History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 110

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112

USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 110
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 110
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 110
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 110

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).

This Hancock had probably takon possession of the Yaple mill after tho dispersion of the first families,-about 1795.

į It is perhaps the fittest place here to set right the seemingly-settled belief that Mr. Simeon De Witt was responsible for the elassical names given to the towns of Central New York, in the military tract. His reply to the deliberate charge of a New York editor, that he was " godfather of the christened West," is sufficient refutation :

" Tho editor of the - has done the surveyor-general much honor by retaining for him the naming of the townships of the military tract for a display of his knowledge.

"The names of these townships,-of the ten townships along the St. Lawrence and of the townships along the Susquehanna River, in the vicinity of Pennsylvania, wero given by formal resolution of the Commissioners of the Land Office. The Board, then consisting of tho Governor, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, the Auditor, and the Attorney-General, held its meetings in the city of New York. The Surveyor-General had his office established by law in the city of Albany, and knew nothing of these obnoxious names till they were officially communicated to him. nor had he ever any agency in suggesting any of them."-Eulogium on Simeon De Witt, by T. Romeyn Beck, M.D., 1835.

¿ We again copy from the private journal of De Witt Clinton the following interesting item concerning Mr. Gere :

" Mr. Gere has finished for $2300, in stock of the Ithaca and Owego Turnpiko Company, three miles of that turnpike, from the 10th of

406

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

antedate, all others; and the Ithacan of the present is satis- fied to rest in his retrospective moods at this spot, as a satisfactory point of departure in his history of inns. This building, the scene of so many animated gatherings,- social, martial, and political,-whose ceilings had " echocd with the eloquence of De Witt Clinton, Silas Wright, Mar- tin Van Buren, and a host of other statesmen who have passed away," to say nothing of the grateful and patriotic outbursts of local orators at Fourth of July dinners and firemen's suppers, finally succumbed to the flames in the disastrous fire of 1872.

The first postmaster at Ithaca was appointed by Presi- dent Jefferson in 1804: Richard W. Pelton was the appointee, but we are unable to say where the office was kept ; possibly at the "yellow house" on South Hill, his place of residence.

FIRST SCHOOLS.

The town records of Ulysses show that the inhabitants of that portion of the town which became Ithaca, as early as 1796 were represented in the management of the ex- isting schools by Robert McDowell and Benjamin Pelton, as Commissioners, and Wm. Van Orman, as Trustce. There is no record fixing the location of any of the school-houses of that day, if separate buildings for schools then existed.

The recorded history of the public schools of Ithaca runs back to February, 1816, when we find that Luther Gere was chairman and George W. Phillips secretary of a meeting of the district (No. 16), held at the school-house.

The building stood upon or near the present academy or high-school grounds, and was an old red building, which a mob, acting under some vague authority, subsequently de- molished. When or by whom it was erected is not known. A school-house mentioned by General De Witt, in a letter dated Ithaca, May 8, 1810, was probably the same.

More light may be thrown upon the shadows of this subject by the following poem, which chance has resur- rected for our edification. While suggesting a clue to the school-house mystery, it reveals the doings at Ithaca upon the nation's holiday nearly three-quarters of a century ago .*

ITHACA'S FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.

" To celebrate the Fourth of July, The day of Independence truly, The greatest epoch uuder heaven, Was celebrated eighteen hundred seven, At Ithaca-(where the turnpike ended, A road that uature ne'er intended.)

" The riflemen of Capt. Bloom, Fifteen in number (I presume), Paraded, and for their numbers, In martial discipline performed wonders. Four troopers next, who did belong Unto the troops of Capt. Strong, Appeared. The crowd gave room To form in front of Capt. Bloom.

April to the 10th of July, with eight men, four yoke of oxen, and two teams of horses. Serapers are a powerful engine in making roads.

"He is also building an elegaut frame hotel, three stories high, and 50 by 40 feet, with suitable outbuildings and garden. The carpenter's work was contracted for at $1500 ; the whole will not cost more than $6000. Gere is a very enterprising mau." . . - Campbell's Life of De Witt Clinton, p. 163, ete.

# This poem is a reprint by the Ithaca Journal of June 30, 1830, from the American Farmer, published at Owego in 1807 and ante.

"The magistrates and orator, And managers appointed for The wisest purpose, striet decorum, With scarfs advanced ; and they left no room For disorder. Tho ladies then were all paraded. And from the sun umbrellas shaded Their faees-which otherwise I do believe A varnish on their cheeks would leave.

"Next came the men of seventy-six, And in the ranks themselves did mix, The citizens paraded then Next Capt. Smith and all his men.

" Being all then ranked in order good. They all in solemn silence stood ; What next ensued I scarce need mention, The grand command was given, -' Attention !' Then ' Forward March !' the ranks all moved, A scene of grandeur then ensued ; Umbrellas, eaps, and guns in air, And to advance they did prepare.

" They all kept step with martial music, 'Twould make your heart leap e'en were you sick. All in close order was the throng, And to the school-bouse marehed along ; Where being arrived (in open airt), They joined with Dr. Beers in prayer,

' Who prayed with earnest supplication, The Lord would come and bless our nation, Told him to complete the Union, If he would lend a hand, 'twas soon done.'

" The oration next succeeded this : And I must honestly confess, That from the mauner and the spirit, It was delivered, had mueh merit. Then all repaired to Gere's to dinner, Both young and old, aud saint and sinner, Where, being seated at the table, Did eat as much as they were able ;

' And it was not thought as sinful That every man should drink his skinful.'

" The toasts were read, platoons were fired ; And every man the seene admired ; The ladies only seem'd affrighted At what the seventy-six delighted To hear-when Capt. Bloom Assured the ladies that no room For fear existed not at all in't, For neither rifle had a ball in't. The seventy-six, the youth and all, Did next march off to join the ball. Even different sectaries thought no sin, To sit and hear the violin.

"To elose the scene and do my duty- 'Sueh an assemblage of real beauty' The muse ne'er saw, and others say Unless it was at ITHACA."

The school-house was evidently new and incomplete, therefore, in 1807. In this school-house the Presbyterians held their first meetings.

THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING

in Ithaca was erected by the Presbyterian Society in 1817- 18, on the northwest corner of the De Witt Park, on the

+ The school-house was not sided.

EMAIS

UND

MELOTTE'S DENTAL COTTAGE. OPPOSITE POST OFFICE, ITHACA, N. Y

RESIDENCE OF R. WHIP

HACA, TOMPKINS CO. N Y.

LITH BY L H EVERTS PHILADA

407

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

site of their present church .* In 1825-26 it was enlarged by the addition of 26 feet to the north end, making the length 86 feet,-inelusive of a portico of six feet,-and the width 48 feet.

The first established minister was the Rev. Gerrit Man- deville, who was installed Nov. 5, 1805, and preached to the Presbyterian Societies at Ithaea and Trumansburg on alternate Sundays. One account says, " he became so dis- eouraged that he left without being dismissed." The reputed bad condition of Ithaea's morals at that time may account for this.

His ministry extended over nearly eleven years.

The first marriage in the town was that of Abram Da- venport and Mary Johnson, whose families we have de- seribed in previous pages. The ceremony was performed by Abram Markle, then a justice of the peace, in the year 1798, in a house on the north side of the Cuscadilla- probably the log mansion of Archer Green, as the more majestic frame building was not erected until two years later. Miss Johnson, the bride, left her humble residenee --- then on the site of the present dwelling and art gallery of Mr. Beardsley, and ealled the " Farm House Garden" -- and erossed the Caseadilla with light, unfaltering step to meet her doom. We may imagine chance sprays from the pine and hemloek to have afforded the only earpeted way, and the tuneful caseades near the only wedding mareh.t

The first death was that of Rachel Allen, aged seventeen or eighteen years. Her father, with his family, was passing through Ithaea when his daughter's siekness obliged them to remain for a time. She died, and was buried on the hill-side, which has sinee become the village eemetery. There exists no mark or sign to guide us to the exaet place of her burial : all is obliterated. This was in 1790-91, the " second year of the settlement."

The first physician was a Dr. Frisbee. Of him little seems to be known ; but we are sure we honor his memory, if in no other way, by giving the first death chronologieal precedenee to his advent.

Oliver Wisewell was the first lawyer, a Mr. Beleher the first singing-master, a Mr. Howe the first teacher,-names of much significance in their respective professions. Mr. Wisewell was soon followed by Stephen Sedgwick, and he by David Woodeoek.

The following persons were also the first representatives of their several eallings : Peleg Chesebrough, tailor ; Hudson Gaskill, blaeksinith ; Gardner & Butler, tanners ; Mr. Agar,

silversmith, and Henry and Julius Ackley probably the first hatters.

THE FIRST MERCHANT

who established this business on a firm footing and continued in trade was Mr. David Quigg. He came to Ithaca in June, 1804, from Spencer, where he had first settled.

For two months after his arrival he carried on trade in a eabin on the north side of the Caseadilla, within the small cireuit so often referred to. It occupied the point of land at the junetion of Linn and University Streets, imme- diately opposite the "Farm House." He also put up an ashery for making potash.§ In August he removed his goods to a frame building which had been ereeted for him on the southwest corner of Seneca and Aurora Streets, now occupied by a part of the Bates Block. His house, just south, was separated by a narrow interval from the store.

His first goods were brought by way of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers (with land-carriage between Albany and Seheneetady); thence by Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, and Onondaga River to Three - River Point; thence up the Seneea River, Cayuga Lake, and its inlet to Ithaea.

But little money was received in exchange for goods, the trade being largely of the " barter" description. " The wheat, purchased or taken in payment for goods, was hauled to Owego, and there shipped in arks to Baltimore, and sold at about fifty-six eents per bushel. In 1807, two thousand bushels were thus shipped, and in 1808, 1809, and 1810 an average of four thousand." His eattle were driven to the Philadelphia market.

It was the eustom of Mr. Quigg and the merchants of the near settlements, as at Owego, Elmira, ete., to appoint places of meeting, whenee they journeyed together to New York on horseback, to make their purchases.

In 1814, Mr. Quigg ereeted a wooden building for a store on the southeast corner of Owego and Aurora Streets. The ground was low, and subject to eneroachments of the water in times of flood, henee the store was placed on posts or "stilts." At that time there was no building between this store and the mills of Mr. Salmon Buell, then on what afterwards became the site of the Halseys' mill. In 1817, J. S. Beebe succeeded Mr. Quigg, who, for a short time, discontinued the business.

Mr. Quigg soon resumed business in Ithaca, and eon- tinued its active pursuit, alone and with partners, until his

# Sinee the text was written we have discovered iu an old day-book of Lanning & Quigg, of the year 1806, an entry that seems plainly to show that Mr. Quigg was doing business at Ithaca as early as June, 1801.

¿ The ashery was situated under the hill on the east side of Linu Street, and north of the log store of Mr. Quigg. Thomas Parker had charge of the premises, and seems to havo ocenpied the building at night. He was a man of nerve, but the jokers of the time, Mr. Quigg ineluded, fancied he would be dismayed at ghostly appear- Quees.

Disembodied spirits were searee then in the adjacent cemetery, $0 with sheets a few wero improvised, upon a selected night of pitchy darkness, who surrounded the ashery aud rolled stones from the steep hill upon its roof. Parker reported to Mr. Quigg, who advised him to retaliate with a pitchfork. The joke was repeated, and the fork was soon in hot pursuit of scattering phantoms. By one furions thrust, which had nearly transfixed one of the chief speetres,-Mr. Quigg himself,-the scance was ended.

# "Thoso persons who feel disposed to assist iu leveling tho ground in front of the meeting-house in this village will como 'in com- panies, half companies, pairs, and single,' with teams, shovels, spades, hoes, etc., to-morrow, to meet at the Columbian Inu at uine o'clock in the morning. Suitable ratious will be provided."-American Journal, vol. i. No. 9, Oct. 15, 1817 : a single number on file in tho Cornell Library.

" It has been claimed, hitherto, that tho first marriage was that of Ebenezer Thayer and the daughter of Mr. - Agar, then a silver- smith of tho place. Wo think it is eoneeded that this wedding was not prior to 1810, and so could not have been the first. It took place in the frame house, or Hartsough tavorn, standing then on the coruer occupied now by the Cornell Library building, Rev. Gerrit Mando- ville officiating.

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HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

sons, John W. and James, succeeded him. James, sur- viving his father and brother, still keeps the ancient name and calling prominently before the public.

A Mr. Isaacs, as agent for John Hollenback, of Owego, opened a store about as early as Mr. Quigg, and was suc- ceeded by Marcus Stigney, who seems not to have remained very long in trade. Mr. Stigney removed in time to Great Bend, Pa., and from thence to Lockport, where he died.

Robert Maines, the first barber in Ithaca, was an in- dividual of some notoriety, and his appeals for public favor took such various forms as the fertile brain of the Hon. Charles Humphreys, his fidus Achates, pleased to give them.

The following is dated June 28, 1825 :

"Robert Maines, hair-dresser, ete., announces to the world and all that dwell thercin, that he has removed his headquarters to his new establishment, two doors west from the corner of Owego and Tioga Streets, opposite Mack & Andrus' bookstore, where he engages to im- prove the heads, and, as far as good example can go, hopes to mend the hearts of his customers. He offers the indueements of an easy seat, light hand, and a keen razor to all that require or are disposed to be shaved."

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

For about ten years after the first settlement, the little hamlet on the flats increased very little in population, there being not more than half a dozen houses in 1798. The country about was filling up more rapidly, and patches of elearing here and there foretold the doom of the late un- broken wilderness.

The succeeding decade, however, was a period of accel- erated growth, and the hamlet became a village. Mr. Si- meon De Witt, its founder and " proprietor," in a letter dated Ithaca, May 8, 1810, was pleased to write as follows:

"I find this village considerably increased since I was here before. I have eounted thirty-eight dwelling-houses, among which are one very large, elegant, three-story house for a hotel, and five of two stories ; the rest of one story-all generally neat frame buildings. Besides these there is a school-house and buildings for merehants' stores, and shops for carpenters, cabinet-makers, blaeksmiths, eoopers, tanners; and we have besides shoemakers, tailors, two lawyers, one doctor, watch-eleaner, turner, miller, hatters, ete., etc."

We cannot give the names of all the tradesmen referred to in the above letter, nor of those who in a few years fol- lowed them .* The settlement had drawn to it all the ele- ments needful for the keeping together of body and soul, and supplying such small comforts as an unexacting popu- lation front time to time required.

At this stage of its growth, Ithaca, like a young and vigorous youth, was the subject of much solicitude on the part of the more staid and wise of the inhabitants. For fifteen or twenty years, even after its incorporation as a vil-

lage, with more of ministerial power and authority, the local administration was supplemented by the self-constituted censorship of what was called the "Moral Society."

" I have been told," says Mr. King, " that in 1809 there were but two or three marriageable young ladies in Ithaca, whilst there were forty young men. If it was thought proper and desirable to have a ball or a pleasure party of any description, the country was scoured for miles around, and requisition made upon the neighboring settlements, to afford the necessary number of ladies."

It was this excess of the ruder elements that made pos- sible (and perhaps necessary) the extra-judicial acts of the Moral Society. Not only infractions of law were punished, but those obliquities and misdeeds which no law could reach.

Something more concerning this organization will be found under the head of "Societies."

The business of the place was stimulated by the demand for Cayuga plaster, which sprang up during the last war with England, when the supply from Nova Scotia was cut off. Immense quantities were transported from Ithaca, by teams, to Owego, from whence by the river the lower markets were supplied. It is said that as many as 800 teams have passed over the Ithaca and Owego turnpike, laden with this commodity, in a single day. To this add the traffic in potash, salt, grain, and cattle, and we will see that Ithaca was then no sluggard.

Governor Clinton believed it to be a place of growing importance in 1810, and thus wrote in his journal :

" The price of a barrel of salt at Ithaca is twenty shillings; convey- ance to Owego, by land, six shillings; from Owego to Baltimore, by water, eight shillings. Allowing a profit of six shillings on a barrel, salt can be sent from here to Baltimore for one dollar per bushel. Paeking-salt sold there last spring for six shillings. . . .

"Salt is taken down the country from this place by water as far as Northumberland, Pennsylvania, 150 miles from Owego. It is 120 miles from here to the head-waters of the Alleghany. There is no road but a sleigh-road, in winter, by which salt is conveyed in small quantities ; 3500 barrels will be distributed from Ithaca this season.

" Flour will be sent from this place to Montreal, via Oswego, or to Baltimore, via Owego. There is no great difference in the expense of transportation. It will probably seek Montreal as the most certain market.

" A boat carrying from 100 to 140 barrels, will go to and return from Schenectady in six weeks. An ark carrying 250 barrels costs $75 at Owego. It can go down the river to Baltimore in eight, ten, or twelve days, and when there, it will sell for half the original price. The owner, after vendiug his produce, returns home by land with his money, or goes to New York by water, where, as at Albany, he lays out his money in goods. The rapids of the Susquehannah are fatal to aseending navigation.

" Cattle are sent in droves to Philadelphia. Upwards of 200 bar- rels of beef and pork were sent from this place last spring, by arks, to Baltimore, from Owego, by Buel and Gere, and sold to advantage. . ..

"The situation of this place, at the head of Cayuga Lake, and a short distance from the descending waters to the Atlantie, and about 120 miles to the deseending waters to the Mississippi, must render it a place of great importance."#

The natural advantages of Ithaca were soon widely known, and enterprising men came in to make use of her lake and streams for commercial and manufacturing purposes.

As the south side of the Cascadilla, in the vicinity of the cabin of Mr. Hinepaw and the mill of Mr. Yaple, became a sort of centre of trade and manufacture at the earliest

In the town records of Ulysses, we find that the following persons were returned as jurors, in the several years between 1804 and 1817 : Jacob Shepard, cooper, 1805; Henry Stringer, innkeeper, and James Johnson, boatman, 1807; William R. Collins, boatman, Peleg Chese- brough, tailor, Ira Tillotson, eabinet-maker, Joseph Benjamin, grocer, and Henry Ackley, hatter, 1810; Julius Ackley, hatter, Higby Bur- rell, wheelwright, Daniel Bates, eordwainer, 1812; George Blythe, carder, Phineas and Silas Bennett, millers, James Collier, Benjamin Drake, and John Johnson, merchants, and Jacob I. Vrooman, silver- smith, 1814; Samuel Benham, William Leslie, and John G. MeDowell, merehants, and Thomas Downing, cabinet-maker, 1815; and Luther Gere, merchant, 1816.

* Campbell's Life of De Witt Clinton, pp. 163, 164.

409

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

period of Ithacan history, so, fifteen or twenty years later, Aurora Street, between the streams Six-Mile and Caseadilla, became in turn the business centre, with taverns, stores, factories, tanneries, etc.

EARLY BUSINESS AND MANUFACTURES.

Henry and Julius Ackley came to Ithaca from New London, Conn., in 1809. Henry went to the frontier as eaptain in the war of 1812, and upon his return, though un- married, commeneed housekeeping in his new residence, which was finished about that time, and in which, after his marriage in 1841, he continued to live until his death.

Julius built a residence about the year 1822, on the northwest corner of Cayuga and Mill Streets, upon a large lot then considered quite in the suburbs, but now near the centre of the village. This house he occupied until his death.

Henry Hibbard settled in the place shortly after, and very soon joined the brothers Ackley in the hatting busi- ness, under the firm-namnc of Ackleys & Hibbard. Hc built a dwelling, which he ever after occupied, on the southeast corner of Buffalo and Tioga Streets, the present residence of his son-in-law, Thomas P. St. John.

Ackleys & Hibbard began business in a wooden building, subsequently known as the " Bee Hive," that stood on the southwest corner of Buffalo and Aurora Streets. They re- moved about the year 1815 to a brick building erected by William Leslie, the first briek structure in Ithaea, situated on the north side of State (then Owego) Street, east of Aurora Street .* The west wall of this building is yet stand- ing, and forms a part of the east wall of the store of G. W. Frost.

They conducted " hat warehouses" in Ithaca and Lud- lowville, and sold for cash or farm produee.

Julius Ackley retired from the firm in June, 1820. The remaining partners, as " Ackley & Hibbard," removed in November following to their new white building on Owego Street, " a few rods west of the hotel, and directly between the two printing-offices."

Julius, after their removal, again occupied the vacated premises and continued the hatting business alone for nearly two years, when he took as partner another brother, Gib- bons J. Aekley. A few years later (1826), in connection with Ebenezer Jenkins, we find him conducting a general merchandise business on the southeast corner of Owego and Cayuga Streets, where he had previously put up a brick store, which is now occupied by Treman, King & Co., though altered and enlarged.t

Mr. Ackley continucd in active business for many years, growing old, in fact, amid all its cares and fluctuations.

In the year 1816-17, John Whiton had a cabinet-shop in a wooden building on the west side of Aurora Street, just south of Seneca. Two years afterwards he removed his business to another wooden building which stood where the east part of the Gregg Block now stands, and was in a few years succceded by his son Luther.

John Whiton died March 24, 1827, at the age of sixty- three years. Luther died in 1832, aged forty-three, leaving a considerable family. His widow and three of the surviv- ing children are yet residents of Ithaca ; one of the latter, John, ever a popular and enterprising eitizen and thriving man of business, is inseparable from the business and social life of to-day in the land of his fathers. The other sons of Luther many years since made homes and business in other places.

George Whiton, a brother of Luther, opened a cabinet and furniture establishment on Aurora Street, two or three doors south of the hotel, where he continued, with little or no intermission, until a few years ago. He has now retired from business.

THE FALL CREEK PROPERTY.

The history of this, including all that is valuable of its water-power, is one of many and successive manufacturing enterprises.

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History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 110

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 1112

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112