the Pa- triot, as before stated.
The Fulton Times was established in June, 1868, by George E. and J. M. Williams. It is one of the few papers in the county which has not changed its name since its foundation. It is now a neat independent weekly, twenty-two by thirty-two inches; George E. Williams being editor and proprietor, and W. E. Williams local editor.
The Phoenix Democrat was established at that village in 1852, by an association of citizens, who sold it in 1854 to James H. Field. In 1855 the name was changed to The Phoenix Banner, and again, the same year, changed to The American Banner and Oswego County Times. This extensive appellation proved, as might have been ex- pected, too heavy to carry, and ere the close of the year the paper expired.
The next year it was revived by Mary Franees Tucker, as The American Banner and Literary Gem. It carried this patriotic, martial, refined, and brilliant designation for eight months, when it was sold to Levi Murrill, who re- duced its name to The American Banner. The Banner was finally furled in 1857.
Two months afterwards the material was used by Joshua M. Williams for the publication of the Phoenix Reporter. That paper soon passed into the hands of A. P. Hart, who published it until 1860. He then sold it to M. M. Carter, who enlarged the paper to its present size, twenty-four columns, and conducted it until 1870. In 1865 he changed the name to The Phoenix Register. In 1870 the Register was sold to J. M. Williams, who has conducted it till the
present time. It is independent in politics, and devoted to the welfare of the community which has so long supported it.
The first paper at Mexico was the Oswego County Demo- crat, established in 1837 or 1838, by Thomas Messenger. After a short time he changed the name to correspond with his own, denominating his paper The Messenger. But the times were unpropitious, and in 1839 the Messenger ceased from its journeys.
The Mexico Independent was established at that village March 19, 1861, by Humphries & Scarritt, and has re- mained ever since (over sixteen years) under the same name, at the same place, and in the hands of the same firm, or one of its members ; a remarkable example of sta- bility in the changeable world of Oswego County journalism. It is a twenty-eight-column weekly, and, as its name implies, is independent in all respects. Henry Humphries is the sole editor and proprietor.
One of the most interesting productions of journalistie enterprise in the county, or even in the State, is The Deaf Mutes' Journal, brought to Mexico in October, 1872. For three years it was published in connection with the Inde- pendent, several columns of that paper being occupied by the editor of the Journal. In October, 1875, it was pub- lished separately, as The Mexico Independent and Deaf Mutes' Journal, and in January, 1876, it reduced its title to The Deaf Mutes' Journal, which it still retains. It is the recognized organ of the deaf and dumb in the State of New York, and is the only paper published for their espe- eial use in the State, except a small one established a short time ago in New York city, to teach them to print. The Deaf Mutes' Journal has a circulation of about six hun- dred. The legislature has recognized it as the organ of the class referred to, and has granted it an allowance of six hundred and fifty dollars, on condition of its being sup- plied to a certain number of the deaf mutes free of charge. Henry C. Rider is the proprietor and the resident editor ; F. L. Seliney, of Rome, is assistant editor, and Henry Winter Lyle, of Philadelphia, the first ordained deaf-mute minister in the country, is the foreign editor.
The publication of the Hannibal Reveille was begun on the first day of October, 1866, by Dr. G. V. Emens. It was then a monthly, only fifteen by twenty inches in size, and was furnished to subscribers at the modest price of fifty cents per year. In August, 1870, its size was in- creased to twenty-two by thirty-two inches. On the 1st of January, 1872, the Reveille was made a semi-monthly, and a year later it was issued as a weekly ; the subscription price being changed to one dollar per year. On the 3d of July, 1873, it was purchased by Albert N. Bradt, who has continued its publication up to the present time.
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