History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

Author: Johnson, Crisfield. cn
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 798


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 40


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The first board of trustees was constituted as follows, viz. : Males : Hamilton Murray, Luther Wright, James Bickford, Moses P. Hatch, Simeon Bates, Samuel B. Ludlow, John B. Edwards, Gilbert Mollison, Patrick H. Hard, Robert F. Childs. Females : Margaret MeWhorter, Elizabeth M. Grant, Catharine C. Marsh, Lois Ann Allen, Elizabeth P. Fisher, Ann C. Crocker, Elizabeth Bond, Emily D. Har- mon, Emily Allen, and Mrs. Allen Mead.


The certificate of incorporation was executed before Hon. O. J. Harmon, then recorder of the city, and received the approbation of Hon. W. F. Allen, then a justice of the supreme court, now associate judge of the court of appeals of this State.


The first meeting of the corporation was held at the re- corder's office in the city hall, February 27, 1852, and was followed by a series of meetings with short intervals, at which the organization was gathered up and compacted into working order.


A small building was rented on the east side of West Sixth street, and was continuously occupied till the removal to the new edifice four years later.


On the 1st of June, 1852, Miss Tabbs volunteered to become the regular teacher, and Miss Mary T. Condit to superintend the San lay-school, and so the skeleton organ- ization began to put on its comely proportions.


So strong was the faith of the managers in the ultimate success of the enterprise that they ventured to purchase a lot of two acres for two thousand dollars, and proceeded at once to the erection of the fine and substantial building that now looks down from its eminence upon the city of Oswego.


On the 15th of April, 1856, under the care of Mr.


Richard Perkins as builder, and Z. D. Stevens as architect, the building was to be completed, and on the Ist of May it was ready for the reception of the children, and soon the managers found the number of children had increased from seven to seventy-four.


At the close of this year they found the asylum in debt four thousand five hundred and fifty-one dollars and ninety- six cents, and the building yet unfurnished. The people at onee manifested a deep interest in the matter, and the building was rapidly furnished by individual contributions. The school-room was furnished by the children of the public schools, and nobly did they perform the task.


The asylum is now in a prosperous condition, and refleets great eredit upon its humane progenitors and those through whose efforts it has been sustained and fostered.


Of the twenty original corporators, six are dead, -- Mr. Murray, Dr. Hard, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Fisher, Mrs. Bond, and Mrs. Crocker.


Of those whose signatures appear to the papers of incor- poration, George Fisher, Jacob I. Fort, J. C. llugunin, Henry Eagle, P. Parsons, and James Brown are dead.


The present officers, trustees, and directresses, are as fol- lows: Hon. O. J. Harmon, president ; Gilbert Mollison, secretary ; O. II. Hastings, treasurer. Trustees, T. Kings- ford, J. K. Post, Luther Wright, Jas. Bickford, G. B. Sloau, J. B. Edwards, A. C. Mattoon, O. H. Hastings, S. Bates, and M. Worts. Directresses, Mrs. Wright, Wheeler, Isaacs, Mollison, Pardee, Lathrop, Page, Root, and Kloek.


HOME FOR THE HOMELESS.


The movement which culminated in the founding of this humane institution was started by a number of the ladies of Oswego, in the month of February, 1872. In the follow- ing May a building was rented for the use of the home, and was occupied until the present building was erected.


The institution was incorporated May 3, 1875, and the following persons were named in the charter: Ozro M. Bond, Theo. Irwin, Thomson Kingsford, George B. Sloan, Simcon Bates, Delos De Wolf, Samuel B. Johnson, Isaac G. Jen- kins, Benjamin Hagaman, Benjamin Doolittle, Alanson S. Page, George Goodier, Maunister Worts.


The following-named persons comprised the first board of directors : Mrs. Cheney Ames, Mrs. James Brown, Mrs. L. A. Card, Mrs. J. C. Churchill, Mrs. Crossman,* Mrs. D. De Wolf, Mrs. B. Doolittle, Mrs. A. H. Failing, Mrs. G. Goodier, Mrs. Wm. Goit, Mrs. E. C. Hart, Mrs. T. Irwin, Mrs. S. B. Johnson, Mrs. M. Kingsford, Mrs. T. Kings- ford, Mrs. D. C. Littlejohn, f Mrs. John E. Lyon, Mrs. T. S. Mott, Mrs. J. J. Mack, Mrs. R. Oliver, Mrs. J. K. Post, Mrs. W. A. Poucher, Mrs. W. A. Rundell, Mrs. S. Ran- dall, Mrs. M. B. Underwood, Mrs. M. C. Worts, Mrs. Young.


President, Mrs. T. Irwin; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. C. Ames, Mrs. J. C. Churchill, Mrs. D. De Wolf, Mrs. Wm. Goit, Mrs. Goodier, Mrs. T. Kingsford, Mrs. J. K. Post, Mrs. M. C. Worts. Mrs. M. B. Underwood, treasurer ; Mrs.


Resigned. Mrs. Smalley elected to fill vacancy.


t Deceased. Mrs. Isaacs elecled to fill vacancy.


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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.


J. E. Lyon, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. W. A. Poucher, recording secretary.


The present building was erected in 1876 at a cost of twenty thousand dollars, and was under the supervision of the following building committee: Theodore Irwin, Delos De Wolf, Thomson Kingsford, Simeon Bates, and George Goodier. It is a neat and substantial briek structure, located on the corner of East First and Utica streets. The home is now in a prosperous condition, and much credit is due to those public-spirited ladies through whose indefatigable efforts it was founded.


The board of directors for 1877 are as follows : Mrs. Irwin, Mrs. Failing, Mrs. Lyon, Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. Whet- more, Mrs. M. E. Kingsford, Mrs. T. Kingsford, Mrs. Wilber, Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. B. Doolittle, Mrs. M. Worts, Mrs. Card, Mrs. McChesney, Mrs. Mary Underwood, Mrs. Rhoder, Mrs. Randall, Mrs. Hart, Mrs. De Wolf, Mrs. Isaaes, Mrs. Goodier, Mrs. Woodruff, Mrs. Couch, Miss Newkirk, Mrs. Perham, Mrs. Sloan, Mrs. Hull.


HISTORY OF OSWEGO CHURCHES. Arranged according to the time of their organization. THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.


The First Presbyterian church was organized Novem- ber 21, 1816, with seventeen members, viz., Sylvanus Bishop, Abraham Clark, Rachel Bishop, Jeanette Clark, Mary Hugunin, Christine Conner, Hannah Smith, Lois Brace, Catherine Shafely, Mary Cooley, Sarah Buel, Martha Minor, Catherine Dubois, Nancy Clarke, Lucretia Walradt, Hannah Hall, and Mary Coates. Sylvanus Bishop and Abraham Clark were chosen ruling elders.


This was the first religious organization in the city. The society was incorporated in 1824. The church worshiped from 1816 till 1825 in the school-house on the southwest corner of West Second and Seneca streets, which served for school house, church, and court-house for several years. The first church building erected in Oswego was built by this society in 1825, nearly in the centre of the public square, on the west side of the river. It was fifty-four by eighty feet, and cost about six thousand dollars. Twenty feet were added to its length in 1841. On the night of October 24, 1841, it was destroyed by fire. This was the work of an incendiary, for whose apprehension and convic- tion the trustees of the village in vain offered a reward of seven hundred and fifty dollars.


The society now worship in a substantial stone church on the corner of West Fourth and Bridge streets. It cost ten thousand five hundred dollars; the chapel connected with it three thousand five hundred dollars. A parsonage is being erected between the chapel and West Fifth street.


For eight years missionaries and neighboring ministers supplied the preaching. In 1825 the Rev. James Abell was ordained and installed as the first pastor. He resigned in 1830. The Rev. Robert Condit was installed as pastor in 1831, and remained in that position for forty years. The Rev. James A. Worden was installed as colleague to Dr. Condit in 1866, and resigned a few months after Dr. Con- dit's death, which occurred February 12, 1871. . The Rev. David Tully is the present pastor, who succeeded Mr.


Worden June 16, 1872. The first superintendent of the Sabbath-school was Edwin W. Clarke. The present mem- bership of the Sunday-school is three hundred and forty, and the number of volumes in the library is twelve hundred.


During this year (1877) a beautiful white marble tablet in memory of the Rev. Dr. Cendit has been placed in the church by his friends, bearing the following inscription : " In memory of Rev. Robert W. Condit, D.D., for forty years the beloved pastor of this church, who entered into rest February 12, 1871, aged seventy-five years. ‘He being dead yet speaketh.'-Ilebrews xi. 4."


CHRIST CHURCH (EPISCOPAL).


This parish was organized on the 26th day of February, 1822, in a school-house on the west side of the Oswego river, in what was then the little village of Oswego.


The Rev. Amos Pardee, a missionary of the church, presided at the meeting, which resulted in the choice of the following persons as wardens and vestrymen : James Bill and William Dolloway, wardens ; John Moore, Jr., Theo- philus S. Morgan, Thaddeus Clark, Thomas Collins, Eleazer Perry, Nathaniel Farnham, Robert Cooley, M. P. Hatch, vestrymen.


Occasional services were held in the school-house in which the church was organized, in connection with services at other missionary stations in the neighborhood. At the expiration of the first year Mr. Pardee was transferred to another field of labor. He was not succeeded by any regular missionary until 1826. Occasional services were, however, maintained during the interval by lay reading. Mr. Bill, the senior warden, was appointed a lay reader by Bishop Hobart. In November, 1826, Rev. John McCarty was appointed missionary for this county and parts of On- ondaga. He reports that for three years the services of the church had been entirely suspended. There were, in 1826, eleven communicants of the church, whose names are as fol- lows : James Cochran and Catharine V. R. his wife, Robert Cooley and Electa his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Banner, Mrs. McHugh, Mrs. Mary Ingrain, Mrs. Charlotte M. Eagle, Mr. Robert Dwyer and his wife, and Mrs. White.


The corner-stone of a new stone church, called Christ church, of Oswego, was laid by Rev. Mr. McCarty on the 9th day of May, 1828, with appropriate religious services ; the Rev. Dr. Rudd, of Auburn, being present and assist- ing. It continued to be a missionary parish until the year 1835.


The debt of three thousand dollars contracted for the building of the church was paid by the aid of a gift from Trinity church, in the city of New York, of one thousand dollars. From this date the church has been self-support- ing. The church building was consecrated to its holy pur- poses on the 25th day of January, 1829, having been finished within the short space of nine months from the laying of the corner-stone. Its dimensions were seventy by fifty-two feet. Its capacity was about four hundred persons. The number of communicants at that time was ninety-one. The number of communieants in the parish when Mr. MeCarty left it, in 1845, was the same as it had been ten years before. Rev. John S. Davenport became the rector of the parish in August, 1845, upon the resig-


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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.


nation of Rev. John McCarty. During the year 1850 the parish of the Evangelists was formed from this parish, and during the next two years the ercetion of a stone church edifice was begun upon the east side, which was opened for services in December, 1852.


Upon the resignation of Mr. Davenport in 1852, the Rev. Anthony Selmyler was called to the rectorship. It was decided in 1853 to erect a new church. In August, 1854, the ground was broken, and the foundation of the new edifice was laid. The corner-stone was laid with ap- propriate ceremonies upon the 12th day of October, 1854, by the Rev. W. B. Ashley, rector of St. Paul's church, Syracuse. The church was opened for divine services upon the 1st day of January, 1857. The number of communi- cants at that time was one hundred and thirty-two. The cost of the church building was thirteen thousand dollars. In 1857 the old church building, which had for several years been used for a school-house, was sold for two thou- sand dollars to the Methodist society. In 1858 a wooden chapel was built by the society for a school and lecture- room. This building was built by funds which were raised by contribution.


The old church building, after having been used for three years by the Methodists, was, upon the disorganization of that society, re-transferred to the Christ church. It was left unoccupied, and fell considerably out of repair, and was finally destroyed by fire upon the 7th day of January, 1862. The church received the benefit of its insurance to the amount of fifteen hundred dollars ; a like sum was raised by subscription, and the amount was applied to pay off the debt of the church. The debt of the church was thereby reduced to about seven thousand dollars. The Rev. An- thony Schuyler resigned the reetorship of the parish in Ocober, 1862. In March, 1863, the Rev. Amos B. Bush, D.D., entered upon the duties of rector. In 1865 an effort was made to relieve the parish from its mortgage debt by voluntary contribution, and upon the 29th day of April the sum of six thousand dollars was raised for that purpose. In April, 1865, the Rev. Amos B. Beach was instituted by Bishop Cox into the rectorship of the parish.


THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.


As early as 1812 occasional Methodist services were held in private houses in Oswego. In 1816 a elass of three members was organized with Mrs. Catherine Hawley as leader, and Oswego was included in Sandy Creek circuit, Oneida distriet, with George Gary, Luther Bishop, and Enoch Barnes as preachers, and Charles Giles as presiding elder. Services were for the most part held at Mrs. Haw- ley's house, occasionally in private rooms in other parts of the village, until a room or hall near what is now the corner of Third and Schuyler streets was fitted up and used in common by several denominations. James Hazen with Amos Perry, C. Lambert with T. Dixon, succeeded the first preachers. In 1819 Oswego circuit was formed, with Na- thaniel Reeder as preacher, followed by C. Lambert, J. P. Aylesworth, Orin Foot, Truman Dixon, Alexander Irvine, J. B. Roach, George W. Densmore, and W. W. Ninde, in the order named.


Iu 1827, under the pastorate of J. B. Roach, the first


Methodist Episcopal church of Oswego was legally ineor- porated, with Webster S. Steele, David C. Knapp, Asahel Hawley, Robert Dwyer, and William Matchett as trustees. In 1829 Oswego was made a station, and John Sayer ap- pointed preacher. During this year the society built a chapel on the corner of what is now West Fifth and Cayuga streets, on ground now included in the West Oswego park. Then S. Bibbins, E. Wheeler, N. Salisbury, A. D. Peck, W. W. Ninde, B. Phillips, John Soveys, C. L. Dunning, I. L. IIunt, Charles Giles, J. Alley, and II. E. Chapin served this church as pastors in the order named. There was but one society and but one place of worship until 1848, when the society was divided by common consent according to location (the Oswego river being the dividing line), and the East Methodist Episcopal church was organ- ized and incorporated, and G. G. Hapgood was appointed to the charge of the First church. In 1849 the chapel, which was owned in common by the two societies, was burned, and during the year following, under the pas- torate of Almon Chapin, the First Methodist Episcopal society ereeted their present house of worship on the corner of West Fourth and Oneida streets; since which C. L. Dunning, L. D. White, N. Salisbury, O. M. Legate, R. Reynolds, M. D. Gillette, C. L. Dunning, N. G. Axtell, Wesley Mason, J. B. Foote, James Erwin, J. Fletcher Clymer, E. C. Curtis, Frank J. Jewell, E. Horr, Jr., and W. F. Hemingway have served as pastors.


In 1866, during the pastorate of James Erwin, Wesley chapel, on the corner of Fifth and Tolman streets, was built, and has since been occupied by the First Methodist Episcopal church as a mission chapel, maintaining a Sab- bath-school, regular social worship, and occasional preaching services.


The church is at present served by Rev. W. F. Mark- ham as pastor. The board of trustees are James Bickford, Mannister Worts, Chester Penfield, George Goble, Hiram Klock, Argalus J. Hopkins, Charles W. Farnham, William G. Call, and James McCarthy. The present membership of the church is two hundred and fifty. Her Sabbath- schools have about four hundred scholars, and are superin- tended by Mannister Worts.


To no one person does this church and Methodism in Oswego owe more than to Mrs. Catharine Hawley, who by her energy and zeal procured the organization of a society, and watched over it with a mother's care and devotion, until called to the church triumphant in the summer of 1872. Her name is fragrant with precious memories.


THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCHI.


This church was organized March 13, 1828, with eleven members. These were Amos G. Currey, Elijah S. Stock- well, William Burt, Mrs. William Burt, Walter Read, Mrs. Walter Read, Mrs. William L. Beebe, George Cyrenius, Mrs. George Cyrenius, Samuel B. Morrow, Miss Lydia Morrow.


Rev. John C. Harrison was called soon thereafter, and became the first pastor. Meetings were statedly held in the public school-house on the west side of the river, and here, on the 17th day of June, the formal organization of the society was perfected by the election of the following


162


IIISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.


board of trustees, under the corporate name of " The First Baptist Society of the Village of Oswego": George W. Burt, William L. Beebe, Nathaniel Vilas, Jr., Oziel Davis, Joseph Turner, Horatio N. Goodell.


Near the close of the year 1828 the place of meeting was transferred to the court-house in East Oswego. In May, 1831, the president of the village board of trustees was authorized by the board, in pursuance of a general plan previously adopted, to execute to the trustees of the First Baptist church a lease, for the term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, of the west half of block 102, being the public square in East Oswego, as a site for a house of worship. The church immediately commenced the work. The house was located on the southwest corner of the block fronting the square, was forty-four by sixty feet, and built of wood. The frame was erected and inclosed during the season of 1831, and early in the following summer the house was completed and dedicated. The entire cost was something over five thousand dollars.


To the new house the church at once removed, and have continued to worship there until the present time. In 1846 the house was repaired and improved at a cost of about eleven hundred dollars, and in 1865-66 it was raised, a commodious basement finished, and the entire house greatly improved, the cost being about four thousand dollars.


In the year 1853 the West Baptist church was organ- ized, and drew away a considerable number of the members. The present membership of the First Baptist church num- bers two hundred and seventy-five.


The following list comprises all the pastors who have served the church since its organization. The dates oppo- site each are believed to be mainly correct, though, on ac- count of the loss and imperfection of records, this is not, in some cases, absolutely certain :


John C. Harrison, 1828-30; Jason Lothrop, 1830-33; John Waterman, 1834-35; E. Savage, 1835-37 ; William Hutchinson, 1837-42; Isaac Lawton, 1842-44; Isaac Butterfield, 1846-53; W. W. Moore, 1853-55; David McFarland, 1855-59 ; M. R. Forey, 1860-62; L. M. S. Haynes, 1863-68; Lester Williams, Jr., 1869-72; Har- vey R. Traver, 1873-77.


During the absence of the pastor, in the year 1865, the pulpit was supplied for six months by Rev. M. B. Com- fort. At this date the church is without a settled pastor, but has been supplied since April, 1877, by George B. Stevens, of the senior class of the University of Rochester.


The Sunday-school was organized under the superin- tendency of Rev. J. C. Harrison in 1828. For more than twenty years the school has been under the care of its present superintendent, Deacon John C. Bradt. The num- ber of pupils enrolled during the year 1877 is one hundred and sixty-six.


ST. PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH.


The first steps towards the organization of the Catholic congregation of St. Paul's church of Oswego were taken about the year 1830. The late Mr. Peter Lappin, and some sixteen others, the only Catholic residents at the time iu the place, finding that means enough could be raised


among themselves to defray the traveling expenses of a clergyman, wrote to the Rev. Mr. Donahoe, who at the time had charge of Auburn, Rome, and other villages of central New York, and invited him to visit Oswego. In ac- cordance with their request, he began visiting Oswego every three months to hold divine services. The first service was held in a private house on the west side of the river.


Shortly after this, a lot on the corner of East Mohawk and Fifth streets (the one upon which St. Paul's church Dow stands) was purchased from the late Hon. Gerrit Smith ; and upon it was erected a small frame building, twenty by twenty-four feet in size, and one story high, to serve as a church.


This for a number of years was sufficiently large to accommodate the Catholics of Oswego. In time, however, more room was required ; and an addition was made to the building. Even thus enlarged, it became too small for the increasing Catholic population, and the congregation, though still comparatively few in number and poor in means, resolved to erect a more commodious and befitting edifice.


The corner-stone of a substantial stone building, fifty- five by one hundred feet, was laid about the year 1840, and during the pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr. Rogers the walls were erected and the roof put on. In 1844, during the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Kenney, the building was completed. It served the congregation until 1871.


Between the years 1850 and 1868, under the supervision of the Rev. Mr. Kelly, the large and commodious three-story brick school-house, adjoining the church, was erected. In 1871 the old church was pulled down, and the present one erected in its stead. This edifice, including the vestry in the rear, is two hundred feet in length and seventy-six in width, and will seat two thousand five hundred people.


From the congregation of St. Paul's have branched off the four other flourishing Catholic congregations of the city. Yet St. Paul's, numbering some two thousand communicants, and sustaining a first-class parochial school, attended by between six and seven hundred children, is in a very pros- perous condition. The girls are taught by the Sisters of St. Ann; the boys are under the charge of the pastor and five lay teachers.


The first pastor of St. Paul's was the Rev. Mr. O'Donahoe. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Rogers, he by the Rev. Mr. Kenney, and later, in 1850, by the Rev. Michael Kelly. Mr. Kelly was the pastor, except during an intermission of a few months, until October, 1869, when the present incum- bent, Rev. Michael Barry, was appointed.


THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH


was organized in 1847, under the jurisdiction of the New York annual conference, at which time the Rt. Rev. Wm. P. Quinn was presiding bishop of the New York confereucc. The church was organized with thirty-seven members. The following are the names of those who have been appointed pastors :


Revs. J. Henson, L. S. Lewis, Wm. II. Ross, L. S. Lewis, A. J. Dudley, E. J. T. Sparrow, R. Cliff, E. T. Thompson, Win. M. Johnson, D. Dorrell, J. S. Leekins, C. Boly, J. W. Cooper, W. N. Bowman, E. R. Davis, W. N. Bowman, J. Frisby, A. J. Dudley, and A. S. Amos, the present incum-


ST PAUL'S CHURCHNº SCHOOL. COR. OF EAST MOHAWK AND FIFTH STREETS. OSWEGO, NEW YORK.


163


HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.


bent. The present board of trustees are J. II. Pomppaugh, William Thomas, F. Causer. The present membership of the church is twenty-seven.


EAST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.


The East Methodist Episcopal church, of Oswego, was formed by the division of the original Methodist society. It was organized May 25, 1848, the roll embracing one hundred and sixty-one names. The first pastor was Rev. Arza J. Phelps, and the first officers were as follows :


Local Preachers, Revs. Warren Allen and H. Colburn ; Class-Leaders, Russell Watson, Lyman Ferguson, J. H. Dow, J. B. Edwards, Martin Gilbert, Chauncey Whitney ; Stewards, J. B. Edwards, Lyman Ferguson, C. B. Thomp- son, William Curtiss, James Lyon, S. G. Abbott ; Trustees, J. B. Edwards, C. B. Thompson, M. F. Carpenter, James Lyon, Lyman Ferguson, D. Davies, Thomas McIntosh, Wm. Curtiss, N. Williams.


The church edifice on East Fourth, near Bridge street, was erected in 1849, and cost a little more than five thousand dollars.


It was dedicated in March, 1850, the sermon being preached by Rev. Hiram Mattison, D.D.


While the church was in process of erection the congre- gation worshiped in the court-house.


The Sunday-school, which was organized the same year as the church, has had the following succession of superin- tendents : J. B. Edwards, John R. Geer, H. Skeel, C. B. Thompson, Geo. Davies, Geo. Goodier, S. G. Abbott, M. F. Carpenter, W. H. Essex, Geo. Goodier, C. Whitney, N. P. Neal, L. D. White, John R. Geer, Morris Place, C. H. Tread- well, Geo. Goodier.




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