USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 45
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 45
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 45
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 45
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WILLIAM CAMP.
The grandfather of. Mr. William Camp resided at New Milford, in the State of Connecticut, and had four sons. First, Elisha, a physician, who settled at Catskill, and was the father of Colonel Elisha Camp, of Sacket's Harbor, and Bo- gardus Camp ; second, Danicl; third, Enos; fourth, Nathan. These were all farmers, and settled at New Milford. Nathan was the father of two daughters, who afterwards became, by marriage with gentlemen who were brothers, Mrs. Anne and Patty Stone, and remained in the town of New Milford; and four sons, Nathan, William, Anson, and Herman Camp, all of whom came to Owego, about the year 1806, with their mother, Mrs. Esther Sperry (who had then become the second time a widow), and with their half-sister, Henrietta, after- wards Mrs. Stephen B. Leonard. William was at this time twenty-ninc, and Anson twenty-two years of age. Nathan and William established themselves at once in the mercan- tile, and Anson in the pottery business. Nathan died at Owego, about the year 1818, leaving Frederick, the father of Hon. John H. Camp, at present member of Congress, George, and Nathan; and of which three children the latter only now survives. Anson always remained an in- mate of his brother William's family, and died a bachelor, universally respected and beloved, May 18, 1838. He was a member of the Assembly of the State of New York, and filled other important and responsible offices. Herman Camp, after a very brief residence at Owego, was estab- lished in the mercantile business at Trumansburg, Tomp- kins County, by his brothers Nathan and William. He was for many years one of the most prominent citizens of that county, taking a very efficient part in every benevolent work, and died at a very advanced age in 1878.
All of the brothers at Owego were among the foremost in every public enterprise ; engaging actively with their pecuniary means and personal efforts in opening routes of travel through the then unfrequented and uninhabited country, in organizing and supporting the first church (Presbyterian) at Owego, and encouraging and supporting public and private schools. Nathan was particularly active in founding a public library, many of the volumes of which have served the public even to the present time. William Camp was for several years an associate judge of the Broome County Court of Common Pleas.
June 27, 1801, a few years before coming to Owego, William Camp married Abigail Whittlesey, who was born, April 30, 1777, at Kingston, Luzerne Co., Pa., and whose father, Captain Asaph Whittlescy, a resident of the Valley of Wyoming, perished at the head of his company in the famous Wyoming massacre. Before going out to meet the Indians, Captain Whittlesey had sent his wife through the wilderness to Connecticut on horseback, in company with the Rev. Mr. Wattles, the clergyman of the valley, who
carried one of her young children before him on horseback. The future Mrs. Camp, then a babe, was placed on a raft, with a trusted man and woman servant, and floated down the Susquehanna. These servants both dying of small- pox, the young child was sought for a year after the battle by her Grandfather Whittlesey, who came from Connecticut for that purpose, and taken home and reared by him.
Mr. William Camp was killed by the explosion of the boiler of the steamboat Susquehanna, on which he was a passenger, in an attempt to ascend the Susquehanna River, at Berwick Falls, May 6, 1826. On the 10th day of July, 1838, Mrs. Camp married Hon. Stephen Strong, and died, Oct. 29, 1858, from the effects of a paralytic attack.
Two of the family of Mr. and Mrs. William Camp were born before they came from Connecticut,-Eliza (who after- wards became the wife of Hon. Ira Clizbe, and died, leaving no children, January, 1871), and Henry W., who died in January, 1874, leaving a family of five. Juliette M., the third child, is the widow of Mr. Joseph M. Ely, and resides, with several of her children, at Athens, Pa. Abigail W., the fourth child, was married to Hon. Charles C. Noble; has been left a widow, and resides at Unadilla, Otsego Co. Laura, the fifth child, was married to Dr. E. B. Phelps, of Owego, and died January, 1863. The two younger daughters are married ; Frances A., the elder of them, to A. P. Storrs, of Owego, and Charlotte C. to Jared C. Gregory, of Madison, Wis.
George Sidney Camp, the second son and child, next oldest to Mrs. Phelps, was born at Owego, Feb. 5, 1816. Having made his preparatory studies at the Owego Academy, he entered, in February, 1832, the last term of Freshman year, Yale College, from which, at the close of Sophomore year, he removed to the University of the City of New York. Leaving the university at the close of his junior year, he entered upon the study of the law, at first in the office of Stephen Strong, of Owego, and subsequently in the office of Gerardus Clark, of the city of New York. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney, May 18, 1838. He practiced law the first years of his professional life in he city of New York, a portion of the time (from Nov. 18, 1839) as a partner with Judge Thomas W. Clarke. Dec. 16, 1841, he returned to Owego and entered into partner- ship with Mr. Strong. That arrangement continued (with the exception of the two years, 1846 and 1847, that the latter was in. Congress) until the year 1856, when Mr. Strong was elected judge of Tioga County. During Mr. Camp's residence in the city of New York he contributed to the then popular Harper's Family Library a volume on " Democracy." He has never held any public office except that of district attorney of Tioga County, to which he was appointed about the year 1845.
173
AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.
rivers, while down the side terrace by terrace leap the streamlets from the mountain springs, forming eaeh again its own smaller dimple in this loveliest face of nature.
There are more romantie, wilder places than this in the world, but none more habitably beautiful. In these broad valleys, where the grain-fields, and the meadows, and the fruitful farms walled in by glorious mountain sides, not ob- trusively near, yet by their graceful outlines giving a per- petual refreshment and an hourly-changing feast to the eye, -in these valleys a man's household gods yearn for an altar. Here are mountains that to look on but onee becomes a feeling necessary to future happiness; a river at whose grandeur to marvel; and a hundred streamlets to laee about the heart. Here are fertile fields nodding with grain, “ a thousand eattle" grazing on the hills. Here is assembled in one wondrous centre a specimen of every most loved phase of Nature. Give me a cottage by one of those shining streamlets, upon one of those terraces that seem to step to Olympus, and let me ramble over those mountain sides, and grow weary with joy. He whose household gods would not be content here has no heart for a home, nor sense for the glory of Nature.
The beautiful and flourishing village of Owego, now eover- ing the major part of the valley, numbering large enough to be termed a city, was incorporated as a village April 4, 1827. The charter was amended in 1835, '37, '40, '42, '44, and' 47. By this charter the first election was held in the court- house, corner of Main and Court Streets, on the first Mon- day in June, 1827. Five trustees were elected annually thereafter, and at their first meeting one of their number was chosen to serve as president of the board during the year.
The annual elections were held in June of each year until a new charter was passed by the Legislature, on the 9th of April, 1851. By this charter the first election was held on the first Monday in June, 1851, and thereafter on the Tuesday next after the first day of January in each year.
By an amendment to the charter passed April 15, 1854, the election of a president of the village was authorized by the people, and by the same aet the village was divided into five wards, from one of each of which a trustee has sinee been annually elected.
The charter of 1851 was amended by aet of the Legis- lature in 1853, '54, '57, '60, '61, '63, '64, and '72.
TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE OF OWEGO.
1827 .- President, James Pumpelly ; Eleazer Dana, Har- mon Pumpelly, William A. Ely, James Pumpelly, Jonathan Platt ; Clerk, Ezra Smith Sweet.
1828 .- President, James Pumpelly ; Jonathan Platt, James Pumpelly, Joel S. Paige, William A. Eli, Amos Martin ; Clerk, Ezra Smith Sweet.
1829-31 .- Some leaves are missing from the record book, and the officers for these years cannot be given.
1832 .- President, Anson Camp; Henry MeCormick, Anson Camp, Sylvanus Fox, James Ely, Stephen B. Leon- ard ; Clerk, Stephen B. Leonard.
1833 .- President, Anson Camp ; Sylvanus Fox, Anson Camp, James Ely, Stephen B. Leonard, Henry MeCormick ; Clerk, Stephen B. Leonard.
1834 .- President, Jonathan Platt ; James Ely, Jonathan Platt, Sylvanus Fox, Harmon Pumpelly, Cyrus Dana; Clerk, Cyrus Dana.
1835 .- President, Harmon Pumpelly ; Jared Hunting- ton, Harmon Pumpelly, Sylvanus Fox, Lyman Truman, Cyrus Dana ; Clerk, Cyrus Dana.
1836 .- President, Latham A. Burrows; Alanson Dean, Latham A. Burrows, Asa H. Truman, Isaae B. Ogden, Cyrus Dana ; Clerk, Cyrus Dana.
1837 .- President, Latham A. Burrows; James Ely, Latham A. Burrows, Cyrus Dana, Prentice Ransom, Isaac B. Ogden ; Clerk, Cyrus Dana.
1838 .- President, Latham A. Burrows, Geo. Bacon, Latham A. Burrows, Isaac B. Ogden, Jos. C. Bell, Cyrus Dana; Clerk, Cyrus Dana.
1839 .- President, Latham A. Burrows; Nathaniel W. Davis, Latham A. Burrows, Joel S. Paige, Isaae B. Ogden, Thomas Farrington ; Clerk, Nathaniel W. Davis.
1840 .- President, Sylvanus Fox ; Charles Ransom, Syl- vanus Fox, Joseph C. Bell, Ezra S. Sweet, John R. Drake ; Clerk, John M. Parker.
1841 .- President, John R. Drake; Samuel S. Tinkham, John R. Drake, Timothy P. Patch, William Platt, Charles R. Coburn ; Clerk, Charles R. Coburn.
1842 .- President, James Wright ; Charles R. Coburn, James Wright, Thomas I. Chatfield, Nathaniel W. Davis, Abner T. True ; Clerk, Charles R. Coburn.
1843 .- President, John R. Drake ; Joseph C. Bell, John R. Drake, John J. Taylor, James Ely, Isaae B. Ogden ; Clerk, James H. Storrs.
1844 .- President, John R. Drake ; Sylvanus Fox, John R. Drake, David Wallis, Aaron P. Storrs, Isaac B. Ogden ; Clerk, James H. Storrs.
1845 .- President, John R. Drake ; Sylvanus Fox, John R. Drake, Isaae B. Ogden, David Wallis, Aaron P. Storrs ; Clerk, Aaron P. Storrs.
1846 .- President, Isaac B. Ogden ; William P. Raymond, Isaae B. Ogden, David Wallis, William Dunean, Franklin Slosson ; Clerk, none appointed.
1847 .- President, Isaae B. Ogden ; Franklin Slosson, Isaae B. Ogden, Nathaniel W. Davis, Anson Garrison, Thomas I. Chatfield ; Clerk, T. R. Dana.
1848 .- President, Isaac B. Ogden; John J. Taylor, Isaac B. Ogden, William H. Bell, Bissel Woodford, Henry N. Hubbard ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
1849 .- President, Isaac B. Ogden; Timothy Patch, Isaac B. Ogden, Henry N. Hubbard, William P. Ray- mond, William H. Bell ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
1850 .- President, Thomas Farrington ; Odell Gregory, Thomas I. Chatfield, William P. Stone, Thomas Farrington, William P. Raymond ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
1851 .- President, Charles R. Barstow ; Newell Matson, Charles R. Barstow, Walter Ogden, John Cameron, Win. B. Calhoun ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
1852 .- President, Hiram A. Beebe; Geo. W. Hollenback, Bissel Woodford, Channeey Hungerford, Edw. Raynsford, Hiram A. Beebe ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
1853 .- President, Chauncey Hungerford ; Newel Mat- son, Chauncey Hungerford, John Gorman, Abraham T. Hyde, Orin Trumuan ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
174
HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,
1854 .- President, George W. Hollenbaek ; George W. Hollenback, John R. Chatfield, James A. Dean, Moses Stevens, Abner T. True ; Clerk, William F. Warner.
1855 .- President, William F. Warner; Orin Truman, John R. Chatfield, James A. Dean, Sylvanus Fox, Abner T. True ; Clerk, Isaae Garvey.
1856 .- President, William F. Warner ; Charles Wallis, Thomas I. Chatfield, Walter Ogden, James S. Thurston, Robbins D. Willard ; Clerk, George S. Leonard.
1857 .- President, William F. Warner; Thomas Farring- ton, Bissel Woodford, Chauncey Hungerford, Sylvanus Fox, Abner T. True; Clerk, William Smyth.
1858 .- President, Nathaniel W. Davis ; John Gorman, Samuel Archibald, John M. Greenleaf, James Hill, Rob- bins D. Willard ; Clerk, George W. Fay.
1859 .- President, John J. Taylor; John Gorman, Sam- uel Archibald, Chauncey Hungerford, Sylvanus Fox, Joseph W. Cole; Clerk, E. L. Clark.
1860 .- President, N. W. Davis ; James N. Eldridge, John Ferguson, Osear F. Saunders, James Hill, Benjamin D. Terwillager ; Clerk, E. L. Clark.
1861 .- President, Isaae S. Catlin ; James N. Eldridge, John Ferguson, Osear F. Saunders, James Hill, Benjamin D. Terwillager ; Clerk, Henry R. Wells.
1862 .- President, Henry L. Bean ; George W. Hollen- baek, Abram H. Miller, Chauncey Hungerford, Sylvanus Fox, James Robbins ; Clerk, Henry R. Wells.
1863 .- President, Charles Platt ; James M. Reed, Henry P. Crane, Albert H. Keeler, William Smyth, James Rob- bins ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1864 .- President, Charles Platt; John S. Ross, Henry P. Crane, Albert H. Keeler, William Smyth, James Rob- bins ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1865 .- President, William Smyth ; John S. Ross, Fran- eis A. Bliss, Albert H. Keeler, Charles P. Goodrich, George W. Babeoek ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1866 .- President, William Smyth ; John S. Ross, Alan- son P. Dean, John J. Hooker, Anson Deeker, George W. Babeoek ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1867 .- President, William Smyth ; Frederiek K. Hull, Charles C. Thomas, John J. Hooker, Anson Deeker, Geo. W. Babeoek ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1868 .- President, Thomas I. Chatfield, Frederick K. Hull, Samuel Archibald, Warren Hooker, Ephraim H. House, Miles F. Howes ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1869 .- President, Frank L. Jones ; Frederick K. Hull, Samuel Archibald, John J. Hooker, Ephraim H. House, Jacob Van Houten ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1870 .- President, James Bishop ; Frederiek K. Hull, James Robbins, Charles M. Haywood, Wakely Speneer, Ira A. Post; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1871 .- President, Hiram A. Beebe ; Frederiek K. Hull, Charles E. Parker, Charles M. Haywood, Wakely Speneer, Anthony D. Thompson ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1872 .- President, Charles M. Haywood ; John B. Stanbrough, Johu Jones, Warren Hooker, John Barry, Anthony D. Thompson ; Clerk, Charles F. Hill.
1873 .- President, F. K. Hull ; John B. Stanbrough, John Jones, Warren Hooker, Ephraim H. House, Frank M. Baker; Clerk, Clarence A. Thompson.
1874 .- President, Ephraim H. House; Stephen Cham- berlain, John R. Chatfield, George H. Strang, Le Roy W. Kingman, Frank M. Baker ; Clerk, George F. Cameron.
1875 .- President, Asa N. Potter ; Allen Curtis, Charles Wall, Benjamin W. Brown, Le Roy W. Kingman, Orin T. Gorman ; Clerk, George F. Cameron.
1876 .- President, Dr. Jas. Wilson ; Charles P. Starr, Thos. F. Pearl, Benj. W. Brown, William A. Smyth, Frank M. Baker; Clerk, John McCormick.
1877 .- President, Frank M. Baker; Edgar P. Hold- ridge, John Morton, Benj. W. Brown, Wm. A. Smyth, Foote N. Mabee ; Clerk, John McCormick.
1878 .- President, F. N. Mabee ; John Deeker, John Morton, Hiram Shays, W. H. Maynard, George A. King ; Clerk, George F. Cameron.
THIE PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCH.
On the 7th day of August, 1810, a religious society was organized under the name and style of the "Owego Con- gregational Society," and the following persons were elected trustees, viz. : Solomon Jones, Caleb Leach, Abraliam Hoagland, William Camp, James Pumpelly, and Eleaser Doud. On the 10th day of the same month the trustees entered into a written contraet with Rev. Daniel Loring " to preach for themselves and their sueeessors in office for one-half of the time for the term of one year." No church was organized in the place until July 24, 1817. On that day a Congregational Church was formed, consisting of eleven members, viz .: Solomon Jones, Ruth Goodrich, William Jones, Sarah Goodrich, Nathan Camp, Clarissa Jones, Lorenzo Reeves, Sally Penfield, Dolly Taleott, Mary Perry, and Marjery Jones. Present, Rev. Hezekiah May, Jeremiah Osborn, and William Wisner. The church united with the Cayuga Presbytery, on the plan of union, as it was then ealled, in August, 1817. The churel trans- ferred its relation to the Tioga Presbytery on the organ- ization of that body.
On the 10th of October, 1817, in consideration of $100, Charles Pumpelly conveyed by deed to Solomon Jones, James Pumpelly, Caleb Leaeh, William Camp, John H. Avery, and Eleazer Dana, trustees of the Owego Congre- gational Society, one aere and twelve perehes of land. On this lot a house for publie worship was erected in 1819, and in 1831 it was enlarged by an extension of twenty feet to its length.
In the summer of 1854 the old edifiee was taken down, and the present one was ereeted in its place.
In consequence of a resolution adopted in the General Assembly, at its session held in Philadelphia in the spring of 1831, deelaring that no lay delegate, other than an or- dained ruling elder, could have a place on the floor of that body, this ehureh in July, 1831, " unanimously agreed by vote to abandon the Congregational mode of governing the ehureh in this place, and adopt the Presbyterian mode, as laid down in the Presbyterian Directory."
At the same time the ehureh made ehoiee of the follow- ing persons to be set apart in a constitutional manner as ruling elders, viz. : Deaeon Solomon Jones, William Platt, Eleazer Dana, and William Pumpelly. "July 31, 1831, elders set apart."
HON. STEPHEN STRONG,
who was for many years the foremost advocate in Tioga County, and who for forty years maintained an extensive practice in the courts of the neighboring counties of New York and Pennsylvania, was born Oct. 11, 1791. His parents removed from his native State (Connecticut) when he was yet very young to Jefferson County. He acquired his education at Clinton Academy. About the year 1814 or 1815 he came to and settled at Owego. He at first taught a select school there, and afterwards engaged in the study of law. Having been admitted to practice, he soon acquired very great popularity as an advo- cate. He had great natural gifts as an orator, and uncommon tact in cross-examining witnesses. He was particularly sought for in desperate and difficult cases, and no lawyer in this section of country, before or sinee his time, has been employed in so large a number of murder trials as he. He was never a profound lawyer, but he had an unusual command of language, a great fund of humor, was remarkably quick at repartee, and a good judge of human nature. He had great kindness and goodness of heart. Added to all this were great sociability, and a geniality of temperament that continued to the
end of his life, and that made him a most aceeptable companion to old and young, learned and unlearned. He was a man of very extensive reading, and very general intelligence and information.
In 1838 he married Mrs. Abigail, widow of Mr. William Camp.
He filled for several years the office of district attorney of the county of Tioga. In 1845 he was chosen to represent the then Twenty-sixth District of the State of New York in Congress, and about the year 1856 he was elected county judge of Tioga County.
A few years after the death of his first wife, which took place in 1858, he married Mrs. Woodruff, of Watertown, and removed to that place. The mar- riage proved to be an eminently happy one to both of the parties, though contracted by them at an advanced period of life. He was as welcome, and made himself as beloved, by the family of the second wife as he had been by all of the members of the family of the first one.
He died, of typhoid pneumonia, an exemplary Christian man, universally esteemcd and regretted, April 5, 1866.
GURDON HEWITT.
Gurdon Hewitt was one of the leading capitalists of the southern tier of counties of the State of New York. He was the first president of the Bank of Owego, chartered in 1836, and subsequently, for a number of years, its cashier.
He was born in New London, in the State of Connecticut, on the 5th day of May, 1790. His parents removed to a farm near the village of Oxford, in the county of Chenango, N. Y., when he was six years of age. His early life was spent in the active labors of the farm, from which, however, he contrived to find sufficient intervals for study to allow hini to acquire a more than usually good common education at the then flourishing Academy of Oxford. His father, whilst living at Oxford, was ruined, pecuniarily, by an un- fortunate indorsement of a friend's paper. As Mr. Hewitt approached his majority the ambition for more profitable employment prompted him to find his way to the city of New York, in search of a clerkship. Without an acquaint- ance or a friend in the great metropolis, and with hardly means enough in his pocket to reach the city, he associated himself with a man who was going to Newburg on horseback in a plan to " ride and tie,"-an arrangement by which one of them, after riding a few miles ahead, tied the horse by the roadside, and then went on afoot until the other, who had thus been left in the rear, taking his turn on foot, should come up, unhitch and mount the horse, overtake and pass some miles beyond the first, and hiteh ; and so on, alternately, each going over a brief route of a few miles, first on horseback, and then another on foot, until the jour-' ney was accomplished. From Newburg he took passage, by a sloop, to the city. Onec there, he readily found ein- ployment in a store by leaving his compensation to the option of his employer. The engagement proved to be a satisfactory one to both parties. Having thus remained in New York about a year, he was engaged in the capacity of book-keeper, by Mr. Burr, a celebrated bridge-builder, then about to undertake the construction of the bridge over the Susquehanna River, near Northumberland. He continued in Mr. Burr's employment until the bridge was completed, when he removed to Towanda, Bradford Co., Pa., and established himself, with his then limited means, in business as a merchant. In the conduct of this business he was eminently successful. During his residence at Towanda he filled, for several years, the position of county treasurer.
He married for his first wife the daughter of Mr. Means, of that place. She having died and left no children, he married, on the 17th day of May, 1821, Miss Charlotte Platt, daughter of Major Jonathan Platt, of Nichols, Tioga
Co., N. Y., and in the spring of 1823 removed to and set- tled at Owego, where he continued to reside until his death.
For many years after his removal to Owego he followed the business of a merchant. But he interested himself actively in all the enterprises that, at that early period, laid the foundation for the subsequent prosperity of the place. *
He was always especially prominent to sustain and carry forward every educational effort, and from the time of the foundation of the Owego Academy until near the period of his death, he took the foremost part in its management as a member of the board of trustees, of which he was, during most of this period, the president. He gave dili- gent personal attention to everything that related to the success of the institution, and was a frequent inspector of its classes. He was a man of large reading and more than ordinary literary taste and culture. As a business man he was of much more than ordinary sagacity and skill, far out- stripping his neighbors and contemporaries. Settling by the side of them after they were long established, he soon acquired, by the aseendency of his personal qualities alone, the means of retiring from business, and, after about the year 1847, devoted himself to the safe and successful in- vestment and management of the large property he had thus acquired. He never speculated, and he never made any bad debts. To the latter circumstance he himself was in the habit of attributing a large share of his success as a business man. His judgment never failed him on a busi- ness question, and he formed his opinions of men with in- stinctive quickness and accuracy. He had no vanity to gratify and did not care for display. He always rejoiced in the success of others, and cared but little for the envious criticisms of those who were made jealous by his own good fortune. He never forfeited his word, nor was he ever false to a trust reposcd in him. He was always ready to listen patiently to the plans of others who sought him for that purpose, and to place at their service all of his experience and sagacity, that made him invaluable as a counselor. His general intelligence, extensive information, quick ob- servation, and kecn and eaustic style made him a most agreeable man in society, either to the learned student or the unlearned practical man. As a business man he was the ablest of the many able citizens possessed by Owego during his active period of life.
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