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 35
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" Well, parson, are you going to stay over Sunday and baptize our children ?"
" Well," replied the minister, " I hardly know. I should be glad to do so, but it will break in on my arrangements very seriously."
" Well now, parson, you must stay !" exclaimed the en- thusiastic parent. "I have got two children that want bap- tizing bad; Mr. - has another, Mr. - has three more, and I know we can pick up two or three others, and, take it all together, you can make a d- good job of it."
It is not recorded whether the reverend gentleman took the job or not.
The event of 1808, at Oswego, was the building of the brig " Oneida" by Henry Eckford, under the superintend- ence of Lieutenant Woolsey, of which mention was made in the general history. Henry Eagle, a native of Prussia, and long a well-known resident of Oswego, first came to that place in the year last named, and helped to build the " Oneida."
The next spring the new brig was launched. When ready for sea, it was taken out of the harbor and its armament was put on board. When this had been done, it was found that the " Oneida" could not return over the bar. It was never inside the harbor again. The firm of MeNair & Co. built a fine schooner of eighty tons this year. Building began to increase on land, too, as well as on the water. Messrs. Forman & Brackett erected a small grist-mill and saw-mill.
The grist-mill was the first in Oswego, and the saw-mill was second only to that of Bradner Burt, built in 1802.
By this time immigration was increasing with consider- able rapidity ; many coming whose names have escaped rescarch. Theophilus S. Morgan, long a very prominent resident of Oswego, was one of the new settlers.
The next year (1810) there was a still larger immigra- tion, including several men of some note in the early annals of the frontier village. Of these the most prominent was Mr. Alvin Bronson, a young man only twenty-seven years old, although he had been in the mercantile business nine years, who settled at Oswego as the representative of the firm of Townsend, Bronson & Co., and began the construc- tion of a schooner with the men and tools he had brought with him from his former home in Connecticut.
Besides the vessel, which, under the name of the "Charles
and Ann," and subsequently of the " Governor Tompkins," has been mentioned at some length in the general history, Mr. Bronson soon erected a warchouse on the corner of West First and Cayuga streets, for the use of the firm, which was engaged largely in the forwarding business. They also kept a supply of general merchandise in one end of their warehouse. This was a custom with all the for- warders here, as it was considered that the business would not warrant separate mercantile establishments.
Another new-comer of this period of some notoriety was " Colonel" Eli Parsons. He gained his military title as the second in command in the celebrated " Shay's rebellion," which broke out in Massachusetts in 1786. Parsons had served gallantly as a captain in the Massachusetts line in the Revolution, and excused his subsequent misconduct on the ground of the hardships to which he and his comrades were subjected when the depreciated paper-money in which they had been paid was found to be worthless to buy pro-
visions or pay debts, or even to pay the taxes levied by the State government. As one of the leaders, he was excepted from the first amnesty granted to the main body of the insurgents after their defeat, and was obliged to escape to Canada, in which he only succeeded with great difficulty.
After the final amnesty he returned and settled in Oswego, where he kept a tavern, and where he received a pension for his services in the Revolution. According to the recol- lections of the old settlers he was a jovial old fellow, well liked by his neighbors, fond of making quaint remarks, and much more at home in keeping a tavern than in leading a rebellion.
" How do all you people make a living here ?" queried a stranger, who could not see that there was much business going on.
" Well, sir," replied the old colonel, "in summer we live by skinning strangers; in winter by skinning each other."
On another occasion, when provision was scarce, the colonel was seen trudging up to his house with a remark- ably fine string of fish.
" Bless me !" exclaimed a bystander, " what large fish ! How did you catch them, colonel ? What sort of bait did you use ?"
" The best of bait,-necessity," was the sententious reply of the veteran.
Dr. Benjamin Coc, who settled here in 1810, was the next physician after Caldwell, and the first who had much practice. Dr. Walter Colton, who came shortly after, was a man of marked ability, and prominent not only in pro- fessional, but in social and political life.
Edmund Hawks, who afterwards became associate judge of the common pleas, came in 1810, and established a tannery near the corner of West First and Cancer (Bridge) streets, the first institution of that kind in the village. His house was about where the Jefferson block now stands.
The brothers Eli and Moses Stevens about the same time set up in business, the first as a shoemaker and the second as a hatter. The afterwards-celebrated author, James Fenimore Cooper, was then a rollicking young mid- shipman on board the "Oneida," making frequent visits to Oswego, and being a hail-fellow with all its younger
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
population. He is credited with the production of the following distich, descriptive of the occupations of the two Stevens brothers :
Upon Meses and Eli All the people may rely For shoes and for hats that will stand the worst weather; What with boots and with felt They will use up the pelt, And to two-legged calves sell the quadruped's leather.
On the 5th of April, 1811, the name of Fredericksburg was changed to Volney, and on the same day the town of Scriba was taken off. Thus the territory of the present city was divided between Scriba, in Oneida county, and Hannibal, in Onondaga county.
It is hard to realize, in these days of compact organiza- tion and swift police, that fifty odd years ago the two parts ยท of Oswego were separated by a jurisdictional line which was almost impassable. Young Joel Tyler, though only nine years old, was now intrusted with the management of the ferry, while his father was out on the lake in command of the schooner " Eagle." When a pedestrian wanted to cross, the youngster could put him over in a skiff, but when a horseman or a wagon came, the hired man was called from his work to manage the unwieldy scow. One day Joel heard from the Scriba side a halloo announcing that a foot- man wanted to cross the stream. The skiff being taken over, the passenger, who seemed to be in a great hurry, stepped in, and Joel turned his prow westward. When he was about a third of the way across, a horseman came galloping up to the eastern shore, and shouted to the boy to return.
" No, no; go on," said the passenger.
" Come back ! come back, I say !" yelled the man on shore.
"Go ahead, go ahead," growled the fellow in the boat.
"Come back, you young rascal, or I'll shoot you !" cried the pursuer, taking a pistol from his holster.
" Pull for your life, you little devil, or I'll drown you !" exclaimed the runaway, rolling up his sleeves and preparing for instant action.
Terrified beyond measure at these contradictory threats, the boy yet thought that the nearest danger was the greatest, and bent to his oars with all his might. The sheriff, for such the pursuer was, did not fire, the fugitive gained the Onondaga shore, plunged into the forest, and was out of reach long before the officer could get new papers to give him jurisdiction in that county.
William Dolloway, who came in 1811, was the first man who had a store of much consequence, separate from the forwarding business. It was near the corner of West First and Taurus ( Bridge) streets, and the owner's residence, just above the last street, was the farthest south of any house in the village. The nearest house above that point was one built by Mr. Wentworth for the use of the boat- men whom he employed, and which stood on lands still owned by the State, as was the case with all the land above Mohawk street. Long afterwards Mr. Wentworth bought from the State the tract of land which he had improved, and his son now lives there. That son, by the way, who was born in 1810, is, so far as we can discover, the oldest
male, and next to Mrs. Goodell is the oldest person, born in Oswego and now residing there.
Just above Wentworth's house was the farm and resi- dence of Daniel Burt, Sr., to which he had removed after he gave up the ferry, and which was situated on military lot No. 7. The Wentworth house was fitted up in 1811, and rented to Judge Nathan Sage, known as Captain Sage to the carly settlers of Redfield, who came from that place to Oswego and was appointed collector of the port. His commission was dated June 12, 1811.
Oswego being shut up by itself, with little communication with the rest of the world, many of the men, in default of other recreation, devoted a good deal of time to playing practical jokes on each other. Judge Sage was a some- what stately old gentleman, of fine appearance and de- liberate movements, and the young fellows about town thought he would be a good subject for some of their pranks. Every morning he was in the habit of setting forth from his residence, neatly dressed, with a cane in his hand, and walking down to the foot of First street, where his office was situated.
One morning, shortly after his appointment as collector, the judge was marching with his usual deliberation down the road towards the village, but he had not gone far from his house when he saw a young man of his acquaintance apparently working by the roadside with an axe.
" Good-morning, judge," said the axeman.
" Good-morning, sir," politely responded the official.
" Fine morning."
" Very fine," said the judge.
" But looks some like rain."
" Yes, it does a little," and Mr. Sage started forward. After he had gone a few yards the man called out,-
" By the way, judge,"-the latter halted and turned around,-" can you tell me where young Stevens, the hatter, boards ?"
" Well, no, I can't; he hasn't been here a great while, you know. I have had no especial business with him. I presume you can easily ascertain, however."
" I presume so," said the man, and the judge resumed his walk. Some forty rods farther down he met Dr. Coe, with a rifle on his shoulder and equipped for a hunting ex- cursion.
" Good-morning, judge."
" Good-morning, doctor. After the deer, eh ?"
" Well, yes ; I thought I would try them a few hours," replied the young Esculapius.
" It's a fine day for sport," said the worthy collector, " if it doesn't rain. I wish you every success."
"'Thank you, judge ;" and the two men moved in opposite directions.
" Ah, excuse me," exclaimed the doctor, after they were two or three rods apart, "there is a question I wanted to ask you, which I had almost forgotten. Can you tell me where young Stevens, the hatter, boards ?"
" Well, now, that's curious," said the judge, halting. " Mr. B., up here, asked me the same question. What's the matter. Has Stevens beon doing anything out of the way ?"
" Oh, no, not at all," replied the doctor; " I happened to
HON. ALVIN BRONSON.
The fortunes of this gentleman were for forty years so closely connected with those of Oswego County and city, and he is so often mentioned in other parts of this work, that all which is needful in this sketch is to give some per- sonal details, and advert to some circumstances not set forth in the general history.
Alvin Bronson was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, May 19, 1783. After spending his boyhood on a farm, and his youth as a clerk, he became a merchant at the age of eighteen, and has been engaged in some department of the mercantile business ever since; that is to say, during a period of seventy-six years! After nine years of successful merchandising, during which he built two vessels and made several voyages by sea, Mr. Bronson came to Oswego in 1810, and engaged in the lake trade as one of the firm of Bronson, Townsend & Co. Of his connection with the early commerce of Oswego, and of the part he took in the war of 1812, sufficient has been said in the general history of the county and city.
In October, 1815, Mr. Bronson married Mary, the youngest daughter of Captain Edward O'Connor, also promi- nent in the early history of Oswego. By that lady, now deceased, he had one son and two daughters. After carry- ing on a large part of the commerce of the lakes for seven years after the war, the firm of Bronson, Townsend & Co. was dissolved in 1822. That year Mr. Bronson was elected to the State senate, and drew a term of two years. We
have mentioned in the general history the exertions he made in behalf of the Oswego canal, and his connection with the celebrated " seventeen," of whom, and of the senate of that day, he is now the sole survivor ; the late Heman J. Redfield, who died a few weeks since, having been the last preceding one. Mr. Bronson was also conspicuous as an advocate of free-trade views, which were then very un- popular.
In 1829 he was again elected to the senate, where he served four years as chairman of one of the most important committees,-that of finance. Many able reports written by him attest his ability, though he was never a seeker after popularity, and was frequently in a small minority. About 1830, Mr. Bronson went into partnership with the late Lemuel B. Crocker, in the forwarding business, and the firm of Bronson & Crocker continued for twenty-five years, weathering all the storms which at times swept over the commercial world. Mr. Bronson was the first president of the Oswego board of trade, in 1848. Since then he has confined himself mostly to his private business, though he has occasionally found time to write an able article in aid of the commercial interests of the city of his choice. The firm of Alvin Bronson & Co. still exists, though Mr. Bron- son has gradually given up the management of its business to others, as well he may, considering that over ninety-four years have passed over the head of this honored patriarch of Oswego.
ALITTLE
SYLVESTER DOOLITTLE
was born at Whitestown, now Whitesboro', Oneida county, State of New York, on the 11th of January, 1800. His parents were from Connecticut. He learned the business of ship-carpenter at Sodus Point, Wayne county, New York. In 1822 he removed to Rochester, and there built the first boat that went through the canal to Albany. From there he removed to Utica, and was engaged in building packets for the Erie canal before the railroads were con- structed. Here he built and took to New York the first lake-boat ever made, and laid the foundation of the through freight trade by canal-boats to that city. After the railroads were built and the packet business destroyed, through the in- fluence of Abram Varick, Mr. Doolittle removed to Oswego, New York, in the fall of 1836. Here he built three or four vessels and improved the carrying capacity of the lake craft. Having learned of the new invention of Mr. Ericsson, in adapting the screw to the propulsion of vessels, and because side-wheel steamers could not go through the Welland canal, Mr. D. constructed, by the consent of Mr. Ericsson, the first screw propeller ever used for transportation of freight and passengers, thus establishing the feasibility
of the screw as a motive power in marine architecture. He also built one of the first large mills in Oswego, introducing many improvements in handling grain and making flour, assisting by these improvements the reputation of the Os- wego mills and character of the flour manufactured at that place.
Having given up ship-building, he engaged in the busi- ness of forwarding from New York to the west, and in milling. About this time he built the block known as the Doolittle block, and Doolittle hall, the chief place for exhi- bitions in the city. While engaged in deepening the chan- nel of the river a mineral spring was discovered boiling up through the rock on the then dry bottom of the river. He traced the stream ashore on his property, and after a large expense, with much labor, he secured what is now known as the Deep Rock spring. Over this he built the Doolittle House, one of the largest and handsomest hotels in western New York.
In the year 1829 Mr. Doolittle married Miss Catherine Gould, of Utica, daughter of Samuel Gould, Esq. There was no issue from this marriage.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
think that I didn't know where he boarded, and I didn't know but you did."
" Well, no, I don't," said the old gentleman. " He hasn't been here but a little while, you know, and I have had no particular business with him. I presume, however, you will have no difficulty in ascertaining his place of abode."
" Oh, certainly not ; excuse my troubling you. Good- morning, judge."
" No trouble at all; good-morning;" and the two men went on their separate ways, the judge wondering as he walked at the sudden interest manifested in " young Stevens, the hatter." Sixty rods farther along he saw another young man, just turning off from the road towards the river, with a fish-pole in his hand.
" Good-morning, judge."
" Good-morning," responded Sage; " the fish are bound to suffer now, I suppose."
" Well, yes, I think it is a pretty good day for fishing; and if it should rain a little it would do no hurt. By the by, judge," hastily continued the speaker, stepping back a few paces out of the underbrush, " do you happen to know the boarding-place of young Stevens, the hatter ?"
A light suddenly broke on the mind of the puzzled official.
" You infernal rascal !" he roared, shaking his cane at the offender, " if I had you here I would teach you to play your jokes on a man of my age and position. This is all that rascal Coe's work. I know him ; I'd like to break this cane over his head." And the judge strode rapidly towards the village, muttering anathemas on all the impertinent young seamps in Oswego, and especially on Dr. Coe, whom he rightly concluded to be the chief engineer of this elabo- rate jest.
He was just entering the village when a steady-going old ship-captain came out of his house, who was in a quandary as to the proper action to be taken regarding some goods which he was about to ship.
" Good-morning, judge," he exelaimed at sight of the col- lector, " glad to see you ; I wanted to ask you a question. Can you tell me-"
" Oh, you're another of the scoundrels, are you ?" shrieked the judge, his anger now at white heat, hurling his cane at the astonished son of Neptune, and then rushing towards him with clenched fists, while the latter hastily beat a retreat within his domicile. "I'll teach you to impose on me in this way. I'll break your rascally head for you, if I have to wait half a day for you to come out."
It was only through the intervention of his wife that the seaman finally made it manifest that his question was a legitimate one, and had nothing to do with the whereabouts of " young Stevens, the hatter."
For many weeks the conspirators, and especially Dr Coe, wisely kept out of reach of the judge's cane, but at length his wrath was placated, being only occasionally renewed when some saucy boy would inquire, in his hearing, of a comrade, if the latter could tell where " young Stevens, the hatter, took his meals."
Time passed on, and even the boys ecased to bother the judge. The war of 1812, with its years of excitement and terror, blotted from most men's minds the memory of less
important events. Some time after its close the people of Oswego, still debarred from the more exciting kinds of amusement, determined on a grand concert, to be held one winter afternoon and evening at the school-house, to which the people from all the country round should be invited. A good leader was provided, and all the best singers of the vicinity were duly drilled in the good old tunes of those early days.
No one entered more heartily into the project than Dr. Coe, then a rising physician, with an interesting family. Those of the country people who had acquaintances in the viHage generally received invitations to pass the night with some friendly family. Deacon Mann, however, who had lately settled on the river, several miles up, was almost entirely un- acquainted in Oswego. Two or three days before the con- cert he received a polite note from Dr. Coe, whom he had never met, saying that he, the doctor, was aware that the deacon was a stranger in Oswego, and might be embarrassed in finding accommodations on the night of the concert. He was, however, continued the note, well known to the writer by reputation, and the latter, therefore, took the liberty of inviting Mr. and Mrs. Mann and family to make their home at his house the day and evening of the concert ; com- ing to dinner and staying overnight.
The worthy deacon was well pleased with this courtesy, and on the appointed day hitched his oxen to his sled, took his family on board, drove down to Oswego, and stopped at Dr. Coe's house. Making himself known to the doetor, he said,-
" I received your letter, doctor, and am very glad to avail myself of it, and very much obliged to you for your kind- ness."
" My letter ?" queried the surprised physician.
" Why, yes," replied the deacon; "the letter you sent inviting us to stay with you to-day and to-night and attend the concert." The doctor saw at once that a fraud had been perpetrated, but was polite enough to conceal the fact.
" Oh, yes, certainly," he said, " you refer to that letter ; I was thinking of something else. Come right in and make yourselves at home." This invitation was duly honored ; the deacon and his family attended the concert, and the next morning left for home, highly pleased with the doctor's hospitality.
Then the latter began figuring. to find out who had " put up the job" on him. As there was only a weekly mail, and there had been none up the river for several days, he knew that the letter had been sent by hand, and before the deacon left his host ascertained who delivered the missive to him. Immediately after the departure of his guests, the doctor sought out the person named, who was a well- known resident of Oswego, and began his investigations.
" Did you deliver a letter to Deacon Mann, up the river, two or three days ago ?"
" A letter to Deacon Mann ?" queried the individual ad- dressed, assuming a thoughtful expression ; " let me see ; I have been so busy about this concert that I hardly recollect, but it seems to me I did give the deacon a letter,-yes, I am sure I did."
" Who gave it to you ?"
The man scratched his head and thought and hum'd
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and ha'd a long time, but finally made up his mind that Mr. B. was the person who had given him the epistle in question. Dr. Coe hied to Mr. B., and repeated his inter- rogatory. The latter had also great difficulty in recollecting the circumstance, but finally brought it to mind, and was sure that Captain C. had given him the letter. Captain C., after the due amount of head-scratching and hard think- ing, remembered that Squire D. had handed him the missive, giving at the same time a plausible reason for not delivering it himself. Thus the doctor was sent to some half-dozen of the principal residents of the village, and last of all to Judge Sage. .
" Now," said Coe to himself, " I shall know the facts in this business ; the judge is a straightforward old fellow, and will tell what he knows without any fuss." Arriving at Sage's office, he put his question without any preliminaries.
" A letter to Deacon Mann ?" queried the old gentleman, scratching his head and rolling his eyes ; " why, yes, it seems to me I gave such a letter to Mr. G. about Wednesday or Thursday,-yes, I am quite sure I did."
" Well, where did you get it ?" snapped the doctor, by this time thoroughly out of patience.
" H'm ; now, really, Doctor Coe, I don't know where I did get that letter ; but, now I think of it, there is a question I would like to ask you : can you tell me where young Stevens, the hatter, boards ?"
The doctor had a sudden illumination from " the light of other days;" he perceived that the persons of slow recollee- tion, whom he had been hunting up and questioning during the better part of a winter day, had all had their cue, and he returned with rapid footsteps to the seclusion of his own domicile.
To return to Oswego before the war. At this time Water street was a mere lane, which did not go south of Gemini (Cayuga) street. It was kept open without legal authority, by general consent, and after twenty years' use attained the dignity of a public highway, being finally opened through as far as Oneida street. There was a bluff near the river below Cancer (Bridge) street as well as above it, and back of the bluff' was a hollow. Near where the Normal-school boarding-house now is there was frequently quite a little pond of water, which the boys used for sliding and skating.
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