History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 76

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 76
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 76
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 76
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 76

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).

In the course of his public life he made the acquaint- ance of such men as Zephaniah Platt, William Duer, John Bay, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Thomas Thomas, Melancthon Smith, Marks Platner, and others, which may account for those men having large land patents in the town and county of Chemung, in addition to those Orange County men, the Seeleys, Bartolph, Cuddeback, Hetfield, Sufferns, Tuthills, and others. Besides the surveyor, De Witt, and the com- missioners, Cantine, Hathorn, and Clinton, took good eare of themselves. Three patents, of seven hundred acres each, comprising the land whereon stands the city of Elmira, were granted severally to Moses De Witt, Henry Wisner, and Charles Clinton.

Jeffery Wisner, the son of Henry, became the grantee from the State of lot No. 191, lying partly within the present limits of the eity of Elmira, and extending to the top of the " east hill." Of an undivided half of this lot of one hundred and seventy-one aeres, Jeffery Wisner, in June, 1823, made a deed of gift to his son, John W., who had, in the year previous, when he was twenty-one years old, left his father's house with his wife, and pushed his way to the then far West, with a view to becoming a tiller of the soil. But in this avocation he did not seem to prosper, being more fond of the sports than the labors of the field, so that in five years the farm was let to a stranger, reconveyed to the father, and the subject of our narrative, having buried his wife, and left with a family of small

284

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

children, was compelled to set out upon a new and untried course of life.

His early education was such only as could be obtained in the common schools of his native town, nothing more. But he was a man of reading, and possessed of a remarkably tena- cious memory. He had a fondness for politics, was large- hearted, outspoken, manly, and liberal. He thus became the idol of the people, and when he came before them for their suffrages he made extensive inroads in the ranks of his opponents.

Upon his failure, as above referred to, he entered upon the long seven years' course then required to entitle one to admission to the bar of the Supreme Court, and set himself down in the office of A. K. Gregg, Esq., Blackstone in hand. In 1834 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace. In 1835 he was married to Miss Mary Ann Butler, who was the daughter of an old resident of Elmira, and went back to the farm of his father.

Judge Wisner continued to officiate as justice of the peace for two if not three terms of four years each. Having a well-balanced mind, and being a strictly honest man, with- out strong prejudices, his judgments were always respected even by those to whom they were adverse.

Judge Wisner was repeatedly clected supervisor of the town, succeeding against all sorts of opposition and every kind of hostile combinations. He was always chosen chair- man of the board.

In 1836, having then been admitted to the court of Com- mon Pleas as an attorney, he formed a law-partnership with Ariel S. Thurston, which continued for twelve years, or till he was chosen judge, as hereafter stated. In 1837, with confidence fully restored in his son's ability to maintain a family, his father reconveyed to him the whole of lot 191. In 1839 he was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court.

In the year 1846 Judge Wisner was the Democratic nominee for Congress, in the district composed of Chemung, Yates, and Tompkins Counties, and was beaten by his Whig competitor, William T. Lawrence, by less than twenty votes. To the " old Hunker" faction belonged the honor of this defeat.

In 1847, upon the adoption of the new constitution, he was put in nomination and elected county judge and surro- gate of the county of Chemung. The duties of those offices he continued to discharge till 1850, when he resigned, and his law partner was elected his successor.

In 1848 he, for the second time, was put in nomination for Congress by the Democratic party, and was again beaten by a majority of less than twenty votes by his Whig com- petitor, William T. Jackson, and by the defection of a thousand, more or less, from the Democratic ranks, under the leadership of Colonel Hathaway, who headed the forlorn hope of " old Hunkers."

Soon after these political campaigns, necessarily excited and laborious, the health of Judge Wisner began visibly to decline, and, although at intervals nature seemed to rally, it was clearly perceptible to his friends that he must, at a period not far distant, succumb to the King of Terrors. Hc continued, however, to attend to business for the greater part of the time during the ensuing three years, and lived

until the 24th day of April, 1852, when he died in the full meridian of his usefulness, having accumulated a hand- some property, and having made ample provision for his children, nine of whom survived him.

In closing this brief sketch of one who, in his time, occupied so prominent a place in the annals of this county, we do no more than justice to his memory when we say that no man ever went to his grave more regretted by all classes of men in the circle in which he moved. Had the early training of Judge Wisner been with a professional life in view his success could have scarcely been more than it really was; his gifts of mind and heart were so much above the stamp of ordinary men.

Between Judge Wisner and the hero of that work of fiction written by Wm. Wirt, " Patrick Henry," there are some striking points of similarity. The former, like the latter, possessed but a limited education. Both embarked in early life in pursuits in which they failed. Both were addicted to sports of the field. The favorite study of both was that of human character. Both resorted late in life to the profession of the law, and both were possessed of that kind of natural eloquence which moves the masses. But the parallel ends here. Judge Wisner, from being some- what erratic as well as independent in thought and action, failed to succeed in his political aspirations. But he carried with him to his grave a perfect title to the character awarded to Brutus,-

" His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, 'This was a man.'"

JOHN ARNOT

was born in Perthshire, Scotland, on the 25th of Septem- ber, 1793, making him at the time of his death a little over cighty years of age. His father emigrated from Scot- land, with his family, in the year 1801, and settled in the vicinity of Albany, this State. In the neighborhood of that city Mr. Arnot spent his time until the year 1817, engaged in various occupations, and living the life of one who had been born to that heritage which most of the best men in the world have seen,-a poor boy's lot. During that year he came to this city (then called Newtown), and, with the assistance of Mr. Egbert Egberts, a merchant of Albany, who reposed full confidence in his integrity, com- menced his mercantile career, in the year 1819, in a build- ing just below Fox Street, on Water, which had been occupied by Lyman Covell.

By care, patience, and economy, Mr. Arnot, after a few years, was enabled to buy out Mr. Egbert's interest, and own the establishment himself. In the year 1824 he mar- ried Harriet, daughter of Stephen Tuttle, then one of the prominent men of the place, and still remembered by many. He was associated with Mr. Tuttle in the mercantile bus- iness from 1831 for several years, when Mr. Tuttle retired, and Mr. Arnot continued alone. In the year 1841 he sold out to Partridge & Hill.

During the decade from 1831 to 1841, he built a foun- dry on Lake Street, occupying the spot where the Opera- House now stands, and brought to Elmira, in the year 1834,

بـ٢

285

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

the first steam-engine ever in operation here. He had also invested quite largely in real estate, and had bceome inter- ested in the Chemung Canal Bank, and, as one of its direc- tors, had given much time and attention to the management of its affairs. Mr. Arnot's connection with the bank, as cashier, in 1841, at once gave it solidity, and secured the desired confidence of the publie, which it has since retained. During these years, also, he built his residence on Lake Street, where he resided until his deeease, Nov. 17, 1873.

In the year 1848, associated with Constant Cook, John Magee, I. S. Stranahan, and Charles Cook, they relieved the Eric road from its straitened condition, and under- took its construction from Binghamton to Elmira, fur- nishing the money and taking their pay in the bonds of the company. Their contract was subsequently extended to Corning. Soon after this Mr. Arnot was elected a director in the company, and for many years lent to the interests of the road his sagacity and judicious business ability.

In 1852, having obtained control of the Chemung Canal Bank, he was elected its president, with his son, John Arnot, Jr., as cashier. Being largely interested in the Junction Canal, in 1854 he was elected president of the company constructing it ; and soon after, the gas-works eom- ing into his hands, the manner in which this necessary article was furnished to the city fully attested the care and good judgment that marked all the operations with which he was connected.

For the last ten years prior to his decease he was largely engaged in mining, owning entirely, or being interested in, some of the most productive coal mines of the country.

Mr. Arnot was never a partisan in any political sense. Previous to the formation of the Republican party he aeted with the Whigs, and sinee with the Democrats. He was never an aspirant for any office, and never held any except the honorary position of member of the Board of Education from 1859 to 1866, during the formation of our present system of free schools,-a subject in which he took a lively interest, and which he lived to sec brought to perfection.

In 1858 he was the Democratic nominee for member of Congress, and failed of election on account of a Republican majority, but only by a small minority.

Mr. Arnot was a just and generous man from principle. Many will remember being carried safely over a crisis in their affairs when no other hand than his would help. His heart was filled with true sympathy for all mankind, a faet which in many ways, unknown to the world, was constantly demon- strated. In a life of severe and never-ending labor, al- though he acquired large wealth, he never outgrew his natural manhood.

After half a century of active business, having partially recovered from a stroke of paralysis, he made a second trip to the scenes of his childhood in Scotland, and remained over a year, visiting many health-restoring places in Europe. Upon his return, however, a second stroke of paralysis pros- trated him, from which he partially recovered, but not to take an active part in business.

Extracts from the minutes of the action taken by the banks and the Common Council of the eity upon his death will express more fully the high esteem in which he was held by those who best knew him in the business cirele :

ACTION OF THE BANKS.

" At a meeting of the officers of the several banks of this city, held Nov. 18, 1873, at the Second National Bank, on the oceasion of the death of John Arnot, Sr., the following resolutions were adopted :

" Resolved, That owing to the high character of the deceased, his sterling ability as a banker, the purity of his principles, the consci- entious regard for truth and justice which characterized all his deal- ings, this city has lost its ablest financier, and one of its best eiti- zens.

BY THE COMMON COUNCIL.

" Resolved, That in the death of John Arnot, Sr., for half a century an honored and eminent citizen, this community has sustained a severe and irreparable loss. When one so long and so largely identi- fied with the progress and prosperity of our city, so universally re- spected and deserving of respect, is taken away, it is fitting and proper that the city in its corporate capacity should take notice of the event. . . . "

LYMAN COVELL

was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., April 16, 1795. His father, Dr. Matthew Covell, was a native of Glastonbury, Conn., born in the year 1760, and settled at Wilkesbarre when a young man, where he practiced the profession of

Photo. by Larkin.

quan trill

medicine the remainder of his life, and ranked among the first as a physician and surgeon. He was a man of devout Christian principles, and had the confidence of a large circle of acquaintances. He died in 1813, leaving a widow (maiden name was Orello Tuttle) and five sons and one daughter. The mother died in 1845, aged cighty-one years.

Of this family of children only two are living,-Mrs. Dr. Howell, now a resident of Ehnira, N. Y., and in her

286

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

seventy-sixth year of age, and the subject of this narrative, who has resided longer in Elmira than any man now living here. His father dying when he was only fourteen years of age, Lyman two years after came to Elmira and engaged as a clerk in his eldest brother, Robert's, store, where he remained until he became thoroughly schooled in the busi- ness, and until about the year 1820, when he established a general mercantile business for himself, which he continued for nearly forty years, and retired from the active duties of life. As a business man he was active, prompt, and up- right, and during all these years retained the respect and confidence of the citizens of Elmira.

Mr. Covell has never been a professional politician, but has been an ardent advocate of Democratic principles and an unswerving member of the Democratic party. He has filled various places of responsibility and trust among the people, as president of the Chemung Canal Bank, super- visor of the town, sheriff of Tioga County, before its divi- sion, for one term, and surrogate, the first appointed for Chemung County, in all of which positions his duties were discharged with fidelity to the public and honor to himself. He is now in his eighty-fourth year of age, and has lived to see most of the great improvements of the age, and the growth and enterprise of a village to become a city of beauty and wealth.

In the year 1818 he married Susan, daughter of William Dunn, of Elmira. She was born December, 1796, and for many years previous to her decease was a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, and during her entire life an exemplary woman. She died 1864. Their children living are Alice (Mrs. John Hamlin) and John, a physician at Forreston, Ill.

STEPHEN TUTTLE.

Among the earliest settlers, and one of the pioneer tradesmen, of Elmira, was lie whose name heads this brief sketch. His name, along with those of two others,-Lyman Covell and John Arnot,-stand as landmarks of pioneer merchandising; and a review of their lives is necessarily to recall many reminiscences of the trade and barter of those early days, when each laid the foundation of the fortunes they subsequently acquired. Of the thrce, Lyman Covell alone remains,-a living link between the past and present.

Stephen Tuttle, the father of our subjeet, was a native of Connecticut. In an early day he moved westward to Peekskill, N. Y., and later, with the onward march of eivil- ization, to Tioga Point (now Athens), Pa. Subsequently (about 1809) he removed with his family to Wilkesbarre, in the same State. He married Lydia Lyman, of Canaan, Conn., and their family consisted of three children,-Sally, who married Mr. Bennett ; Orilla, wife of Dr. Matthew Covell, of Wilkesbarre, and mother of Robert Covell; and Stephen, the youngest, and subject of this notice. Mr. Tuttle died at Wilkesbarre, in 1809. His wife, Lydia, survived him many years, and died at Elmira. Sally Bennett died at Fishkill Landing, N. Y.

Stephen Tuttle, son of the above, was born Aug. 4, 1772, in Canaan, Conn. With his father's family he made

the sueeessive moves before mentioned, from his native State to Wilkesbarre, and from thenee to Athens, Pa., where he resided but a short time, returning again to Wilkesbarre. He married, at the last-named place, Mary A., a step-daughter of the late Judge Matthias Hollenbeck. She was born in 1774, and died in January, 1861, aged eighty-seven years.

Stephen Tuttle came to Elmira, from Wilkesbarre, in the year 1818. But he commenced his mercantile career many years before his advent in Chemung County, during his residence in Pennsylvania. At Athens he carried on a store, in partnership with his father-in-law, Judge Hollen- beek ; and at Wilkesbarre he was not only a merchant, but also carried on a farm. From the time Robert Covell came to Elmira, in 1807, Mr. Tuttle was interested with him in business, until about the year 1830, when they dissolved, being thus associated together for more than twenty-two years, carrying on a business both extensive and profitable, and "winning the entire confidence of a large run of customers."* Tuttle & Covell's store was located on Water Street, just east of the Lake Street bridge, and nearly opposite the old Tuttle mansion, which was af- terwards remodeled and changed into a hotel. He was also, and subsequent to his dissolution with Robert Covell, connected with John Arnot, Esq., in business on the corner of Lake and Water Streets. Associated with Guy Max- well, he built, near the junction of the Newtown Creek with the Chemung River, one of the first flouring-mills in this seetion of the State,-persons often coming here from Bath, and remoter points, to get their grists ground. " Tuttle's mills," hoary with age, still stand, being operated by the grandehildren of Mr. Tuttle, who have derived title by devise or inheritance from Mrs. John Arnot, his only child, who died Dec. 6, 1877.

He retired from active business several years prior to his death, on account of paralysis, which rendered him an in- valid in his later years. He died in this city (Elmira), Jan. 12, 1851, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, five months, and eight days. His remains repose, along with those of his wife and daughter, in Woodlawn Ceme- tery. His granddaughter, Mrs. Mary A. Ogden, is living at High Bridge, N. Y.

Mr. Tuttle was not alone renowned for his successful business life; he was noted for his firmness, his sterling integrity, and his active benevolence. He was the firm friend and supporter of churches and schools, and liberal to the poor, not only giving himself, but inciting and urging others to like charitable deeds. He was a man of robust intelleet, and possessed of a strong physical constitution ; active and energetic, he was foremost in all enterprises tending to the advancement of the interests of Elmira and vicinity. He was the president of the first board of trus- tees of the village of Elmira; but through all his long and active life, whether in official position or private station, he contributed largely to the support of religious institutions and whatever else was conducive to good order and the advancement of society.

" Requiescat in pace."

# Gallatian's History of Elmira, etc.

287

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

DR. TRACY BEADLE

was pure-minded, generous-hearted, singularly conscientious, decided in his convietions, strong in his ideas, unshaken in his purposes, yet his acts were tempered by a bearing so pleasant and manners so mild and winning as to inake all with whom he came in contaet love, honor, and trust him. No confidence in him was ever violated. None relying upon him were ever betrayed. He was a true man. Born

Photo. by Larkin.

DR. TRACY BEADLE.

in the town of Otsego, Otsego Co., this State, on the 21st day of November, 1808, he lived, when a youth, in the lovely and historic village of Cooperstown. Growing up into manhood there, he married, April 2, 1833, Mary S., eldest daughter of Ralph and Clarissa Worthington, of the same place. She was born Aug. 26, 1811 ; her parents were early settlers of Otsego County, emigrating from Connecticut.

He was a student of medicine with Dr. Mitchell, of Nor- wich, N. Y., and with his unele, Dr. Chauncey Beadle, of St. Catharine's, Canada, graduating at Pittsfield, Mass. In the fall of 1835 he came to Elmira, then a small place. At first he lived in a dwelling where now is the Langdon mansion, but soon removed to Lake Street, where he had built a residenee, where he lived until his deccase, Mareh 22, 1877.

During his residence in Cooperstown he had been engaged in the practice of his profession, and also kept a drug-store. His first venture in business in Elmira was the opening of a drug-store, near the store at present oceupied by Preswick, Morse & Co., and afterwards moved a few doors above, occu- pying a store where J. K. Perry is now located. He con- tinúed there in the drug business until 1849, when, in company with the late Simeon Benjamin, he organized the Bank of Chemung, which ever since has been among the soundest moneyed institutions of the eity. At that time, with a business shrewdness and sagaeity characteristic of him, he, with Captain Samuel Partridge, purchased what was then known as the Robert Covell farm, in Southport, containing some 400 acres, which now forms the Fifth

Ward of the city. In this investinent he realized largely by cutting the land up into village-lots and selling.

In religious matters he was ever earnestly interested, and he enlisted with heart and soul in any enterprise or move- ment where the moral good of the people was to be pro- moted. Sinee his residence in Elmira, he had been con- nected with the Presbyterian Church, which in his death lost one of its most devoted supporters.

Dr. Beadle was very prominent for many years in polit- ieal life. He was the member of Assembly in 1862, mem- ber at large of the Constitutional Convention of 1867, being seleeted for the latter position with sueh inen as William M. Evarts, Charles J. Folger, Horaee Greeley, and others equally distinguished. He was an influential and respected member of this assemblage of able men. He was one of the military committee for raising troops in 1863.

During the war, Dr. Beadle came forward with patriotic ardor. His mind was alive to the necessities of the oeea- sion. By speech and purse he encouraged the enlistment of inen, and was among those who, in most trying times, was undismayed and undisheartened, going from plaee to place in this district, and rousing the people to a sense of their duty to their endangered country. His influence was great, and his serviees were largely instrumental in en- abling this part of the State to meet the demands upon it for men and means. And while the record of his public life and decds is thus honorable and cannot be forgotten, above this and beyond all he was a man worthy the esteem of the public for his great soeiability. In disposition he was ever bright and cheerful, in his home life peculiarly happy. Home to him was the dearest spot on earth. The one chosen in the struggling days of his early manhood proved a long and faithful helpmeet, the unvarying sweetness of whose dis- position and altogether lovely character proving ever to him an unfailing souree of cheer and strength. "Dr. Beadle was truly a noble specimen of the Christian gentleman and patriotie eitizen."-(Shankland Cuttaraugus Union.)

His widow survives him, together with three sons,- Ralph W., Henry W., Chauncey Moore,-and one daughter -Mrs. Colonel Thompson, of Springfield, Mass.

PATRICK HENRY FLOOD

was born in Northampton County, Pa., March 14, 1814. His father, John Flood, was a native of Ireland, and came to this country when only a young man. He had five sons and three daughters, of whoiu the subject of this sketcli was the eldest. During the time until he was sixteen years of age Dr. Flood spent his time at home. He received his preliminary education at Bloomsburg and Danville Academy, Pa., and for some two years and a half was a elerk in a general merchandise store at Danville, Columbia Co., Pa., with Colt & Donaldson, followed by a clerk- ship of two years with General Robert H. Hammond (paymaster of the Mexican army). In the year 1840 he entered the office of Dr. Bonham Gearhart, of Washing- tonville, Pa., and began the study of medicine, where he remained for two years, and subsequently entered Geneva

288

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

Medical College, N. Y., graduating M.D. from that insti- tution in the year 1845, and settled in the praetiee of his profession at Lodi, Seneea Co., N. Y., where he re- mained continuously in praetiee for some twelve years, when he eame to Elmira, where he has since resided, eon- tinuing the praetiee of medieine. Dr. Flood during his residenee in Seneea County was a member of Seneea County Medieal Society, and also of Erie County Medieal Society, and was elected one of the curators of the Uni- versity of Buffalo, which position he still holds.

Since his residenee at Elmira, he has been a member of the Chemung County Medieal Society and the Elmira Academy of Medieine, in some of which societies he has held important offiees when duty demanded him to bear his share of the burdens of office.

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 76

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