History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 46

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826

USA > New York > Steuben County > History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 46

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The first meeting for the election of officers was held at the Franklin House, kept by A. R. Gould, on the 7th of June, 1836, when the following-named persons were elected : Trustees, John D. Higgins, Ten Eyek Gansevoort, Benja- min Smead, Moses II. Lyon, John T. Andrews ; Assessors, Ziba A. Leland, John M. Campbell, Henry Brother ; Treas- urer, Robert Campbell, Jr .; Clerk, Levi C. Whiting; Col- lector, Elisha Hampsted ; Constable, O. W. L. Warren.

The presidents of the board of trustees and clerks of the village under the old charter were as follows:

Presidents.

Clerks.

1836.

Ten Eyck Gansevoort.

Levi C. Whiting.

1837

1838

James R. Dudley.

1839

Lewis Biles.

D. Il. Fitch.

1840

Moses II. Lyon.

James R. Dudley.

1841

John MeCalla.

Chas. W. Campbell.

1842

Wmn. W. MeCay.

Edward Howell, Jr.

1843

Benjamin Smead.

Eli Bidwell.

1844

Moses Il. Lyon.

James Lindsay.

1845.

Win. W. McCay.

IS46

1847

Edward Howell, Jr.

1848

James Lindsay.

1849

David Rumsey, Jr.

1850

1851

R. B. Van Valkenburgh.

NEW CHARTER.

An aet establishing a new charter for the village was passed by the Legislature June 20, 1851, three-fifths being present. At the annual election, held on the Gth day of April, 1852, Robert Campbell was elected president by a majority of ten votes over his competitor, Levi C. Whiting. Joel II. Rice and George S. Ellas were elected trustees for one year, Alfred P'. Ferris and Lansing D. Hodgman for two years. The following persons were elected assessors : John Bramble for one year ; Paul C. Cook for two years ; Moses HI. Lyon for three years. Alva E. Brown was elected Treasurer; Benjamin C. Ward, Collector; and Wm. E. Bonham, Clerk. Since the election of 1852 the fol- lowing have been the village presidents :

1853-56. Levi C. Whiting.

1867. Ilenry W. Perine.

1856-58. Moses It. Lyon. 1868-70. David H. Hastings.

1858. George Edwards. 1870-71. A. S. Howell.

1859. Samuel lf. Hammond.

1872. Addison F. Ellas.

1860-64. Ambrose S. Howell. 1873-75. James Lyon.

1864. Wm. W. Wilson. 1875. Reuben Robie.

I865-67 .- Jonathan Robie. 1876-79. John Davenport.

James Lindsay officiated as clerk of the village for twenty-nine consecutive years, being elected each year successively from 1848 to 1876 inclusive. George E. McMaster has been elerk for the two past years.

The first fire company was organized in 1836. Dec. 17, 1839, the board passed the following :

" Resolved, That the fire company heretofore organized in said eor- poration of Bath having been duly disbanded, the following-named persons be and the same are hereby dufy organized and constituted a fire-engine company in said corporation : Lewis Biles, Foreman; J. McBeath, Assistant Foreman; R. L. Underhill, Clerk. Members : Moses H. Lyon, Wm. H. Bull, L. II. Read, Daniel Miller, John O. Goodsell, Charles Adams, Bernard Fox, W. Secor, Reuben Robie, James Shannon, Benj. D. Lilly, Addison F. Ellas, G. A. Rogers, Wm. IIamilton, Thos. Metcalfe, James Moore, A. Babeock, Lewis Shoe- maker, Wm. A. Biles, James R. Dudley, A. R. Gould, Nathan Stevens, R. H. Graham, John R. Gansevoort, David MeMaster."

The charter was so amended by act passed Jan. 22, 1841, as to authorize and empower the corporation to increase the firemen of the fire company of the village to any number not exceeding thirty.

The village well on Liberty Street was filled up in 1841, and a new one dug ou the south side of St. Patrick's Square, cast of Liberty Street.

" Champion Fire Company, No. 1, of the village of

Levi C. Whiting.

LA.fordyman

Lansing D. Hodgman, son of Leonard and Jennette (Morey) Hodgman, was born Nov. 11, 1815, in Stillwater, Saratoga Co., N. Y. He is the eldest of a family of eight sons and one daughter, of whom seven sons are living. Mr. Hodgman re- mained at home on the farm until the spring of 1834 ; received a classical education at Cambridge, N. Y., Bennington Academy, Vermont, and finished his preparation for the occupation of a civil engineer at the Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. In the spring of 1834 he commenced engineering under Judge Wright, chief engineer of the Erie Railway, in the preliminary survey, and continued on the Erie until the spring of 1837, when be engaged on the Erie Canal enlargement, castern divi- sion, in Montgomery County, as assistant engineer, under Isaac W. Crane and A. C. Powell, until November, 1840. He then resumed duties on the Erie Railway in charge of a locating party from Cuba, Allegany Co., west to the Indian Reservation. In the spring of 1841 he was made resident engineer in charge of the construction of the road from Hornellsville to Friendship, and continued until the suspension of the Erie Company in the fall of 1842. Thenceforward until the fall of 1843 he was agent for the assignees of the Erie Railway Com- pany.

In July, 1843, he came to Bath, as superintendent for Messrs. Magee & Cook, in charge of the flouring-mill and books of the firm, and of the men generally in their employ, in which position he remained until Aug. 5, 1845. At this latter date he was married to Abby C., only daughter of Hon. Constant Cook, and commenced merchant milling for himself in Bath, which he has continued until the present time (Feb. 6, 1879), and also at Painted Post, in company with his brother, W. S. Hodgman. They bought and operate the Erwin Mills and farm of five hundred and eighty acres, having three flouring-mills,

feed-mill, gang saw-mill, and plaster-mill; they do a large amount of business. In October, 1853, Mr. Hodgman bought out Mr. H. H. Cook's interest in the store in Bath, and continued mercantile business until 1873; also at Blood's Station from 1870 to the present time.

Mr. Hodgman has taken an active part in all local interests. As trustee of the village he rendered efficient service during the period when most of the streets were graded. As one of the vestrymen of St. Thomas' Church, and a member of the building committee, it devolved upon him to superintend the erection of the beautiful church edifice of that parish. In many other ways, and especially as a member of the board of education during the past twelve years, Mr. Hodgman has rendered himself useful to the community. There is no subject in which he has taken a deeper practical iuterest than in that of education, and, while mindful of its general benefits to the community at large, he has bestowed its advantages liberally on his own children, of whom he has three sons and two daughters.

In June, 1873, Mr. Hodgman was appointed by Governor Dix one of the commissioners for the ercction of the State Reformation Prison at Elmira, and he remained for two years in the discharge of the duties of that office.

Mr. Hodgman is a man of positive character, having decided opinions on all subjects. His energy and executive ability have been fully exemplified in the large business he has successfully managed both for himself and others. He had charge of all the buildings erected by Mr. Cook on his Bath mill property, con- sisting of dwellings, mills, hotel, etc., also of the building of the flouring-mills on the Erwin property at Painted Post in 1853, and in 1850 was consulting engineer in the location of the Buf- falo, Corning and New York Railroad through the Cohocton Valley.

175

TOWN OF BATH.

Bath, was organized April 24, 1851. Levi C. Whiting, Captain; James D. Blanck, Engineer; P. W. Rhodes, Clerk." Forty-one citizens were enrolled as members of the company.

SCHOOLS OF THE VILLAGE.

The first school-house built in the village of Bath appears in the ent of Bath as it was in 1804. It was a small frame building, facing the Pulteney Square from the west side, just in front of the old log jail, and a little north of the present Steuben County Bank building. This school-house was probably erected before 1800, but its exact date eannot be ascertained. Col. Wm. H. Bull remembers going to school here in 1805. The building was not painted, and its appearance indicated that it had stood a considerable number of years. This school was taught in 1805 or 1806 by a man named Dixon. The building was removed when the stone jail was erected.

The next school was kept in a small frame building on the east side of the Pulteney Square, a little south of the county clerk's office, and was tanght by Elam Bridges, of Prattsburgh, in 1811. During this year, Wm. Howell, Esq., (now residing in the village, at the age of seventy-four years) was a pupil of Mr. Bridges, and so were also a number of the other early citizens who have passed away. This build- ing was not on property owned by the sehool district, nor was it built for school purposes.

In 1812 the citizens purchased a lot of Henry A. Town- send, Esq., on Steuben Street, and erected the building known as the " Old Academy." It was a two-story wooden structure, standing broadside to the street, and there was a stairway in the east end leading to the upper story, which was occupied for a time by the Masons as a lodge-room * This school-honse was burned down in 1824, and about a year after the old " Red School-House" was built upon the same site. It was a frame building, 25 by 30 feet, and stood a little back from Steuben Street, on the lot next east of Mr. A. Beekman's present sash- and blind-factory. This building was used for school purposes till 1848. It was destroyed by fire about 1849.

Among the early trustees of schools in the village were Judge Edwards, Lewis Biles, Dugald Cameron, David Rum- sey, Sr., and others. The trustees, at the time of the build- ing of the Old Academy, were Dugald Cameron, Howell Bull, Luman Hopkins, and Samuel S. Haight.

On the 8th of July, 1846, a union school was formed by the consolidation of Districts Nos. 2 and 5, in the village of Bath. G. A. Rogers, Washington Barnes, and Richard Brower were elected trustees. Adam Haverling donated to the Union Distriet the lot on which the present Haver- ling Union Free School stands, which was accepted by a general meeting of the citizens in the following resolution, passed on the 6th of March, 1847 :

" Resolved, That we accept with feelings of respect and gratitude Mr. Haverling's generous offer of a lot adjoining St. Patrick's Square, for the site of a union school-house ; and tender to him, for ourselves and children, for his provi- denee and care for their comfort and happiness, our grateful

sense of his kindness and our wishes for his prosperity and happiness.

" Resolved, That the moderator and clerk sign and trans- mit to Mr. Haverling a copy of the preceding resolution."

David McMaster, William Hamilton, and Constant Cook were elected the new board of trustees; and it was voted unanimously to name the school building about to be erected upon the accepted lot " The Haverling Union School-House of Bath." It was also voted that the sum of $2000 be raised by tax to build the house upon said lot. On the 13th of April, 1847, the contract requiring the erection of a school building of brick and stone, 40 by 60 feet, and three stories besides basement, was let to Sylvanus Stephens, of Bath, the contract price being $2180.66. On the first Monday in May, 1848, on motion of Hon. John Magee, an additional sum of $1000 was voted to complete the building. It was finished and occupied in the fall of 1848. At the same time that the last thousand dollars was voted to finish the new school-house, an appropriation was made to repair the old buildings.

The first Haverling Union School building was burned in 1865. At a meeting of the voters of the district held March 7, 1866, on motion of Mr. Robert L. Underhill, the following resolution was adopted :

" Resolved, That the trustees of this district be and they are hereby authorized and directed to construet a school- house in this district, upon the site now belonging to the distriet, at a cost not exceeding the sum of $15,000, besides the insurance-money and materials on hand."

The insurance on the old building amounted to $2000; the $15,000 in addition was voted to be raised by tax ; the Haverling lot, lying between the school site and Liberty Street, was purchased for the sum of $900. An additional sum was afterwards raised, and the present commodious and substantial Haverling Union Free-School building com- pleted at an entire cost of about $25,000. With the en- largement of the grounds by the addition of the Haverling building lot, the heating of the building throughout by steam, and various modern improvements, this school build- ing, with its surroundings, being situated on grounds adja- cent to Washington (formerly St. Patrick's) Square, is among the most pleasant educational institutions in this portion of the State. Samuel S. May was the builder. The trustees under whose auspices it was erected were David Rumsey, Robert L. Underhill, and L. P. Hard. David Rumsey was president of the board, and George Edwards clerk.

The principals of the Union School from 1846 to 1868 were as follows : - Hathaway, Emerson J. Hamilton, Charles W. Guliek, James Buell, James A. Broadhead, William S. Hall, C. C. Wheeler, J. H. Strong, John C. Higby, and Henry A. Smith.

ORGANIZATION OF THE UNION FREE SCHOOL.

On the 10th of June, 1868, a meeting of the legal voters of the district was held, to determine whether a Union Free School should be established in the village of Bath, in accordance with the provisions of title 9 of chapter 555 of the laws of 1864. The vote was taken viva voce, and the motion carried unanimously. The following trus-

* See evidence in the litigation concerning the title to this lot in the Supreme Court, April, 1860.

176

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

tees, to constitute a board of education, were elected by ballot : George Edwards, L. P. Hard, for three years; A. Beekman, R. Hardenbrook, for two years; A. H. Cruten- den, George S. Jones, for one year. On account of some informalities, exceptions were taken to the legality of the proceedings, and an appeal made to the superintendent of public instruction of the State, who sustained the appeal, and another meeting was called, and on the 6th of August, 1868, a new board was elected, as follows : G. H. McMaster, L. P. Hard, for three years ; L. D. Hodgman, R. Harden- brook, for two years ; A. Beekman, S. Ensign, for one year. At a meeting of the board, Aug. 7, 1868, Hon. G. II. McMaster was elected president, and S. Ensign clerk. M. M. Cummins was appointed collector, and Rodney E. Harris treasurer.

At this meeting it was resolved to insure the school property, as follows : On building, $17,000; on globes and maps, $800; on furnace, $1200; on fuel, $300. Total, $21,000.

Rev. A. B. Ilyde, of Meadville, Pa., was employed as the first principal, Aug. 31, 1868, at a salary of $1500 a year, with the following corps of assistants: Mr. Thacher, classical teacher; Miss Emily Hubbard, Miss Esther King, Miss M. Vaughn, Miss Mary McMaster, Miss Maggie Sharp, Miss Alice Smith, Miss Libbie French, Mrs. Fanny Barnes, Mrs. Anna Wolf, Miss IIelen Finch, and Miss Maria Faulkner.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7, 1868, the Haverling Union Free School, with its academic department, was opened to the publie. It at once took rank with the leading academic free schools of the country. It was much to be regretted that Prof. Hyde, who had been selected on account of his eminent literary qualifications to preside over the school, should have seen fit to voluntarily withdraw after having organized the school and conducted it one week. But such was his choice, and his place was temporarily filled by Prof. Z. L. Parker, who remained in charge till Sept. 6, 1869, when he was succeeded by Prof. L. M. Johnson. Prof. Johnson filled acceptably the position of principal till Sept. 6, 1870, and was succeeded by Prof. E. H. Latimer, who remained in charge till Sept. 6, 1873, at which date L. D. Miller, A.M., the present principal, took charge of the school.

The schools of the village are divided into seven de- partments,-six besides the academy, which contains an average of 120 pupils. The entire attendance in all the departments is 600. Under Prof. Miller's administration quite a large number have been in attendance from out- side of the district, and many from places quite remote from the village. Indeed, the attendance of both the home and the foreign pupils has so much increased that the ac- commodations in the academic building are scarcely ade- quate to meet their wants, and will necessitate ere long an enlargement of the building or a division of the school. The academy building presents the appearance of a busy hive, alive with activity and interest from bottom to top.

In 1870 the amount expended by the board for school purposes was $10,256.29. This is a little above the aver- age yearly expenditure, though the village is noted for its liberality in the support of its public schools.

Mr. Haverling in his will made a bequest of the bulk of his property to the district, from which has been realized a fund of about $14,000, the annual interest of which is devoted to the expenses of the school which bears his name.

The Board of Instruction for the present year consists of the following-named persons : L. D. Miller, A.M., Princi- pal ; Miss L. C. Martin, Miss E. M. Merritt, Miss A. MeLoury, Miss L. Richardson, Assistants in Academie Department ; Mrs. L. D. Miller, Teacher of Drawing; E. Warren, No. 5; Miss E. Faucett, No. 4} ; Miss E. French, No. 4; Mrs. F. C. Barnes, Assistant in No. 4; Miss A. Sutherland, No. 3; Miss J. McMaster, Assistant No. 3; Miss MI. C. Delano, No. 2; Miss F. E. Brace, No. 1; Miss A. C. Robie, Assistant No. 1.

Board of Education .- Hon. Guy H. McMaster, Presi- dent ; C. F. Kingsley, Secretary ; L. D. Hodgman, R. Hardenbrook, A. Beekman, W. S. Burns.

LEARNED PROFESSIONS.

The members of the bench and bar, as well as of the medical profession, of Bath, are given in the general ehap- ters in the preceding part of this work. All that is neces- sary to add here is the list of present attorneys and practicing physicians in the village.

MEMBERS OF THE AAR.

G. H. McMaster. C. F. Kingsley.

A. J. McCall.

A. P. Ferris.

William B. Ruggles. R. E. Robie.

William Rumsey.

C. Campbell.

M. R. Miller.

G. E. McMaster.

John F. Little.

B. L. Smith.

J. F. Parkhurst.

C. H. McMaster.

P. S. Donahe.

W. II. Nichols.

William M. Nichols.

A. E. Baxter.

Lester B. Ruggles.

PHYSICIANS.

Joseph F. Dolson.

Ambrose Kasson.

A. H. Cruttenden.

Mrs. Amelia Dolson.

Fra P. Smith. Mrs. Agnes Seeley.

F. Wylie.

J. R. Selover.

C. W. Bennett.

Frank Cruttenden.

B. F. Grant.

Orlando Sutton.

F. Il. Purdy.

POSTMASTERS AT BATII.

The following have been the postmasters at Bath since the beginning of the present century, as reported from the Department at Washington :

Dugald Cameron, appointed Jan. 1, 1800.

George McClure, appointed Feb. 24, 1805.

Daniel Cruger, appointed June 29, 1815. Edward Howell, appointed Dec. 30, IS17.

Daniel Cruger, appointed Aug. 13. 1820.

Simpson Ellis, appointed April 8, 1822. William S. Hubbell, appointed June 22, 1829.

John W. Fowler, appointed Sept. 17, 1835. Reuben Robie, appointed Feb. 16, 1837.

Levi C. Whiting, appointed July 20, 1841. George Huntington, appointed Nov. 16, 1846. Timothy Whiting, appointed June 1, 1849.

James Gansevoort, appointed June 2, 1851. Jesse Vanderhoven, appointed May 15, 1853. Jesse Vanderhoven, appointed -, 1858. George S. Ellis, appointed April 3, 1861.

WILLIAM B. RUGGLES.

William B. Ruggles was the only son of Dr. William B. and Mary ggles, and was born in Bath, N. Y., May 14, 1827. His mother, by the th of Dr. Ruggles, in 1830, was left a widow in indigent circumstances. r aon, however, was kept at school in Bath most of the time until 1840, en he entered the office of The Constitutionalist, then published in Bath Charles Adama, to learn the printer's trade. From this time he was 'own upon his own resources. He continued working in printing-offices Bath, Corning, and Canandaigua until 1846. During this period, con- ving an ardent deaire to acquire a thorough education, he adopted the un of combining work and study in the printing-office, and by devoting rniugs and nighta, after the day's work was done, to his books, he waa abled to enter Hamilton College, in the sophomore claas, in September, 46.

During his college course, by working at his trade during vacations, and ching school one winter, at the same time keeping along with his clasa his studies, he was able to earn enough to defray his college expenses, d graduated in July, 1849.

In October, 1849, he went to Atlanta, Ga., where he immediately secured situation as editor of the Atlanta Intelligencer, a weekly paper, which d been started a few weeks before. By the end of the first year he pur- ased a half interest in the paper, and in the course of another year pur- ased the remaining half. In the spring of 1854, the city having increased population largely, he commenced the publication of a daily paper, The tily Intelligencer, it being the first daily paper ever published in Atlanta. August, of the same year, he married Caroline, daughter of Col. Lester rker, of Clinton, Oncida Co., N. Y., a young lady whose acquaintance had made during his college days. He continued the publication of he Intelligencer until 1857, which became, under his management, the ding Democratic newspaper of Upper Georgia, hia daily when started, d for some time after, being the only daily paper in Georgia outside of cities of Savannah and Augusta. While a resident of Atlanta, Mr. iggles waa, during several years, a member of the board of aldermen of et city.

In September, 1857, having sold out his property in Atlanta, Mr. Rug- a returned to the North, and commenced the study of law at Clinton, cida Co., N. Y., undor Prof. Theodore W. Dwight, then in charge of the v school of Hamilton College. For some years before leaving Atlanta, ving applied himself closely to legal studies in connection with bis edi- ial duties, he was able to make rapid progress in the law school, and s admitted to practice in July, 1858. On his admission to the bar, with e idea of perfecting himself in practice, he at once entered the law office the late Judgo Charles H. Doolittle, at Utica, N. Y., where he remained til the spring of 1859, when he returned to Bath, and opened a law ice, where he has since remained in active practice.

From 1859 to 1875, while always acting and voting with the Democratic rty, he persistently declined to be drawn into politica aa a candidate, eferring to give his undivided attention to the more congenial business of

the law, although in each of the presidential campaigna from 1864 to 1876, at the request of his political frienda, he was induced to "take the stump," and make a series of political speeches in Steuben and some of the adjoining counties.

In 1868, Mr. Ruggles and a few other citizena of Bath organized the " Bath Library Association," of which he was chairman of the Board of Managers for several years. Under his chairmanship the library grew from a few hundred to over five thousand volumea.

He was for several years an active member of the Board of Education of the Union Free School at Bath, until his duties at Albany Induced him to resign the position as well as the chairmanship of the Library Association. During the two yeara, 1876 and 1877, he was a member of the New York Legislature, representing the First Assembly District of Steuben County.

In 1876 he was chosen by the Democratic State Convention at Utica as a delegate to represent the Twenty-ninth Congressional District of New York in the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis. In the National Convention he was an active and zealous advocate of the nomination of Mr. Tilden for the Presidency.

In Decomber, 1877, Mr. Rugglea was tendered and accepted the office of deputy attorney-general of the State for the term of two years, from Jan. 1, 1878, in which capacity he is at the present time engaged at Albany.

Referring to this appointment, the Steuben Farmers' Advocate, of Dec. 28, 1877, among other observationa, made the following editorial comments:

" Not only is Mr. Ruggles greatly honored by thia appointment, which came to him entirely unsolicited, but the village of Bath aa well. And not only our town and county, but the young Democracy of the State, who are proud to acknowledge Mr. Ruggles as a leader and a representative man. Mr. Ruggles is fully competent for the distinguished and responsible posi- tion which he has accepted. He ia not unknown to the leading men of the State. Hia position as a leader in tho Assembly for two wintera, a promi- nent member of the judiciary committee, and the bold stand he took as the opponent of rings and State jobbery of every kind, gave him that deserved prominence now accorded to him. We rejoice over this appoint- ment, alao, because it is a tribute to political integrity, and a recognition of a self-made man, who has worked his way up from the printer's case and the office boy of a country printing-office. Mr. Rugglea is a native of Steuben County, and at the age of thirteen yeara entered a Bath printing- office, and while pursuing thia honorable calling resolved to become an educated man. We remember him when a boy as a studions youth, and call to mind the hours when we found him stretched out evenings on the old ' bank' of the printing-office, studying hia books by the aid of a tallow dip, fitting himself for entrance to Hamilton College. He entered that college in 1846 in the sophomore clasa, a poor printer, with but thirty dollara in his pocket, and waa compelled to aet type vacations and at other houra to obtain the funda necessary to carry him through college. He accomplished the purpose and desire of his heart, and gradnated in 1849 with the highest honora of his class."

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 46

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co. Number of Pages: 826

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826