USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
At this time an organized effort was made to remove the county seat from Caldwell to Glens Falls, and seemed to contain all the elements of success. A citizens' meeting was held in Glens Falls, December 28th, 1868, at which Judge Rosekrans offered a resolution in brief that Queensbury would furnish a site and build a good court-house, jail and clerk's office at a cost of not more than $50,000, as an inducement to the removal. It was adopted and Stephen Brown, Isaac Mott, Jerome Lapham and Ang. Sherman were appointed to present the proposition to the supervisors. Following this proposition was a resolution adopted by the Board of Supervisors at an adjourned meeting, to the effect that in the estimation of the board the site should be changed and a pe- tition signed by the whole board presented to the Legislature for an act author- izing the change. A final resolution was put before adjournment that no re- pairs be made at Caldwell. Notwithstanding all this passing of preliminary resolutions nothing further was done towards the proposed removal. In the following year a resolution was offered at a meeting of the supervisors that $18,000 be raised by tax to improve the buildings according to Boyden's plan.
273
COUNTY BUILDINGS, SOCIETIES, ETC.
It was laid on the table. The matter reached the Legislature in 1872, when an act was passed authorizing the raising of $5,000, payable in five equal annual installments, to "build a court-house, jail and clerk's office" at Caldwell. It seems that nothing came of this. In 1877 the supervisors adopted a resolution which proved effectual, viz .: That Thomas Cunningham, T. N. Thomas, and James C. Eldridge be appointed to take into consideration the whole matter of enlarging, improving or remodeling the jail, enlarging the court-house, erecting a sheriff's house, and a building for lunatics at the poor-house. In their report this committee recommended that the jail, sheriff's departments and court- house be rebuilt, changed and enlarged as per the plan presented ; that the additions be of brick. The estimated cost of the reconstruction was $10,000, and $500 for furniture and $500 for water. Thomas Fuller, of Caldwell, was their architect. The plan was changed to Boyden's plan No. 2, and with this alteration the report was unanimously accepted. The last measure before the repairs which made the buildings what they now are, was a resolution adopted with but one dissenting voice, March 7th, 1877, providing that $11,000 be raised to rebuild the court-house, etc., the amount to be paid in two annual installments. The building committee was Thomas Cunningham, J. M. Cool- idge and Jerome N. Hubbell. The contract was to be let to the lowest bidder, the committee being endowed with discretionary powers. The work thence- forward rapidly progressed and by the following year the buildings were com- pleted in their present form, with the exception of the clerk's office, which is, at the time of the writing of this work, in process of rebuilding of brick. These buildings are now well adapted to their various purposes and a credit to the county.
Warren County Alms-house. - This institution is located in the town of Warrensburgh, on the west bank of the Schroon River, the farm being partly in this town and partly in the town of Bolton, on the opposite side of the river. The land was purchased by the county in the year 1826, and embraces two hun- dred acres, seventy of which were purchased of James Durham at a cost of $950, and one hundred and thirty of Halsey Rogers for $450; it is the latter named tract that is located in the town of Bolton. About forty acres are under cultivation at the present time, the remainder being pasture and wood- land. Buildings sufficient for the limited number of inmates were erected di- rectly after the purchase of the lands. By 1860 the old county-house was found by reason of its limited capacity to be wholly inadequate to meet the necessities of the county poor, and the Board of Supervisors passed a resolu- tion providing in its terms that $2,500 be raised to "build a plain, substantial and convenient county-house, at or near the old house on said farm," to be paid by tax, and in five installments. David Aldrich, Daniel Stewart and E. B. Miller were appointed the building committee. The present stone portion of the poor-house was thereupon erected by Peter Bewel at the cost estimated, 18
274
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
viz., $2,500. Before this addition was made the building was in a very dilap- idated condition. At that time the annual revenue from the farm was about $800, and the average number of inmates was fifty-four, who were supported at a weekly expense of ninety cents each. This arrangement sufficed for a few years, and in 1868 other measures were deemed necessary. In 1868 a committee was appointed by the supervisors to see about the purchase of a farm; but, although the committee reported in favor of the Jonathan Potter farm three miles north of Glens Falls, the purchase was not effected. Such abortive measures not being calculated to enlarge or render more commodious the then existing capacity of the buildings, the demand for some decisive action grew more and more imperative until 1877, when a committee was appointed to investigate and report upon the most feasible way of answering this need and making a place for lunatics. The report read to the effect that the most practicable method would be to remove the old wood building (66 by 30 feet) and rebuild in wood on the same site. This would effectuate the object of ac- commodating more persons and providing for lunatics. The estimated cost was $1,900. Operations were spun out to 1883-84. At that season the ad- dition was completed. The superintendent of the poor is Alexander T. Pasko. The present keeper is George Bowen (chosen 1885). He was preceded by Sylvester Hays, and the consecutive predecessors of Hays in the inverse order of their service have been : James Fowden, T. N. Thomas, Elbridge G. Hall, Asa Smith, Nathaniel Smith, - Stebbins, James Collins, Aaron Varnum. The report of the superintendent, A. T. Pasko, for the year ending October 3Ist, 1884, shows that the house and out-buildings are in good repair. The average number of inmates for the year was sixty-six and one-half, and the expense per week for each was about one dollar and fifty-four cents. He esti- mated that it would be necessary to raise the sum of $8,500 for the support of the poor for the year following his report. The keeper, Sylvester Hays, reported that there were sixty-three inmates remaining under the charge of the county, Octocer 3 Ist, 1884.
Warren County Agricultural Society. - During the summer and fall of the year 1856 the prominent men of the county discussed the feasibility of organ- izing an agricultural society, and on the 27th of December of that year a number of those most interested met at the house of Charles Rockwell, in Luzerne, and took preliminary measures toward the formation of such a so- ciety.
Benjamin C. Butler, presiding, referred in his remarks to the important farming interests of the town and county, and the advantages the proposed organization would be to the inhabitants. He therefore urged its immediate formation. The organization was perfected and during the meeting it was resolved, " that to make it a condition of membership to said society, such members pay one dollar annually to the treasurer, to be expended in accordance with the constitution and by-laws of said society."
275
COUNTY BUILDINGS, SOCIETIES, ETC.
Charles Rockwell, the chosen secretary, was appointed to draft a constitu- tion, and Benjamin C. Butler to arrange the order of business, to be submitted at the next meeting appointed to be held in the M. E. Church, Thursday, Jan- uary Ist, 1857.
The first day of the year proved an inauspicious one, and only a small num- ber were in attendance, and an adjournment was voted to Monday, January 5th, 1857, at the house of G. T. Rockwell. At this meeting the following gentlemen became the pioneer members of the organization : Benjamin C. Butler, Luzerne; Charles Rockwell, Hadley; William W. Rockwell, Hiram J. Rockwell, George J. Rockwell, Jeremy Leavins, Morgan Burdick, Orison Craw, Calvin C. Lewis, and John C. Beach, all of Luzerne.
At the next meeting, on January 27th, 1857, the following names were added to the foregoing: Reuben Wells, James Lawrence, Sylvanus C. Sco- ville, Andrew J. Cheritree, John H. Wagar, William H. Wells, and Charles Schemerhorn.
February 17th, 1857, at a meeting for the election of officers, the following were chosen : President, Benjamin C. Butler; vice presidents, Wertel W. Hicks, Caldwell, William Hotchkiss, Chester, Samuel Richards, Warrensburgh, Samuel Somerville, Johnsburgh, John Clendon, Queensbury, William Griffin, Thurman ; corresponding secretary, Rev. C. H. Skillman ; recording secretary, A. J. Cheritree; treasurer, William H. Wells ; directors, Reuben Wells, W. W. Rockwell, Charles Schemerhorn, John C. Beach, Orison Dean, George T. Rockwell.
The organization now being fully completed, it remained to adopt neces- sary measures to fulfil the purpose of the institution. It was, therefore, at a meeting on the 6th of April, 1858,
Resolved, That the next annual fair be located in that town which shall first raise a sum of not less than one hundred and fifty dollars, from fees of life members or in other ways (not including the regular annual dues of members), to be expended at the discretion of the executive committee in preparing and inclosing the Fair Grounds, or for such other purposes as they may direct.
From the beginning until 1861 the fairs and meetings were held at Luzerne, the town in which the movement first assumed definite shape. In 1862 an arrangement was made with George Brown, of French Mountain, by which grounds near his " Half-way House " were prepared for the use of the society, and the annual meetings were thereafter held at that place until 1868.
As the farming interests of the county developed each year, and the society became richer and more numcrous, the boundaries at French Mountain were found to be too narrow, and the Agricultural Society availed itself of the offer of the " Glens Falls Citizens' Association," at Glens Falls; of the use of their grounds. Since that time the yearly meetings have been held there. Neces- sary buildings have been constructed as occasion required, viz .: the " Home
276
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Industrial," " Agricultural," " Mechanics," and "Floral " Halls among these. In the summer of 1883 a grand stand was built which will seat about two thousand persons.
The " Glens Falls Park," as the grounds are called, contains twenty-eight acres of land owned by a stock company. The Agricultural Society has the use of the grounds one week each year for fair purposes, the conditions being that the stock company receive the amount collected on the grounds for food and drink.
Several thousand dollars have been expended by the Agricultural Society in the construction of buildings and other improvements, and the citizens of Glens Falls have contributed by subscription about $1,500 toward beautifying and improving the grounds.
Since the infancy of the organization the cash premiums paid have been satisfactory. In 1857 the amount of cash premiums was $10.00; in 1862 they were increased to $221.50; in 1869 to $657, and in 1873 to $1,492.50. In 1885 they were $1,008.50.
Following is a list of the presidents of the society, together with the present officers, and one or two incidental happenings connected with the history of the society legislation, etc. :
1859 to 1861 inclusive, B. C. Butler, president; 1862, William H. Rock- well; 1863, Quartis Curtiss; 1864, Abraham Wing; 1865-66, B. C. Butler ; 1867 to 1872 inclusive, Henry Griffing, of Warrensburgh; 1873-74, D. S. Haviland, of Queensbury ; 1875, Jerome Lapham, Queensbury. At the annual meeting held on February 2d, of this year, the secretary, A. Newton Locke, of Glens Falls, presented his report in verse. It was most ingeniously exe- cuted. 1876-77, Jerome Lapham, president; February 12th, 1878, the con- stitution was revised and amended to meet the requirements of legislation sub -. sequent to 1876; Joseph Haviland was elected president and served three years. 1881 to 1884 inclusive, A. B. Abbott.
On the 20th of January, 1884, in the parlors of the Rockwell House at Glens Falls, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: presi- dent, T. S. Coolidge; first vice-president, W. E. Spier ; second, D. S. Haviland ; third, Edward Vaughn; fourth, E. W. Goodman; fifth, Lewis W. Hamlin ; sixth, Ed. Harrigan ; secretary, T. K. Locke; treasurer, H. S. Crittenden. The present directors are: C. H. Green and J. W. Morgan for 1886; W. F. Bentley and W. J. Potter, 1878 ; H. R. Leavens and P. T. Haviland, 1888 .
277
THE COUNTY PRESS.
CHAPTER XX.
THE COUNTY PRESS.1
Early Papers - The First Publication in the County - The Warren Republican and its Career - The Lake George Watchman - The Glens Falls Observer - The Warren County Messenger and its Immediate Descendants - The Glens Falls Spectator - The Glens Falls Gazette - The Glens Falls Clarion - Another Republican - The Rechabite and Temperance Bugle - Glens Falls Free Press - The Warrensburgh Annual-Glens Falls Advertiser - The American Standard - The Warren County Whig - The Present Messenger - Daily Press - The Daily Times - The Morning Star.
W ARREN COUNTY does not possess a long or exciting newspaper his- tory. The sparse population of the county at large, and with the ex- ception of Glens Falls, the absence of any large villages, have operated against the establishment of public journals, and have been the prime cause of the premature decay and death of many papers from which their learned editors expected fame and fortune. It is a very sterile and thinly populated district in this great country of ours where at least one man cannot be found who be- lieves himself born to be a journalist ; and nothing can ever dispel this preva- lent belief but the hard lesson of experience. Hence the number of news- papers that have been started in the county, insignificant as it may seem when compared with those of other larger fields, cannot be counted on one's fingers and toes ; and those that have survived the struggle for existence have been and are a credit to the county and to their editors, and have wielded a vast in- fluence in the communities, and no little power in the politics of the State.
In the fall of 1812 John Cunningham, of New England, accompanied by Eben Patrick, a journeyman, and Eliezer Wheelock, an indented apprentice, removed from Windsor, Vermont, to Glens Falls. They brought with them an ample supply of type and an old-fashioned press. Cunningham being taken sick on the way was obliged to defer his coming until the following spring, but the others continued their journey and opened a job office in a building on the corner of Ridge and Glen streets. In April, 1813, Cunning- ham came on with his family, and in the succeeding month issued a prospectus written by William Hay. On Thursday, the 16th of June, 1813, the first number of the first paper issued in Warren county, was published under the name of The Warren Republican. It was a journal but little larger than a " common spelling book," so folded as to make twelve pages to each number, and was nearly half filled with advertisements. This sheet was devoted to the interests of the dominant party and existing administration, and until the close of the war was well stocked with the exciting reports of domestic and foreign battles and coups d'états, which have since become matters of history. After
1 Largely prepared from newspaper sketches published some years since by Dr. A. W. Holden.
278
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
the publication of a few numbers the office was removed to the rooms long af- terwards occupied by George Vanderheyden, where it was continued until the completion of the " long building," erected in 1813 by John A. Ferris. The Re- publican office was soon after removed to one of the upper rooms of this build- ing.
The name of the Warren Republican was changed to that of the Warren Patriot in 1815 by Linus J. Reynolds, who had purchased it from Cunning- ham. The paper was then enlarged from its duodecimo size and double col- umn to a demy sheet with four columns. In about a year Reynolds sold back to Cunningham, who associated with himself Adonijah Emmons. The office was removed to an upper room in the north end of Emmons's house. Cunning- ham, though a man of refined tastes and brilliant parts, was addicted to in- temperate habits, and his prosperity was not commensurate with his enterprise or deserts. The paper, therefore, in 1819, fell into the hands of the Hon. Will- liam Hay, who assumed its publication on the 5th of February. On the 16th of the following April it reverted to Cunningham. The journal lingered along until the following year, and then died.
The second newspaper published in the county was unquestionably the Lake George Watchman, started about the year 1816 by Timothy Haskins, of Salem, Washington county, N. Y., with the assistance of Oliver Lyons, for- merly of the Troy Budget. Haskins soon transferred his interest to Storer, and Storer to one Cushman, who conducted the paper until 1820, under the name of The Guardian. At that time it was again sold, and the name changed to the Warren Recorder. It was ably conducted, but met with indifferent suc- cess, and the interest was soon disposed of to William Broadwell, who contin- ued its publication at Caldwell in 1822-24. It was then removed to Glens Falls, and with a view to increasing the circulation of the paper and extending its patronage, Broadwell sent post-riders through all the surrounding country. The expense was greater than the return, and Broadwell becoming bankrupt, and the paper went over to the majority. In 1826 the press and its appurte- nances were bought by Edwin Galloway Lindsay. On the first Monday in Jan- uary, 1827, he issued the third newspaper in the county under the style of The Glens Falls Observer. Lindsay being a thoroughly educated printer, edi- ted the paper with extraordinary ability for two years, when the publication ceased.
On the first of January, 1829, was issued the first number of the Warren County Messenger, conducted by Abial Smith, who had formerly been employed with Broadwell and Lindsay. The paper had a good circulation and support. In January, 1831, the name was changed from Warren County Messenger to Warren Messenger, and the heading enlarged. The publication day was also changed from Thursday to Saturday, and in the following year to Friday. In 1834 the paper changed hands again. Zabina Ellis, who had commenced his
279
THE COUNTY PRESS.
apprenticeship with Adonijah Emmons in the office of the Sandy Hill Sun, in 1825, and worked as "jour" for Abial Smith on the Messenger, bought the property, and changed the name of the sheet to Warren Messenger and Glens Falls Advertiser. In September of that year the office was removed "to the building heretofore occupied for that purpose, directly over C. L. Brown's fancy store, and a few doors north of the Glens Falls Hotel." The next change oc- curred in May, 1835, when the Messenger and Advertiser was discontinued, and the press and type were leased by H. B. Ten Eyck. The new proprietor resumed the publication of the paper under the old name of the Warren Mes- senger, and continued at its head for two years. When he ceased in May, 1837, the press and type reverted to Zabina Ellis, who immediately issued the first number of the Messenger's successor under the title of the Glens Falls Spectator. In his salutatory which accompanied the first number of the new paper Mr. Ellis said :-
" In presenting to the public the first number of the Glens Falls Spectator, we feel it incumbent upon us to state at least the general course we shall pur- sue in its future publication. Our political views are in accordance with those of the present administration [Van Buren] whose measures we shall support so far as we shall deem them consistent with the best interests of the community. A portion of our columns will be devoted to literary, miscellaneous, foreign, domestic, agricultural, and such other objects as are calculated to disseminate general intelligence ; and will at all times be open for communications upon such subjects as may be of public interest. We shall on all occasions tender a proper respect to those opinions which may be at variance with our own. A well conducted periodical has been long desired in this county, and whether ours shall merit this distinction we leave to the discerning public to decide. To the people of this county we look for a generous patronage. We have be- fore been the recipients of their favor, and, we humbly trust, no omission of duty on our part will forfeit a continuance of them."
On the 16th of November, 1839, the last number of the Glens Falls Spec- tator was published. In the same month the type, furniture and presses were purchased by George Cronkhite and Dr. Bethuel Peck, with a view to the pub- lication of an anti-administration paper. On Wednesday, December 3d, 1839, was published the initial number of the Glens Falls Gazette. The new editor was Warren Fox, a son-in-law of Mr. Cronkhite. The Gazette was immediately recognized as the organ of the Whig party, at that time largely in the majority in this town. The paper was the same size as the Spectator, but, though more elaborate as to its editorial department, had deteriorated in typographical and mechanical beauty and arrangement. Meanwhile Zabina Ellis, having pur- chased an entire new outfit of type, and new furniture and cases, and procured the use of the old Ramage press used in the publication of the Warren Recorder, made arrangements to start a competing journal, and on the 18th of December,
280
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
1839, published, in continuation the 28th No., 30th Vol. of the Glens Falls Spectator. This continued to be the organ of the administration, and for the first time in the history of the county, two papers were published contempo- raneously, and assumed that active partisan character which has ever since dis- tinguished the press of this part of the State. About this time, too, sprang up a corps of newspaper correspondents that kept the papers constantly supplied with contributions and original matter. After about eighteen months of jour- nalistic warfare, the interest of Mr. Ellis in the Spectator was purchased by Winfield Scott Sherman, who formed copartnership relations with Warren Fox, and consolidated the two presses into one concern. The new paper was entitled the Glens Falls Clarion, and was ostensibly neutral in politics and religion. In December, 1841, Hon. A. N. Cheney purchased Fox's interest, and the joint editorship thereafter was W. S. Sherwood and George W. Cheney. In May, 1842, the irrepressible Zabina Ellis bought out Mr. Sherwood and the firm name was Cheny & Ellis. After the lapse of a year Ellis retired from the firm, and left Cheney to conduct the paper alone until January 1, 1851.
Meanwhile newspaper enterprise seemed to be increasing. In September, 1843, two brothers, Marcellus and Thomas J. Strong, practical printers, bought out the press and type of the Literary Pearl, a sheet which had been started by Newton M. Curtis, and which had died after the fitful fever of a short life, and issued a paper under the name of the Glens Falls Republican. This sheet, besides containing the usual literary and miscellaneous matter of a country paper, ardently espoused the principles of the Democratic party, which, being then in the ascendent in Warren county, gave it at once an extended and liberal patronage. The circulation soon reached five hundred greater than had previously been attained by any paper. During the year following, September 23d, 1846, Dr. A. W. Holden, the author, subsequently, of a valuable history of the town of Queensbury, and a coadjuter in the preparation of this history, was associated with T. J. Strong in the publication of the Republican. During the political canvass of 1844 the Clarion, which had claimed to be a neutral paper, came out vigorously for the Whigs. A campaign sheet called The Whig Reveille was published at the Clarion office, and another called The Hickory Leaf at the office of the Republican.
But political newspapers are not the only kind which constitute the history of the county. During the temperance agitation which began about 1845, the object of which was to procure the enactment of a law restricting the sale of intoxicating drinks to specific and manifestly necessary cases, a small semi- monthly publication was started at Glens Falls, devoted to the principles of the agitators, and laboring under the euphonious title of The Rechabite and Temper- ance Bugle. The date of the first issue was July 29th, 1847, and the names of its editors, for it had two, were Marcellus and Thomas J. Strong. The intensity of the interest in the movement may be inferred from the circulation (1,500)
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.