USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
The Genera and Ithaca Railroad Company was organized at Ovid, Friday, May 6, 1870. The meeting was presided over by Nestor Woodworth, Esq., of Covert, and the following-named Directors chosea : Thomas Hillhouse, William Hall, and Frederick W. Prince, of Geneva ; Robert J. Swan, of Fayette; Charles HI. Sayre, of Varick ; Richard M. Steele, of Romulus; Isaac N. Johnson, of Ovid ; C. H. Parshall, and John C. Hall, of Covert; Nelson Noble, of Ulysses; and Charles M. Titus, A. H. Gregg, and Juo. Rumsey, of Ithaca. The work was carried steadily forward from both extremities of the line, and on September 13, 1873, the workmen met at Romulus. Trains ran to this place from Geneva and Ithaca, and halted at a gap where the last rail was to be laid. . Music, firing.
PLATE XII
STOCK FARM & RES. OF MICHAEL B. RITTER, FAYETTE, SENECA CO.N.Y. BREEDER & DEALER IN BLOODED STOCK.
PRINCE OF THE RIVER. NO. 13877 HERO BOOK,
Franklin House, Ovid.
Seneca Collegiate Institule.Ovid
...........
45
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
of guns, and speeches were followed by the ceremony of driving the last spike, which act was performed by C. M. Titus, the President of the road. Among the notables present were Ezra Cornell, A. B. Cornell, and J. H. Selkreg, from Ithaca, and W. B. Dusinberre and F. Prince, of Geneva. R. M. Steele was President of the day. The line of the road extends diagonally from the foot of Seneca Lake across the towns of Fayette, Varick, Romulus, Ovid, and Covert, and, while it has proved a convenience to the people along its track; it has undoubtedly been a check upon the growth of Seneca's northern villages, by a withdrawal of business to other localities. The first accident upon the new road occurred at Romulus, on October 9, 1873. A collision took place between con- atruction trains, by which several platform cars were smashed. A daughter of R. Steele, aged eight years, was saved from serious injury by the prompt action - of engineer D. Boucher, and several parties had narrow escapes. The project of a railroad southward through the County from Seneca Falls and Waterloo, extending northward to Lake Ontario, and southward to Pennsylvania, and to be known as the Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad, met with general favor in the County. Meetings were held, towns were heavily bonded, and the enterprise moved rapidly forward. On May 19, 1870, the Directors met at Ovid, and moved to Farmers' Village, where a mass meeting was in progress. The first annual election of Directors occurred at Seneca Falls in May, 1871, and former officers were rechosen. President, William Pierson, of Trumansburg ; Vice-Presi- dent, Albert Jewett, of Seneca Falls; Secretary, Charles A. Hawley, of Seneca Falls; Treasurer, Miner D. Mercer, of Waterloo; and Auditor, Josiah T. Miller, of Seneca Falls. The contract was let to Colonel William Johnson to put the road in running order for 8700,000, half a million being in town bonds, the remainder in stock of the road, whose gange was to be the same as the New York Central Railroad. Work proceeded ; tlic bed was finished, the road, fences, bridges, built, crossing-signs put up, and all made ready for the iron. Then a fatal delay occurred. The iron has not been laid, and the people, dis- appointed, smart under the weight of a futile taxation.
In August, 1873, a map of a projected road, to be known as the New York West Shore and Chicago Railroad, was filed in the office of the County Clerk. It was to run sixteen miles in Seneca County, entering the County, at Kipp'a Island, from the town of Montezuma, thenec over the marsh and southwest through Tyre, Seneca Falls, and Waterloo. The crisis of that year was a blow to railroad construction, from which it has not recovered; yet, from the abundant facilities of present running roads, the citizens of Seneca have little cause for complaiot, and passenger and produce soon speed to their destination.
CHAPTER XX.
BANKS: STATE, NATIONAL, AND SAVINGS; THEIR HISTORY IN SENECA.
BANKS are indispensable to commerce. Their money is a more convenient medium than specie. They facilitate the completion of great undertakings, and in return have met with a success whose splendor has repeatedly endangered the entire system. The State endeavored to guard the interests of the people, but irresponsible parties, basing their movement upon the principles of necessity and credit, issued notes which were from the first irredeemable. Three several times prior to the civil war had specie payment been suspended in the State of New York. From the fall of 1814 till the spring of 1817, all the banks in the country, except those of New England, suspended payment. A second suspension continued from May, 1837, until the spring of 1838. On October 13, 1857, all the New York City banks, save the Chemical, suspended, and the banks in the State generally did the same, but resumption soon took place. Under the bank- ing system previous to the present, bank issues were held at more or less discount, which increased with their distance from the State wherein the institution was located. Bank-note reporters lay upon the merchant's counter, and the fluctua- tions of value were noted and enforced with each new report.
The exigencies of the war created the National system now in vogue, by which government bonds, purchased by a company, are deposited with the Treasurer of the United States for security, and ninety per cent. of their face value in National currency issued to the bank for circulation. The system finds great favor in its uniform and general equality of value, absolute seeurity, and genuine bills, but the people are now divided upon the subject of their withdrawal and a return to specie payment ..
The pioneer banking institution of Seneca County was chartered as the Seneca County Bank, on March 12, 1833. The Directors were thirteen in number,
named as follows: Joseph Fellows, Godfrey. J. Grovener, Samuel Clark, John Watkins, Richard P. Hunt, John DeMott, David S. Skaats, G. Welles, Jesse Clark, Ebenezer Hoskins, Reuben D. Dodge, William Smith, and Seba Murphy. The first meeting was held in Waterloo, at the house of John Stewart, by the Board of Directors, and John DeMott was elected the first "President, and William Moore, Cashier. At this mecting, held June 1, temporary banking rooms were negotiated with E. Williams in his hotel on the present site of the yeast-factory. The capital stock was to consist of four thousand shares of fifty dollars each, or $200,000 ; issues not to exceed $400,000. Joseph Fellows was instructed to procure $20,000 in specie, for use of the Bank. Business was commenced on July 9, 1833. On May 17, 1834, John DeMott resigned the office of President, and Joseph Fellows was elected to fill vacancy .. The office of Vice-President was created, and Richard P. Hunt elected to the position by ballot. The resig- nation of William Moore was sent in on July 19, 1836; it was accepted, and William V. I. Mercer was chosen Cashier in his place. On July 7, 1838, Mr. Hunt resigned. Mr. Fellows was succeeded, June 14, 1842, by Phineas Prouty. At an election held June 11, 1844, David S. Skaats became President. and in July, 1853, his son, Bartholomew, was made Vice-President. Bartholo- mew Skaats resigned the office on April 2, 1858, to fill the place of President, to which he was appointed on account of a vacancy occasioned by the death of his father. On June 8, 1858, M. D. Mercer was appointed Assistant Cashier, and on January 4, 1859, was promoted Cashier, to fill vacancy caused by the death of his father. From this time forward, to January 1, 1863, Bartholomew Skaats was President, and M. D. Mercer, Cashier. On June 30, 1834, negotiations were coneluded for the purchase of permanent rooms. The house standing on the corner opposite the Towsley House on the cast was purchased of Samuel Birdsall for $3200, and the office prepared by the construction of a vault, and occupied. The business was disturbed in common with others at the periods carlier referred to, but continned till the expiration of its charter, on January 1, 1863, at which date a banking office, under the title of M. D. Mercer & Co., was established and carried on till, in accordance with an Act of Congress to pro- vide National currency, the First National Bank of Waterloo was organized on March 10, 1864, in the old Seneca County Bank rooma. A capital of $50,000 was invested, and a circulation of $45,000 issued. The first Board of Direc- tors consisted of S. G. Hadley, Joseph Wright, Richard P. Kendig, M. D. Mer- ver, and Bartholomew Skaats. The last was elected President, and Mr. Mercer, Cashier, at a meeting held March 12, 1864. . Thomas Fatzinger, the present President, was elected to the position on the 19th of June, 1866, and no change has occurred in the office of Cashier. The present Board of Directors consist of T. Fatzinger, S. G. Hadley, Joseph G. Wright, Edward Fatzinger, and M. D. Mereer. By a resolution of the Board, the capital was increased on February 4, 1875, to $100,000, and the consequent circulation to $90,000.
The First National Bank of Seneca Falls is the result of a alow and substan- tial growth, of which the following is an outline. Erastus Partridge established a store in No. 2 Mechanics' Hall, on April 26, 1824. The business was con- ducted by the agency of William A. Shaw until December 5, 1826, when a part- nership was formed under the firm name of Partridge and Shaw. The store was but eighteen feet square, yet the rent for its use was but four dollars per month. Shaw disposed of his interest in 1837, and went to Bellona in Ontario County, while Mr. Partridge came on from Cayuga, greatly enlarged his store, and gave personal attention to business. He opened an Exchange Office in a corner of his limited store-room, during the year 1848, and engaged in the two- fold business of merchandising and banking. In May, 1864, the mercantile busi- ness was transferred, by sale, to W. B. Lathrop, aud Mr. Partridge devoted bim- self entirely to banking and finance. He established the Bank of Seneca Falls, capital $50,000, himself being its President, and Le Roy C. Partridge the Cashier. Within a brief period, he had caused the erection of a new and commodious building for banking purposes, on the south side of Fall Street, to which, on its completion, he removed, and therein continned to do business as an individual banker until the creation of the National Banking System. In accordance with legislation of Congress, entitled "An Act to provide a National Currency, secured by a pledge of United States Stocks, and to provide for the Circulation and Redemption thereof," approved February 25, 1863, articles of association were entered into by a company on September 14, same year. The institution was to be known as the First National Bank of Seneca Falls, and a Board of Directors composed of five stockholders was formed. On September 14, 1863, was held the first meeting for the election of directors, and the following-named persons were chosen : Erastus Partridge, Le Roy C. Partridge, Albert Cook, Charles Partridge, and De Lancy Partridge,-all of Seneca Falls, New York. E. Partridge was then elected President, Le Roy C. Partridge, Vice-President, and De Lancy Par- tridge, Cashier, and regular annual meetinga appointed for the second Tuesday of January of each year. Capital stock to the amount of $60,000 was taken, with
46
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
privilege of increase, and $56,000 of circulation issued. The stock shares, of $100 each, were principally held by E. Partridge. The death of the President occurred on January 20, 1873, and the duties of this office were performed by the Vice-President till August 5 following, when, resigning, he was elected by unanimous vote to the vacant office, and Albert Cook was advanced to the Vice- Presidency. This second President dying on February 7, 1875, at the next annual meeting, held January 11, 1876, Albert Cook was elected President, and is the present incumbent. De Lancy Partridge has continued Cashier from organization till this date. There have been various changes in the Board of Directors, which at present consists of De Lancy Partridge, Albert Cook, George M. Guioo, Ellen B. Partridge, and Caroline Cook.
The National Exchange Bank of Seneca Falls was organized in 1865, with a capital of $100,000, and a circulation of $90,000. Its Board of Directora are, Milton Hoag, J. B. Johnson, Charles L. Hoskins, Josiah T. Miller, John A. Rumsey, and Henry Hoster. J. B. Johnson, the President, has served from organization till this date. Charles A. Parsons, sfter filling the office of Cashier for a year and a half, was succeeded by N. H. Becker, the present occupant. The bank was originally opened in rooms of the residence of James Sanderson, located on Full Street, north side. This building was removed io 1869, and the present handsome and convenient business house erected during the year following. This atructure is two-storied, has a brown-stone front, with sides of brick. Its dimensions are twenty-two feet by sixty-five feet deep. The office is supplied with ample security for deposits, and the safe is provided with a "time" lock.
The banking office at Ovid was formerly a branch of the old Bank of Seneca Falls. It commenced business in 1862; sold exchange and made loans, and, on the organization of the parent institution as the First National Bank of Seneca Falls, was discontinued. A private banking office, known as the Banking House of Le Roy C. Partridge, was then established; its officers were Le Roy C. Par- tridge, Banker, and J. B. Thomas, Cashier.
The first office was on the lower floor of a new and substantial stone and brick structure, known as Masonic Hall Block, which building was destroyed in the great fire which swept away the main part of the village, in October, 1874. The present rooms are in a neat office, located on the left of the office of the County Clerk, upon the high ground east of Main street.
Among the obsolete banks, formerly existing in Seneca County, were : the Bank of Lodi, an associate institution, which began business on the 8th of Janu- ary, 1839, with a capital of $100,000. Failing, it redeemed cighty-three per cent. of its circulation ; the Farmer's Bank of Ovid, also an associated concern, was opened for financial transactions on October 6, 1838, with a capital of $100,000; it was the first institution of the kind in the County ; and the Globe Bank of Seneca Falls, an individual venture, commenced on December 23, 1839.
Savings banks are simply banks of deposit; their officers can invest only in legally approved securities ; their intent is the reception ir. trust of surplus earn- ings of the laboring classes, and a moderate rate of interest for their use. The first savings bank in England dates 1804 ; the first in New York was formed in 1819. At a public meeting called under the auspices of the "Society for Pre- venting l'auperismn," on November 29, 1816, the plan was drawn and approved, and the first deposits made July 3, 1819. The first savings bank in Albany dates 1820; in Troy, 1823; in Brooklyn, 1827, and in Buffalo, 1836. There is but one savinga bank in the County of Seneca'; it was authorized by act of incor- poration passed April 18, 1861, and revived May 6, 1870, and is known as the Seneca Falls Savings Bank, with ita office on the corner of Fall and State Streets, in the village of Seneca Falls. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, on July 25, 1871, there were present, George B. Daniels, Vice-President ; Le Rny C. Par- tridge, Secretary and Treasurer; and Trustees Erastus Partridge, William John- son, Albert Jewrett, John P. Cowing, and William A. Swaby. The bank was opened for the transaction of business August 8, 1871, with the following officers: Jacob J'. Chamberlain, President ; George B. Danit Is, Vice-President ; Le Roy C. Partridge, Secretary and Treasurer ; James D. Pollard, Book-keeper; and P. II. Van Auken, Attorney. There have been no changes in the office of President ; the book-keeper resigned August 1, 1874, and N. P. B. Wells waa appointed his successor, and hulds the position at present. Deposits of $1.00 and-upward are received, and on time deposits interest nt six per cent. is allowed, semi-annually.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE LEADING MANUFACTURES OF SENECA COUNTY.
THE manufacturing interest of the Empire State, rapidly increasing in extent and variety, furnishes a boundless range of detail, and is a subject well worthy of encomium. The facilities for transportation of material and manufactured articles are so great that this industry is now represented in nearly every part of the State. During colonial times business centres were not in existence; imports were made direct from England; intercolonial trade was interdicted. Urged on by necessity, this industry was followed at first by the agriculturist, who resigned to the manufacturer his prerogatives, wherever solicited. Seneca County, favored by s most valuable water-power, was early regarded as a business point, advan- tageously sitnated, and the high prices paid for the adjacent lands ahowed the State aware of their immediate and prospective worth. Among the leading man- ufactures which bave arisen upon the rapids of the Seneca, and gained a national reputation, stand pre-eminent the Island Works of the Silsby Manufacturing Com- pany. Three men,-Horace C. Silsby, William Wheeler, and William C. Silsby,- in the spring of 1836, began the manufacture of axes and edge tools, in a build- ing which they erected on the corner of Wall Street, nearly opposite the Fork Factory .. Their work was ground and finished in the old Fulling Mill near by. A co-partnership was formed between H. C. Silsby, Abel Downa, John W. Wheeler, and Washburn Race, in 1847, for the manufacture of pumps, stove- plates, and regulators. Mr. Wheeler retired a year later, and Edward Mynderse became a partner in the establishment. During the existence at this time of the two firms of W. Race & Company, for making stove plates and regulators, and Downa, Mynderse & Company, for the manufacture of wooden and iron pumps, Mr. H. Silsby was a member of each firm. In the spring of 1851, Mr. S. S. Gould succeeded Messrs. Silsby and Mynderse in the pump manufacture. Mr. Silsby, associated with B. Holly and Washburn Race, began the erection of the " Island Works," on Dey's Island (which had formerly been the lumber yard of Whiting Race), in 1848. A few years later, and they had erected a frame building, directly spanning the race, which structure is now the only permanent frame on the Island, the others being of brick. Mr. B. Holly invented and pat- ented a rotary pump and engine in 1855, which is now manufactured extensively by this company ..
In the summer of 1856, they began the construction of a steam fire engine, using the rotary pump, and, following out the prevalent idea that steam was dan- gerous and must be confined by heavy materials, they built the enormous struc- ture called " Neptune," which was more than twice as heavy as those now made by the firm. They sent this engine to Chicago for experiment, in 1857, and ful- lowed it by sending a second, in 1858, to the same city. In 1856, Messrs. Race and Ilolly retired, and Edward Mynderse and John Shoemaker became partners of Mr. Silsby. This firm, in addition to fire engines, manufactured portable engines of from four- to ten-horse power, stationary engines, boilers and boiler- pumps, improved turbine water-wheels, and a variety of other machinery.
This new company sent its third fire engine to Buffalo, which city now has ten, while Chicago has sixteen of them. The number now in use is probably from five to six hundred, distributed among all the leading cities of the United States, in Canada, Japan, Russia, and all parts of the world. In 1850, the capital invested was $20,000; they employed twenty-three hands; the value of raw material used was $9500, and of manufactured goods, $33,000. Ten years later the money invested was $140,000, and the annual consumption of raw material amounted to 860,000. They employed one hundred and fifty men, and their yearly products amounted in value to $200,000. Iu 1860, by the retirement of his partners, Mr. Silsby was left the sole proprietor. In 1871, Mr. Silsby'a two sons, Horace and F. J., became members of a firm ever since known as the "Sibby Manufacturing Company.". The business occupies eleven buildings --- three machine-shops, one, three stories, two; two stories; an iron foundry, a brass foundry, two blacksmith shops, a paint and finishing shop, a boiler shop, n cop- persmith shop, storchouse, coalhouse, and a very neat and commodious office on the Fall Street approach to the Island, which is exclusively devoted to their busi- ness and bonk-keeping department. Their business shows a constant growth, and their employees are largely composed of the most skillful mechanics, both of this and foreign countries.
The Elliptical Rotary Pump and Engine consists of two elliptical cams working into each other within an air-tight case. They contain four chambers, upon which the stream acts alternately, so as to secure great power with low pressure and a constant supply of water. While one chamber has just discharged, another is discharging, a third is ready, and a fourth is filling. Tho boiler was n patent, by M. R. Clapp, June 12, 1860, and is such an arrangement of water-tubes as secures quick raising of steam and prevents scale formation on the boiler. At a test of
47
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
a second-class engine, five pounds of steam were generated in two minutes and twenty-six seconds from the lighting of the fire; in five minutes and nine seconds, there were forty-two pounds of steam, and water, raised twenty-one feet, was issuing from the nozzle through one hundred fect of hose. Another steamer, with an inch and a quarter hose, threw a stream two hundred and twenty-nine feet. An engine at Mobile worked two hundred and thirty-six hours at a cotton fire, and stood the ordeal uninjured. Testimonials of the most eulogistic character are constantly received, and Silsby's steamers, models of construction, unequaled in service, and invaluable in saving property, may justly be regarded as a leading manufacture of Seneca County. Two of their steamers, faultlessly constructed, bave recently been shipped by the company to represent Seneca County industry at the Centennial.
Experience and energy have been allied in the gradual growth, during the lapse of years, of small works and limited productions to mammoth establishments, employing large capital and producing a varied and valuable machinery in demand by all classes. Such an establishment is that of "The Gould's Manufacturing Company." This extensive business firm had its origin in the manufacture of pumps, during 1840, by Mr. Abel Downs, in the wing of the "old cotton factory," once used as a plaster-mill, and a final prey to the devouring element in 1853. Mr. Downs built and ran a small furnace over the river, and had in his employ five men, of whom John Curtis was the foreman. After an experience of two years, during which one and a half to two tons of iron were used per week, Mr. Downs returned to mercantile business and bought into a hardware store. His foreman in the wood department, John W. Wheeler, and Mr. Kelly, under the name of Wheeler & Kelly, continued the manufacture of pumps. Mr. Downs in two ycars returned to the pump-factory, and, uniting with Mr. Wheeler and Smith Brigga, as Wheeler, Briggs, & Co., bought the "Old Stone Shop," erected as a carriage-manufactory by Bement & Co. To this they removed their machinery and materials, and put in a steam-engine to run their works. This engine, is notable on account of being the first one used in manufactures in Seneca Falls ; and in this building was made the first iron pump in the village. Washburn Race became a member of the firm in 1846. He had a patent for an improved stove regulator, which he later shared, by part sales of his interest, to Messrs. Silsby & Thompson, hardware men. Previously, the pump firm had been styled Wheeler & Downs; and later, Wheeler, Downa, & Race. The "Regulator" firm became known as W. Race & Co., and Wheeler & Downs remained sole pro- prietors of the pump works. Mr. Wheeler retiring from the business, H. C. Silsby and Edward Mynderse bought an interest, and the firm became known as Downs, Mynderse, & Co., manufacturing both iron and wooden pumps, with a capital employed of $6000. They continued the manufacture till the year 1851, when Mr. Mynderse disposed of his share in the works to Seabury S. Gould, and the firm name became Downs, Silsby, & Gould. In the ensuing fall, Mr. Silsby's interest was purchased by Abel Downs and S. S. Gould, and the firm was then entitled Downs & Co.
During eleven years great changes in the volume of production had occurred. The few thousand dollars capital had increased to $40,000; the five men to nearly a hundred, and the manufacture in proportion. To making pumps was added that of Philips's patent pipe boxes, while Race & Co. continued to turn out regulators and stove plates from their works in the same building. A site having been purchased of Andrew P. Tillman during the winter of 1854, Messrs. Downs & Co. built thereon, between the canal and river, their iron-works. The magnitude of the business is shown by these figures. Valnation of capital, real estate, and machinery, in 1860, was fully $200,000. Number of hands employed, two hundred and thirty. There were annually used 3800 tons of iron, procured at a cost of $95,000; and coal, to the amount of 1500 tous, was consumed, increasing expenses an additional $9000. Downs & Co. engaged extensively in other business, for particulars of which see history of Seneca Falls. In 1862 the firm became known as the Downs & Co.'s Manufacturing Company. This title waa again changed in 1868, to Gould's Manufacturing Company ; S. S. Gould being President, and J. H. Gould Secretary and Treasurer. In 1870 S. S. Gonld, Jr., was elected Secretary, and the business has since been conducted by the three Goulds. From 1864 to 1871, S. S. Gould, from two blast furnaces owned by bim, one at Williamsport, Pa., and one at Ontario, Wayne County, N. Y., has furnished the iron for his furnaces, and sold a surplus to other iron consumers. Later purchases are made at various points, and from 2500 to 3000 tona of iron are annually required by the business. The principal depot of the company is at New York, and branch warehouses are established at Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Their wares are sold in Japan, China, India, and Egypt, in Bremen, Germany, in London, England, and in most other parts of the world.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.