History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 19

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 19
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 19
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 19
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 19

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).

$10,000

From 1798 to 1806, when Broome was organized 28,343

1807 to 1822, when the towns of Tompkins County were taken off ..

92,799

1823 to 1836, when Chemung County was taken off ..

123,780

1837 to 1850 (valuation 1850, $1,985,496) ..

235,782

1851 to 1860 (

1860, $5,433,164).

362,113

1861 to 1870 (

1870,$5,501,002) ..

1,253,605

1871 to 1877 (

1877, $5,344,599).

972,027

Total since 1791.

$3,078,449

Total paid by Tioga County, as at present

limited in area, 1837 to 1877

$2,823,527

The heaviest tax paid in one year was that of 1864, the amount being $221,365, on a valuation of $5,341,436.

Corporate property assessed in 1877 for taxation in Tioga County :

Valuation.

Taxation.

Eric Railway.

$315,000

$7,761.00

Southern Central Railroad ..

149,690

3,515.22

Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre Railroad.

78,350

1,717.40

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad

78,000

1,745.20

Utica, Ithaca and Elmira Railroad.

50,765

1,163.30

Pennsylvania and New York Railroad.

10,000

177.00

Total, Railroads.

$681,805

$16,079.12

Banks

192,132

5,368.32

Other Corporations.

29,100

937.89

Total

$903,037

$22,385.33

THE STATE LOANS.

On April 18, 1786, bills of credit to the amount of £200,000 New York currency werc emitted by the State for the relief of the people in the way of a circulating medium, and loaned to the respective counties according to their population. Loan commissioners were appointed by the Governor in cach county, to manage and loan the fund on real estate security at five per cent. per annum, the loan

to run fourteen years, and the amounts limited to £300 to any one person. These bills of credit were counterfeited, and in February, 1788, new bills were printed in lieu of those in circulation, and the original issue retired, and death pronounced on all counterfeiters of the new issuc. In 1792, 1796, and 1808 additional loans were made to the counties by the sale of bonds creating a State debt, the funds being distributed, as before, pro rata, on the basis of population, and commissioners appointed for the new loan and more liberal terms granted as to amounts to a single individual. The county was made responsible for the security of the loan. The amount received by Tioga County of the loan of 1792 was $6500, and of that of 1808, $5664; total, $12,164. These sums were loaned to different individuals in the county, as the same was then constituted, and re- maincd on loan as a separate fund and under a distinct board of commissioners until 1850, when the balance on loan, $1946, was merged in the

UNITED STATES DEPOSIT FUND

of $40,699,36, received from the State in 1836.

The State apportioned the amount received to the coun- ties by act of April 4, 1837.

This fund was the portion of Tioga County in the sur- plus moneys in the United States Treasury deposited by the Federal Government with the several States of the Union. The interest arising from the fund is appropriated to the general school fund of the State for distribution, except a certain portion, which is applied each year to aug- ment the permanent fund.

The State loans were paid back to the State, except the amount transferred, the Board of Supervisors declining to retain it longer, and pay the deficiencies arising from time to time on default of interest and losses on foreclosures. The amount on loan Nov. 27, 1877, as per report of the commissioners, was $28,167.60, and cash in hands of com- missioners, $840.

BONDED INDEBTEDNESS

of the county, court-house bonds, $35,000. Of the towns, for railroad aid :

Towns.

Railroads.

Am't of Subscription.

Bonds outstanding.

Bonds Paid March 1, 1878.

In't Paid March 1, 1878. $208,400.48

Total Am't Paid. $227,100.48

Newark.

45,600

41,300

4,300

29,398.63

33,698.63

Richford

45,000

35,500

9,500

38,849.31

48,349.31

Berkshire.

31,800

5,200

21,497,58

26,697.58

Total Southern Central.

$417,600

$379,900

$37,700

$298,146.00

$335,846.00

Spencer, Geneva, Ithaca, and Sayre.

25,000

21,500

3,500

- 140.51

17,551.00

Total to Railroads

$442,600

$401,400

$41,200

$312,197.00

$353,397.00

Add County Bonds

35,000

Total Indebtedness

$436,400

Oswego

.Southern Central

$290,000

$271,300

$18,700

37,000

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

CHAPTER XVII.

THE COUNTY SEAT OF JUSTICE.

Public Buildings-Court-Houses-Clerks' Offices-County Jails- Poor-Houses and Asylums-The County's Charitable Donations.

THE SEAT OF JUSTICE

of the county of Tioga has been variously located, and in the earlier history of the county was a sort of floating cap- ital, vibrating between the eastern and western extremes of the county, sometimes possessing a dual nature, and again being unified. It was a prolific source of contention and jealousy in the days when Tioga nourished within her bosom the children that have since gone out therefrom and " set up" for themselves, which was generally kept down by sharing the honors and profits, if any there were, of the county-seat between rival towns.

In the act of erection of the county, in 1791, the courts were, as before stated, directed to be held at the house of George Hornwell, in the town of Chemung, which house was located on the site of the present city of Elmira. In July, 1791, the supervisors and judges of the county selected a site whereon to erect a court-house and jail, which was east of Nanticoke Creek, in the village of Che- mango, in the town of Union, now in Broome County. The act passed for the erection of such court-house and jail March 18, 1792, and directed the courts to be adjourned after the June term, 1792, to the house of Nehemiah Spalding, near-Nanticoke, and to be held thereat until the court-house was ready for occupancy. Prisoners were to be confined in the Montgomery County jail until the new jail was fit to confine them in. The supervisors were also directed to mect at Spalding's on the first Tuesday of May, 1792, and levy a tax of £300 with which to erect the said public buildings, and the judges were to meet at the same time and place and appoint commissioners to superintend the construction of the buildings.

An act passed Jan. 14, 1793, provided for half-shire towns for the county, and declared that a building erected at Newtown Point (Ehuira) for a jail should be deemed the county jail of Tioga County until further provision was made by the Legislature. The courts were directed to be held at Chenango, at the house of Joshua Whitney and at the county jail alternately. On March 25, 1794, the loan officers of the county were required to meet at Chenango and Newtown alternately. On March 7, 1795, the sheriff was directed to reckon his mileage from Nanticoke bridge, in Union. On March 31, 1801, an act was passed dividing Tioga County into two jury districts, and directing the courts to be held at a new court-house in Chenango, and the old one in Newtown ; and an act passed April 7, 1801, required the Board of Supervisors to meet in annual session at the village of Owego. On March 20, 1804, an act was passed requiring the clerk's office to be removed to a central posi- tion in the county, not more than three miles from Owego village and on the north side of the Susquehanna River.

In the act erecting Broome County, passed March 28, 1806, the courts of Tioga County were required to be held at Newtown, in the court-house in that village. In 1810

the county was again divided into two jury districts, and Spencer made one of the half-shire towns, and a deputy clerk required to be appointed who should live within two miles of the court-house at Spencer. The other shire-town was Elmira, and the courts were held alternately at the two places. An act of March 14, 1817, required the Board of Supervisors to meet in annual session at Spen- cer, and another of Feb. 20, 1818, revived the act to divide the county into two jury districts until 1819, and directed the sheriff to charge mileage from the court-house in Spencer. After June 1, 1819, the courts were to be held in the court- house at Spencer. On March 22, 1822, the Legislature was again invoked to change the status of the county-seat, and passed an act dividing the county into two jury districts, the eastern onc comprising the towns of Tioga, Spencer, Danby, Caroline, Candor, Berkshire, and Owego, and the western one the towns of Cayuta, Catharine, Chemung, and Elmira ; also provided for court-houses and jails at Owego and the village of Newtown, the courts to be held alternately at the two villages-in Owego, at the house of Erastus O. Marsh, and in the old court-house at Newtown,-until the new buildings were ready for use. The supervisors were to meet alternately at the two places. On Feb. 20, 1826, another act was passed requiring the supervisors to nieet as above. The half-shire act remained in force until the crection of Chemung County, in 1836, when the county- seat was located permanently at Owego, and has since so remained to the present.

COURT-HOUSES AND JAILS.

The first court-house and jail provided for Tioga was one authorized to be built by the act of March 18, 1792, passed on the petition of the judges, justices, and supervisors of the county, for power to raise money for the purpose of erecting such buildings. A tax was authorized of £300, exclusive of the collectors' fees of ninepence in the pound. The supervisors were required to meet at Nanticoke, at the house of Nehemiah Spalding, and levy the tax on the first Tuesday in May, 1792, which was to be paid to the treas- urer of the county before Oct. 1, 1793. This building was erected in the village of Chenango (now Broome County). In the mean time prisoners were to be confined in the Montgomery County jail until the new jail was ready for occupancy. Before Jan. 14, 1793, the people of the village of Newtown had erected a building of hewn logs and well clapboarded, which, on that date, the Legis- lature declared to be the county jail of Tioga County until other provision was legally made. This building also served as a court-house, the upper room being used for the sessions of the courts. In this old building presided such judicial luminaries as Hobart, Benson, Livingston, Spencer, Kent, Van Ness, Platt, Thompson, Yates, Woodworth, Tonip- kins, and others of that corps of New York jurists, whose fame for erudition and legal lore is as wide as the bounda- ries of the nation. Its walls once re-echoed with the elo- quent appeals and close logic of Mathews, Howell, Ed- wards, Haight, William Wisner, Johnson, Woodcock, Strong, Sedgwick, Avery, Sherwood, Joshua A. Spencer, Collier Koukle, and others of the barristers of the early days. Not a vestige now remains of the old court-house where it

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

once stood, at the corner of Church and Sullivan Streets, as the city of Elmira is now laid.

In 1798 jail liberties were first provided for by law, and were limited to three acres.

In 1810 an act was passed for the erection of a court- house in Spencer, the site, containing two acres, being re- ceived from Andrew Purdy, Sept. 28, 1810. Andrew Purdy was the contractor who erected the building, re- cciving $5000 for the work. The entire cost of the court- house was $5595.60. Samuel Westbrook was the super- intendent of construction. The site was fixed by commis- sioners appointed by the act. An act of Feb. 20, 1818, authorized the Board of Supervisors to raise $1500 to build a fire-proof clerk's office at Spencer, and Joshua Ferris, Henry Miller, and Abel Hart were appointed commissioners to contract the work and superintend the same. The office was built this same year by Andrew Purdy. The court- house at Spencer was destroyed by fire in 1821, and an act was passed Mareh 22, 1822, changing the boundaries of the county and dividing it into two jury districts, and author- izing the crection of a court-house and jail at Owego, and also at Newtown (Elmira). The act made it the duty of the supervisors at their annual mecting in October, 1822, to levy a tax of $4000, and in 1823 another of $2000, for the erection of the said buildings, providing that no tax should be levied until $2000 were raised by voluntary subscription, and actually paid or secured to be paid to the treasurer for erecting such buildings. The county was authorized as soon as the $2000 was raised to loan $4000 for two years. Lots for building sites were to be conveyed free of expense to the supervisors in both villages, and the com- missioners-Jolin R. Drake, Anson Camp, and Charles Pumpelly for Owego, and Stephen Tuthill, Matthew Car- penter, and William Jenkins for Newtown-were to draw onc-half of the money respectively for the construction of the respective buildings. Jail limits were directed to be set off in Owego of 250 acres. The supervisors could not agree with Andrew Purdy as to his claims for building the clerk's office, and thereupon the legislative power was in- voked, and Richard Townley, Richard Smith, and Luther Gere were appointed commissioners to examine and allow Mr. Purdy's cquitable claims. This appointment was made April 12, 1822, after the act changing the location of the shire-town. He was paid $1139. An act passed April 17, 1822, authorized the trustees of the village of Owego to convey a tract of land to the county authorities for court- house purposes, from a tract conveyed to the Owego settle- ment by James McMaster. This act also authorized the commissioners for building the new eourt-house to demand and receive all materials, of iron and otherwise, taken from the ruins of the burned building at Spencer. In 1824 the clerk's office at Spencer was sold for $210, and a new one ordered to be built at Owego, which was erected in 1825 at a cost of $792; $600 were raised for the purpose on the taxable property of the eastern jury distriet. The furnishing of the office with cases, stoves, etc., cost $77. The court-house at Owego was creeted in 1824.

The next move for public buildings was made at the annual meeting of the Board of Supervisors in 1851, when a resolution was passed that a new jail should be built, and

Messrs. Mills, IIollenback, and Miller appointed a building committee. The plans for building the same which were adopted required the building to be made of brick, and " lined with two-inch oak plank, and one-twelfth-inch iron spiked to the bond timbers, and confined at top and bottom by bars of iron two and a half by three-fourth inches, placed horizontally, and bolted also to the bond timbers." A loan of $6000 was authorized for the purpose of construction. The building cost about the whole of the appropriation. This building is the one at present in usc, though it has bcen thoroughly overhauled and rebuilt internally. In 1852 general repairs were made on the court-house to the amount of about $2000. At the annual meeting of 1854 the supervisors voted to build a new clerk's office, to eost $5000, and appointed a committee to receive proposals. The office was erccted in 1855 at a cost of $2200. A bell was put into the court-house cupola in 1855. In 1857 a barn was built on the court-house lot costing about $800. In 1860 the supervisors contracted with the Monroc County penitentiary to confine Tioga County prisoners in that prison for $1.25 per weck for four months and under, and $1 per week for sentenees over four months; the contract to run for five years. This contract has since been continued from ycar to year at an agreed price per weck for subsisting the prisoners. At the August term of the Oyer and Terminer, 1868, the court-house and jail were indicted for insufficiency and insecurity. In 1869, at the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, a resolution for building a new court-house was adopted, and J. A. Nichols, J. H. Deming, and F. O. Cable appointed a committee on plans and estimates. This action did not seem to have been successful, for at the annual meeting of 1870 other resolu- tions to build a court-house and jail, and to raise $5000 the then eoming year, were adopted, and another committee ou site, plans, specifications, and estimates appointed, consisting of J. H. Deming, John J. Taylor, and Daniel M. Pitcher. The old committee was discharged on making their report. A special meeting of the board was held Dec. 20, 1870, at which the committee reported on several lots offered as sites of the new court-house, among them the public square. The latter was accepted provided the village authorities would convey the same to the county in fee. At an adjourned mecting held January 12, 1871, the trustecs of Owego reported their willingness to convey the public park, by leasc, dced, or otherwise, to the county, and to take steps at once for proper legislation to authorize sueh proceedings. The board resolved to accept the park as a site for the court- house, and to locate the proposed building centrally therein, and appointed a committee to receive the transfer. A building committee was appointed consisting of D. M. Pitcher, Lucien Horton, and H. A. Beebe. On Feb. 1, 1871, the trustees of the village agreed to deed a tract 200 fect in width, and running through the park from Court to Park Street, in the centre of the park, for court-house pur- poses, no other buildings to be put on the park by either party, and the county to build the court-house according to the spceifieations adopted by the then present Board of Su- pervisors, which were Howe's plan with some modifications. On March 21, 1871, the committee reported the receipt of the deed from the village, and advertisement and reception

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

of bids on Howe's plan and specifications. Eight bids were received, and that of Keeler and Houk for $55,700 accepted, not as the lowest but as the best, they being builders of known skill and reliability. The report of the committee was adopted and their action approved, and Miles F. Howe appointed supervising architect. Bonds to the amount of $30,000 were ordered to be issued by the treasurer, and sold for court-house purposes, payable in 1874-75-76. At the annual meeting of 1871 the build- ing committee reported several important changes in the plans of the building, and other proposed ehanges entailing more expense, which were authorized and confirmed; $10,000 additional bonds were authorized, which; with $10,000 raised in 1871 and 1872, amounted to $50,000 appropriated for the work to date. At the annual meeting on the report of the building committee, the further sum of $8500 in bonds was authorized to be issued, payable Feb. 1, 1878. The committee reported a change in the plans respecting the tower and roof adding a cost of $3500 to the contraet, which was approved. The building was completed and accepted in 1873.

The building committee reported the entire cost of the building, including stone walks in the park and about the court-house, heaters, sewers, gas-fixtures, and furniture, ctc., at $65,318.90, and the report was approved. The county clerk was directed to move the papers and records from the clerk's office to the new building, and the county judge and surrogate to occupy the room set apart for those offices. In 1874 some reconstruction was needed and ordered in the basement, and finishing work on the stone copings and portieoes, costing, together with a well, about $2000. At the annual meeting of 1875 the Board of Su- pervisors voted to give the old court-house to the Tioga County Agricultural Society, which gift was accepted by the society, and the building was removed to the grounds of the society in 1876. In 1875, sidewalks and gutters were ordered on the sides and ends of the park, and were constructed at a cost of $1905.68, including the flagging of the basement. Thus the total cost of the court-house at the present time, exelusive of interest paid and to be paid on aeeount thereof, has been $69,224.58. Interest to the amount of $17,085.99 has been paid to Nov. 1, 1877, and there are bonds outstanding and unpaid, falling due Feb. 1, 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884, of $35,000, reissued to take up the first issue, falling due 1875, '76, '77, '78. The bonds draw 7 per cent. interest, and were sold at par. The county jail was thoroughly overhauled and rebuilt inter- nally in 1877-78, at a cost of over one thousand dollars. The clerk's office is rented to the village for fire and police purposes.

The court-house is 70 by 90 feet on the ground, and 46 feet from the ground to the eave-cornice of the main building. The two main towers arc 115 feet high, and situated at the northwest and southeast angles of the building. The towers on the northeast and southwest angles are each 92 feet high. The architecture is a com- bination of the Grecian with the modern styles. The foun- dations of the building are laid about 6 feet below the surface, and rest on a gravel bed ; tower walls being 4 feet thick at base, and main walls 3 feet 4 inches at basc. The

foundation walls are built battering to the top of the ground, at which point the tower walls are 2 feet 8 inches, and the main walls 2 feet 4 inches. The foundation is faced from the ground line to water-table, with ashler picked face and drive margin stone, from the Auburn quarries. The towers and main building are strengthened by buttresses projecting 12 inches from main walls of first story, and 8 inches second story. The walls above foundation are made of smooth, hard-burned brick. The stone-work above the founda- tion facing is of Onondaga County Reservation limestone. There are three outside entrances, with moulded cut-stone work, the main entranees being at the north and south sides of the building. The stone-work of the porticoes of the main entrances is very finely executed. The cornice of the building is relieved by gables between the four towers, lighted with circular windows; the north and south gables also liave tablets containing the name of the building and date of erection,-" Tioga County Court-House, 1872," -- in raised, cut-stone letters. A fire-proof vault is provided for the surrogate's office and the county clerk's office, eon- sisting of two rooms, practically fire-proof and very conve- niently arranged. The sheriff's office and that of the dis- triet attorney are on the same floor with the elerk and county judge and surrogate, and all are roomy and pleasant. A main hall extends through the building from north to south 12 feet wide, and another hall leads from the east side of the building, giving access to the county judge's and clerk's offices, and connecting with the main hall. The grand-jury room, 20 by 36 fect, is on the first floor, on the west side of the main hall, and is used also by the Board of Supervisors for its meetings. The court-room, jury-rooms, and witness'-rooms oceupy the second floor, the former being 52 by 60 feet, and the others 16 fcet square. The court-room is finished in chestnut and black walnut, and is lighted by 14 large, oval-topped windows, provided with in- side ash and chestnut blinds, as all of the windows are. The bar inclosure is 16 by 32 feet, and the judge's bench in the east is finely wrought in chestnut and black walnut carvings and panelings. The building is warmed by four heaters in the basement. The Tioga County court-house may be said truthfully to be an ornament to the beautiful village in which it rears its towers, and a credit to the grand old county which honors it by its name.

The county jail is a two-story brick edifice fronting di- rectly on Main Street, next east of the park ; is 34 by 36 feet on the ground, containing four rooms for the sheriff's use for dwelling purposes, with a prison in the rear contain- ing eight cells, four of them 6 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 2 inches, and four 9 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 2 inches in the clear. A corridor, 12 feet 3 inches wide in front, and 6 feet 6 inches on the other three sides, extends about the cells.

At the laying of the corner-stone of the new court-house very impressive and interesting ceremonies were held by the Masonic order, a large concourse of the fraternity, among them many distinguished members of the order, being present. Charles A. Munger was the poct, and Hon. John J. Taylor the orator, of the occasion. The poem of Mr. Munger will be found in connection with the history of the bar.

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

THE COUNTY POOR-HOUSE AND ASYLUM.

The poor-house system* was adopted by the supervisors of Tioga County in 1828, and an aet was passed April 18, 1829, by the Legislature authorizing the county to raise by tax $3000 in each of the jury distriets of the county to build a poor house in each district, the sum raised in each district to be used exclusively in that district. A farm of sixty acres was bought in the castern distriet, now Tioga County, and a house built in 1836-37, a loan of $2000 being cffected of the State for the purpose, and one of $1500 of the Owego Bank, and three superintendents of the poor were appointed in each district. The details of these buildings cannot now be given, owing to the loss or misplacement of the records of the Board of Supervisors for the years between 1828 and 1845.

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.

History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 19

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