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 44
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PLANING-MILL, Wm. II. Goit & Co., proprietors .- This business was commenced by J. II. and Wm. II. Goi in 1852. The establishment was destroyed by fire in 1853, and rebuilt by same firm. In 1854 the firm
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
changed to Goit & McCollum, and in 1870 the business passed into the hands of the present firm, consisting of Wm. H. Goit and J. K. Post. Employ twenty men. Capacity, twenty-five thousand feet per week.
SASH, DOORS, AND BLINDS .- H. W. Seeber & Bro. are successors of the firm of Seeber & Ormsby. They are ex- tensive builders, and as evidence of their workmanship stand the city hall and armory, two of the finest structures in the city.
WOODRUFF'S SASH AND BLIND MANUFACTORY is located on East Second street, near Cayuga, and is in suc- cessful operation.
OSWEGO PLANING-MILL, O. M. Blanchard, L. S. Blanch- ard, and W. P. Grannis, proprietors .- This establishment was founded in 1869. At the commencement of business the annual product amounted to thirty thousand dollars. It now amounts to one hundred and ten thousand dollars. Employ seventy-five men. This immense establishment uses two million feet of lumber per year, and has a capacity of two hundred doors per day, five hundred pairs of blinds per week, and one hundred windows per day.
THE OSWEGO MALT-HOUSE, Charles W. Pardce, pro- prietor .- This establishment was founded by Root & Ames in 1862, and the business was continued by them until 1864, when it was purchased by John F. Betz, of Phila- delphia, who conducted it until 1874, when it passed into the possession of the present proprietor. Employs eight men. The building is furnished with all the modern im- provements, and has a capacity of seventy-five thousand bushels per year.
KINGSFORD'S STARCH AND THE OSWEGO STARCH-FAC- TORY .- Fifty years ago starch was made chicfly from potatoes and wheat, the latter containing, next to Indian corn, the greater proportion of the desired product. The starch so manufactured, of an inferior quality, was the best then known in the American market.
A change for the better was, however, soon effected by the perseverance of a single man, Thomas Kingsford, a native of England, and discoverer of the present method of extracting starch from maize or Indian corn. He was en- gaged in the manufacture of starch from wheat, but was, for some time before he tried any experiments, satisfied that a much better quality of starch might be obtained.
He began a series of experiments by the use of a combi- nation of chemicals, which resulted in decided improve- ments in the quality of the product. The history of these experiments is interesting. Mr. Kingsford had been made familiar with the use of chemicals while connected with extensive chemical works in England. He had observed the peculiar qualities of our Indian corn when he came to this country, and in 1841 he suggested to starch-makers the practicability of extracting starch from its ripe grain. This idea was treated by other starch-manufacturers as visionary, while to his mind it appeared feasible. It took possession of much of his thoughts, and at the beginning of the year 1842, at his dwelling-house in Jersey City, he commenced a series of experiments to test his theory.
Procuring a small quantity of Indian corn meal, he soaked it for a while, and then washed it through fine sieves, hoping to secure the starch. It remained only In-
dian corn meal. He then obtained some shelled corn, soaked it for several days in the lye of wood-ashes, in order to soften the grain, and sought to reduce the kernels to a pulp by the use of a mortar and pestle. This done he washed out the starch from the other matter, but this was not a success. Then he tried a wood-screw crusher, and by its means, in connection with certain solutions, endeavored to extract pure starch from ripe corn ; in this he also failed. The next mechanical contrivance brought into requisition by him in aid of his experiments was a paint-mill, but with no better results. Then he soaked another quantity of corn, and passed it between the rollers of a rusted sugar- mill, which he borrowed from a grocer, and cleaned as thoroughly as he could, but some remaining rust discolored the starch.
Abandoning this mill, he procured a pair of granite rollers, moved upon shafts in a frame, and by these he re- duced the corn to a clear pulp by repeated passages between the rollers. When he had strained, washed, and settled the starch, by the mode pursued with the product of wheat, he found it so mixed with gluten, albumen, woody fibre, and other matter that he could not separate them.
Mr. Kingsford now tried various kinds of acids, hoping to produce a separation, but without success. Then he made a solution of wood-ash lye, and added it to the mix- ture. That experiment was a failure also, as were some others. Almost discouraged, but still holding on to his faith that superior starch might be procured from Indian corn, he ground another quantity, and treated the mixture with a solution of lime. Again success evaded him. He had thrown the first lot treated with a lye solution into a tub, and to that he added the last lot in the same vessel, and seemed to be at his wits' end. On entering the room, a few days afterwards, to put it in order, he discovered to his great joy and surprise, when he emptied the tub, a quantity of beautiful white starch thoroughly separated.
He was almost overcome by his emotions of delight ; he had discovered the great secret. With zeal and vigor lie pursued experiments, and in the latter part of the year 1842 he procured the first sample of starch from Indian corn fit for market.
There was an unanimous decision in favor of the superi- ority of Mr. Kingsford's starch over that of all other kinds then known to the trade,-a reputation which it has since maintained in this country and beyond the seas.
Whenever, at great exhibitions in America and Europe, Kingsford's starch has been placed on exhibition and in competition by the manufacturers, it has never failed to receive the highest premium as an article of superior merit.
The late Centennial Exhibition, at Philadelphia, was no exception to this general statement, as will appear from the report of the Centennial judges, made at such exhibition, and of which original report the following is an exact copy :
"REPORT OF AWARDS-PRODUCT STARCH. " Name and address of exhibitor. " T. KINGSFORD & SON, Oswego, N. Y.
" The undersigned, having examined the product herein described, respectfully recommend the same to the United States Centennial Commission for award for the following reasons :
FOUNDRY
AND MACHINE SHOP
001M30
" by vbhn -taun, Philad"
THOMAS KINGSFORD.
THOMSON KINGSPORT
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
" They make a fine exhibit of starch, put up in various forme and for different uscs.
" They are the originators of the process used by themselves and several other of the largest maoufacturers for making starch from Iodian corn.
" They are the largest manufacturers and exporters of this produet.
"Their starch shows great purity and strength, and is free from acidity.
" W. C. KERR,
" Signature of the Judgo.
" Approval of Group Judges :
"WM. II. BREWER, "W. S. GREENE, " G. F. SECCHI DE CASALI,
" E. H. VON BAUMHAUER, " II. G. JOLY, " GUIDO MARX, " DR. NICOLAU J. MOREIRA, "JOSEPH F. TOBIAS."
With characteristic energy, perseverance, and sagacity, Mr. Kingsford was, as he had spare time, constantly en- gaged in experimenting upon and studying to improve the methods of starch-making, his attention being more partic- ularly directed to the manufacture of starch from Indian corn, until, fully assured of the great value of his discovery, he determined to utilize the same, and reap the benefit of his labors in this field by applying his knowledge to prac- tical account.
Accordingly, in 1846 he associated with himself his son, Thomson Kingsford, then a young man, who had assisted his father in his experiments, and who was a practical ma- chioist, and under the firm-name of " T. Kingsford & Son" they built a factory in Jersey City, New Jersey, where the manufacture of starch under the new process was success- fully carried on until they removed to Oswego County, New York.
The value of the discovery becoming known to some gentlemen in Auburn, New York, they proposed a connec- tion with the firm in the formation of a capital stock com- pany, and in 1848 the Oswego starch factory was incor- porated under the general manufacturing laws of the State, T. Kingsford & Son, manufacturers.
The site selected for the manufacturing establishment of this company was the western bank of the Oswego river, a short distance above the point where it empties its clear waters into Lake Ontario. Here was an unfailing supply of pure water for manufacturing purposes, and an inex- haustible water-power at all seasons of the year. Here was the thriving city of Oswego, of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, on the border of the lake, possessing rare facilities for the transportation of products to all the markets of the earth by water and railways.
The growth of the business at Oswego has been won- derful. In 1849 the establishment manufactured 1,327,128 pounds of starch ; the next five years, 15,451,404 pounds ; the succeeding five years, 34,757,545 pounds ; the five years next succeeding, 36,109,518 pounds; and the next five years 52,687,478. The next seven years, which ended with 1876, the product was almost 107,500,000 pounds. The total amount produced from 1849 to 1876, inclusive, was 247,833,073 pounds.
The products of the factory during the last years have been at the rate of 21,500,000 pounds of starch annually, or about thirty-five tons a day, being by far the largest
amouut ever produced by any single starch-factory in the world, consuming about one million bushels of Indian corn every year.
To pack this immense produet requires seven hundred thousand pounds of paper and five million feet of lumber for boxes.
There were employed at the beginning sixty-five work- men ; the average number employed for the last five years has been seven hundred and thirty-four; the largest number employed in any one year was ten hundred and fifty-seven.
There were, in 1870, one hundred and ninety-five starch- factories in the United States, employing an aggregate of two thousand and seventy-two persons of both sexes, to whom nearly one million dollars were paid in wages, em- ploying a capital of two million seven hundred and forty- two thousand dollars, using materials valued at about three million nine hundred thousand dollars, and giving a total product worth about six million dollars. It will be seen that the Oswego starch-factory employs one-third of all the workmen in the business.
The dimensions of the main buildings of the Oswego starch-factory, in which the starch is made and packed (and which are constructed in the most substantial manner of stone, brick, and iron), are seven hundred and thirty- three feet front, and extend back to the Oswego river two hundred feet ; some portions of the buildings are seven stories iu height. Besides these edifices, there are others of large dimensions, such as the box-factory, store-houses, machine-shop, carpenter-shop, and other out-buildings. There are twelve acres of floor and five acres of roof; also thirty-eight thousand panes of glass, equal to about the surface of an aere.
The factories contain six hundred and eighty-nine cisterns or vats, bound by over twenty-seven miles of hoop-iron, and containing an aggregate capacity of three million one hun- dred and fifty thousand gallons of water, for the purpose of effectually cleansing the starch from every conceivable im- purity. There are forty-eight pumps, capable of raising eight hundred and fifty thousand gallons of water each hour; six and a quarter miles of gutters for distributing the starch and water; four miles of water-pipes, ranging from two to twenty-four inches in diameter; and thirty- three miles of steam-pipes for drying the starch and heat- ing the works. There are also seven thousand two hundred and forty feet of belting, varying in widths from two to twenty-four inches.
For grinding the corn there are twenty-four pairs of burr- stones and six pairs of heavy iron rollers. There are five miles of shafting, fourteen turbine water-wheels of an aggre- gate of twelve hundred and twenty horse-power, and ten steam engines of eight hundred and forty-five horse-power, aggregating two thousand and sixty-five horse-power.
There are six hundred and ninety sieves for straining the starch, thirteen large steam-boilers, and twenty-four machines for packing and weighing the starch, capable of packing seventy-two thousand packages a day ; seventy thousand packing cases can be manufactured daily ; and six thousand tons of coal are consumed at the works annually.
For its own protection this establishment at Oswego has among its workmen a well-organized fire company with over
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
four thousand feet of hose, three hose-carriages and hooks and ladders, and for the social enjoyment of its members an elegant fireman's hall has been fitted up and furnished in one of the buildings.
The Oswego starch-factory, directly and indirectly, gives employment to thousands of persons, including men, women, and children. It has been the means of peopling nearly two entire wards of the city of Oswego, where neat and substantial cottages have been built and paid for, by the owners, from their earnings at the starch-factory, forming a population of industrious, thrifty, law-abiding citizens.
There was a time within the present century when not a starch-factory was to be found in all our broad land, except the domestic ones in the household, where inferior starch was obtained for family use, mainly from potatoes. At that time starch was used almost exclusively for laundry pur- poses. Now it is devoted to the use of print-works, paper- mills, for furniture paints, confectionery, etc.
Prepared corn and corn-starch, first introduced by the Kingsfords, are now largely employed in all kinds of culinary and baking operations, producing an article of diet of the most wholesome and nutritious character. The manufacture of starch has now become one of the great industries of the country.
The Oswego starch-factory is the largest of its kind in the world, having its agencies in all parts of the United States, and in many places in Great Britain, on the con- tinent of Europe, and in Australia, and its products find a market in every civilized country on the globe.
The wide celebrity which Kingsford's starch has at- tained, and the consequent rapid development of the busi- ness at Oswego, are largely attributable to the intrinsic merits of the product, being manufactured by the sceret process, which produces starch practically, absolutely pure ; and not a pound of inferior or imperfect starch is ever allowed to leave the factory.
It is no disparagement to the father to state that the growth and prosperity of the business at Oswego have been materially aided and promoted by the energy, mechanical skill, and inventive genins of the son, Thomson Kingsford, who is an expert draughtsman and designer, and who has been closely identified with the enterprise from its inception. In his constant study to improve the methods of starch- making he has originated many new manufacturing processes, and the fruits of his labors in this direction may be seen in the numerous inventions of machinery and me- chanical contrivances now in practical operation in the Oswego starch-factory, and for several of which he holds letters patent.
No one can pass through the various departments of this mammoth manufacturing establishment, while in ope- ration, without being almost lost in bewilderment at the sight of its vast and complicated machinery, all moving with mathematical precision in the accomplishment of de- sired results, as if animated with a living spirit. So perfect in its equipments and so admirable in its mechanical ap- pliances is it that there seems to be nothing lacking, which mechanical ingenuity could devise, to aid in producing goods of the highest excellence and on a scale of surprising magnitude.
Thomas Kingsford, the discoverer of the secret process, was a man of great industry and large scientifie acquire- ments. By his simple manners, large-hearted sympathy, and great benevolence, coupled with an unswerving fidelity to just principles in all business transactions, he won the esteem of all with whom he was associated. He died in 1869, and it may be truly said of him he was a public benefactor.
Since the decease of his father, Thomson Kingsford, who now alone holds the secret, has been the sole manager of the business at Oswego, and the success which has attended its operations during that period proves that he possesses great business energy and tact as well as executive ability of a high order.
The manufacture of starch at Oswego having been so well conducted, and having grown to such gigantic propor- tions, has also been very remunerative, and has been the means of placing much wealth at the disposal of the Kings- fords. They have not, however, hoarded their means, but, with characteristic generosity and benevolence, have freely given a helping hand to those less fortunate than them- selves; and there is scarcely an enterprise or institution in the city which has for its object the improvement of man- kind that has not received encouragement and material aid from the Kingsfords.
The starch-factory is not only the largest manufacturing establishment in Oswego County, but one of the largest in the United States ; and as its products, known as " Kings- ford's Oswego Starch," are distributed all over the habitable globe, Oswego has become widely known and distinguished in the commercial world as being the place where Kings- ford's starch is manufactured.
The history of Oswego County, written without a de- scription of the Oswego starch-factory, would be imperfect and deficient in an element of distinction which will live long after the present generation shall have passed away.
OSWEGO VILLAGE AND CITY CIVIL LIST.
VILLAGE OFFICERS.
1828 .- President, Alvin Bronson ; Treasurer, Thomas Willett; Collector, John Howe; Clerk, Edwin W. Clarke ; Trustees, Daniel Hugunin, Jr., George Fisher, Nathaniel Vilas, Jr., David P. Brewster, Theophilus S. Morgan, Joseph Turner, Orlo Steele ; Fire Wardens, Henry Eagle, Francis Rood, Thomas Ambler, William I. Kniffin.
1829 .- President, Daniel Hugunin ; Treasurer, Thomas Willett ; Collector, John W. Turner; Clerk, E. W. Clarke ; Trustees, Elisha Carrington, Charles S. Phelps, Jehiel Clarke, George Fisher, Theophilus S. Morgan, Joseph Turner, Orlo Steele; Fire Wardens, same as 1828.
1830 .- President, Theophilus S. Morgan ; Treasurer, Samuel Hawley ; Collector, John W. Turner ; Clerk, E. W. Clarke; Trustees, Daniel C. Van Tine, Charles S. Phelps, Matthew McNair, Gideon H. Woodruff, Peter D. Hugunin, Joseph Turner, James Sloan ; Fire Wardens, Thomas Ambler, James Sloan, Henry Eagle, Nathaniel Vilas, Jr.
1831 .- President, Edward Bronson ; Treasurer, David P. Brewster; Collector, Norman Ormsbee ; Trustees, Ulysses
R. Oliphant.
AMONG the representative journalists of this county and State, none stood higher in the general estimation of the public than did he whose name heads this brief narrative. We have before us numer- ous sketches of his life and character, from which we glean the fol- lowing :
Richard Oliphant was born in the city of London, on the 23d ef January, 1801. He came to this country and took up his residence in the then village of Auburn when he was twelve years of age. He early evinced a love for the "art preservative of all arts," which he regarded, with professional zeal, as the most ennobling occupation, down to the day of his death. The first type he ever set was in 1810, when he commenced, like most hoys in a printing-office, by setting up "pi," in Russell's court, Drury lane, London. The first regular composition he undertook was at Anburn, in 1814, under the instruc- tions of Thurlow Weed. In 1816 he commenced work for Skioner & Crosley, publishers of the Auburn Gazette. In April, 1823, Mr. Oli- phant set the first type that ever filled a "stick" in Syracuse. This was for John Dunford, who started the Onondaga Gazette, the first paper published in Syracuse, and employed Mr. Oliphant as printer. The latter did not remain long at Syracuse, for during the same year (1823) he started a paper at Auburn, of which he was editor and pro- prietor, called the Auburn Free Press. This was a good-looking weckly for that day, nearly as large as the Commercial Times, and it was an enthusiastic suppurter of John Quincy Adams. In 1829 Mr. Oliphant sold the paper to his brother Henry, and in the month of Novemher of that year came to Oswego, where he continued to reside till his death. In an address he delivered at a supper given on Frank- lin's birthday, in 1860, he told how he came to visit Oswego. Ile said :
" As early as 1822, I made a hasty trip to this, then small, village, and st that time had almost as much idea of locating here as of planting a standard in the moon. Though theo passionately devoted to my calling, there were other passions and other attractions that drew me hither. A certain young lady, who has since grown rather matronly, had captivated my boyish affections. I was in pursuit of her, and as she resided some few miles east of this, my peregrinations took me through Oswego."
These visits continued until 1826, when Mr. Oliphant was married to Miss Anna H. Jones, the lady he refers to in his Franklin supper address. The nuptials were solemnized in a log house in the town of Scriba, and he added to the above, that "the humble domicile ap- peared as fine in his eyes as any that now grace the city," and that " ever since he had cherished a warm regard for log cabins."
On the 17th of February, 1830, Mr. Oliphant issued the first num- her of the Oswego Free Press, which he continued to publish till April 16, 1834. On the 2d day of January, 1837, the Oswego County Whig was started by A. Jones & Co., with Richard Oliphant as editor.
On the 9th of May Mr. Jones withdrew, and Oliphant & Ayer, for- merly of the Herkimer County Journal, became proprietors. At the elose of the year Mr. Ayer withdrew, and Mr. Oliphant continued the paper until September 27, 1844, which was the last of his editorial labors. After this time he devoted himself to the joh-printing busi- ness, which he continued to within three er four years of his death, when his sons, J. H. and Richard J., relieved him of the cares of the office by becoming proprietors, although, down to the week before his death, he occasionally worked at the case, fer which he used to say his " fingers had an itching." In 1818, Mr. Oliphant published the "Western Wanderer," a neatly-printed volume; and in 1819, the Phoenix, a monthly paper, to which he was a regular contributer. He also contributed to the "Oasis," a very handsomely gotten up and finely-printed publication, issued in 1837.
Besides being a pungent paragraphist and good political writer, Mr. Oliphant possessed a fine poetic strain, and some of his poems, which we have seen and perused with pleasure, denote the innate hcanties of his mind, while doing honor to his brilliant intellect and his vivid imagination.
In a sketch of this kind it is impossible to enter into the various acta of a long and busy life, and we therefore close with the following apt quotation from the correspondence of one who knew Mr. Oliphant well, and appreciated his worth heartily :
" Among the printers who knew him he will be long remembered as one whose proof-sheet was free from all errors of the heart. Pcace, then, to the memory of a hrother Typo, to whom death so suddenly put his final period. The grim tyrant of the tomb seldom, if ever, embraced a husband, father, or friend, with kindlier qualities of our humanity, than he who has suddenly been taken away. The carth- clods of the cold and silent grave never covered a hosom in which beat a nobler, more generone, and truer heart, and he will long bo missed with regret in the circles in which he moved."
Mr. Oliphant toek a deep interest in all matters pertaining to the moral and intellectual, as well as in the material, progress and devcl- opment of Oswego. Especially with regard to educational affairs is this trne. He lived to see the growth of the present excellent system of public instruction, and no one man did more to bring the schools up to their present high standard-which is not surpassed hy any in the State-than did he. For many years he was president of the board of education, and filled that office with marked ability and zeal.
At his death, which occurred March 8, 1862, Mr. Oliphant left a widow and five children, all of whom are living. Of the latter, John H. and Richard J. are printers (the former conducting the business of his father), Sarah E. is the wife of George B. Powell, Martha A. the wife of D. M. Mead, the druggist, and R. Amelia resides with her mother. These are all residents of Oswego.
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