Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 86

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

going, industious habits, which characterized his after life. In 1847 at the age of twenty years he engaged in mercantile trade on his own account in Hamilton and was unusually successful. In the days of Oswego's brightest commercial prospects, desiring to enter a broader field of operations, he removed hither in 1851 and en- gaged actively in general mercantile and shipping busines. Well equipped with a knowledge of correct and honorable business methods and the ability to judge ac- curately of men and their motives, and with a character already standing upon the solid foundation of integrity and fairness to all with whom he came in contact, he soon became a leader in the business life of his adopted city. During the twenty years succeeding his arrival in Oswego the city saw her greatest commercial pros- perity. Grain came down from the West in immense quantities, the wheels of scores of great mills turned ceaselessly and the harbor was white with the sails of outgoing and incoming vessels. In the buying and shipping of grain and other commodi- ties Mr. Mott assumed a leading position, and ere long gained the distinction of hand- ling more grain than any other person in the city. The building of vessels for the growing commerce was also a great industry, and he early turned hisenergies in that direction. Vessel after vessel was built by him; Bermuda, Bahama, Thos. S. Mott, Henry Fitzhugh, J. E. Gilmore, Norwegian, Jamaica, Florida, Nevada, John T. Mott, Havana, Nassau, Atlanta, and the Pulaski followed each other from the stocks in rapid succession. He also purchased the S. J. Holley, the S. H. Lathrop, the Ostrich, and the James Navagh, altogether constituting one of the largest and finest fleets on the great lakes, and giving him a reputation that extended from tide-water to the Rocky Mountains.

While carrying forward these extensive operations, Mr. Mott never lost sight of the material welfare of Oswego, and every measure that promised advantage to the city received his hearty and efficient co-operation or financial support. The First Na- tionl Bank was organized in 1864; a year after he became its chief stockholder and its president, a position which he held until death, giving him the record of having been longer president of a bank than any other man who lived in Oswego. This bank was conducted not alone for his own personal gain but upon those principles of lib- erality towards the business public which have ever characterized its operations. So, also, when further devolopment of the water works system of Oswego became desirable, he assumed an active interest in the work, purchased a majority of the stock and was made president in 1883; he continued to devote his time and energy to the improvement of the system, and the old and inadequate facilities for extin- guishing fires, the conditions of which had cost Oswego so dearly, were soon super- seded under his energetic direction by extension of larger mains and new and more effective machinery which gave the community the present unsurpassed water supply.

Besides his business connections, thus briefly described, Mr. Mott was a liberal in- vestor in other industries and manufactories of the city, Next to Mr. Kingsford he was the largest local owner of Starch Factory Stock, and other industries depended more or less upon his means and his wise counsel for their prosperity. Nor was he less solicitous for the educational and moral welfare of the community. He was several years a member of the Local Board of the Oswego Normal School, and showed a deep interest in the promotion of other educational facilities of the city. He was

BIOGRAPHICAL.

a regular attendant of Christ Episcopal Church, which often benefited by his generosity.

That beneficent institution, the Oswego City Hospital, found in Mr. Mott its most generous supporter. He donated the lot upon which the building was erected, and afterwards contributed most generously to its support ..

In early life Mr. Mott was a Democrat in politics, but after the formation of the Republican party he became one of its leading members in Northern New York. During the period of the Nation's peril in civil war the government received from him the most loyal support in time, energy and means, and the heroic men who fought the battles of the Union found in him a practical sympathizer and a generous friend. He was a personal friend of General Grant and an intimate friend and admirer of Roscoe Conkling. When this great leader was in adversity, no man gave him more unqualified fealty than Mr. Mott. It was inevitable that a man possessed of Mr. Mott's characteristics-his aggressiveness against all wrong and corruption, his power to control men and influence them towards his own political views, his broad knowledge of current events-should become a leader in local politics as far as he would consent to assume such an attitude. His influence became powerful in this field and was freely exerted for the advancement of those whom he believed to be worthy-never for his own. His unyielding integrity was carried into politics as it was into his business relations, and the masses as well as politicians had confidence in him. If he gave a man his promise to aid him to political preferment, that man knew what to expect and usually attained his desired object. Never accepting office himself, he efficiently performed the duties of good citizenship, the general good hisonly incentive.

More than thirty years prior to his death, Mr. Mott's sight began to fail, and during twenty years of his active life he was practically blind. Such an affliction would have caused many to abandon all business and give way to despondency ; but he was made of sterner stuff, and until the last continued to carry on his business operations and to wield his influence in the political field, when he could distinguish those with whom he came in immediate contact by their voices only. This fact indicatesone of the most prominent traits in his character-indomitable will and determination never to submit to adverse circumstances. He was, however, hopeful and saw the bright- est side of life; otherwise he must surely have faltered under his great deprivation. Hence his career in his later years furnished a remarkable example of persistence in the activities of life under an affliction that would have appalled most men.

Socially, Mr. Mott was amiable, courteous, serene in temperament and a thoroughly democratic American. To him, it mattered little what was a man's station in life if he was honest and upright. Weakness he might tolerate and often he aided in rais- ing such to a higher level; but the deliberate wrong-doer found little consideration at his hands. The aspiring young man of business, the lowly and the suffering, found his door always open and his heart responsive. No one knows, or ever will know, the innumerable occasions where his generous bounties were tendered to the needy, and it is not, therefore, remarkable that his death left a void not easily filled.

In July, 1847, Mr. Mott was married to Miss Sarah De Wolf, sister of Delos De Wolf, a former prominent citizen of Oswego and a local leader in the Democratic party. They had three children-Col. John T. Mott, of Oswego, Mrs. Ward, wife of Maj. Thomas Ward of the U. S. Army, and Elliott B. Mott of Oswego.

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

Mr. Mott's death took place on September 13, 1891, at his home in Oswego. His useful and honorable life was memorialized in resolutions of respect and esteem by the various organizations and institutions with which he was connected ; among them the First National Bank of Oswego, the Oswego Water Works Company, the Local Board of the Normal School at Oswego, the Oswego Gaslight Company, the vestry of Christ Church and the Oswego City Hospital.

JOHN T. MOTT, son of Thomas S. Mott, was born in Hamilton, Madison county N. Y., on October 11, 1848. He was given unlimited opportunity to obtain a liberal education, and after attending the Oswego schools (whither his father had removed in 1851) he was sent to the Walnut Hill School in Geneva, N. Y., and graduated from Union College in the class of 1868.

Under the circumstances surrounding his father's life at that time it was almost inevitable that the young man would enter upon a business career, even if his tastes had dictated otherwise. This, however, was not the case, for the same qualities with which nature had endowed his father, were, to a large extent, transmitted to the son. They gave him the capacity to attack and successfully prosecute large busi- ness undertakingsand a naturalliking for the stirring activities associated with modern commerce. His father's sight had already begun to fail when he left college, but in this emergency he found in his son a devoted and efficient aid. Immediately after graduating he entered the First National Bank of Owsego, of which his father was the principal owner and the president, filled for a time a clerkship, and in 1869 was made a member of the Board of Directors. Two years later, in 1871, he was chosen vice-president, which office he held twenty years During this period he was con- spicuous in the direction of the affairs of the bank. With the rapid growth of his father's commercial interest and the construction and purchase of his large fleet of lake vessels before described, and the contemporaneous failure of his father's sight, the responsible duties connected with the large grain and shipping interest devolved very largely upon the son. He proved equal to the burden and exhibited the ability to direct large business operations with success. He continued in the practical man- agement of the fleet of vessels and the shipping interests down to 1887, when his father retired from the shipping business, at the same time faithfully co-operating for the advancement of his father's other numerous undertakings and acting in the boards of direction in several organizations in which they were jointly interested.

With the death of Thomas S. Mott in 1891 further responsibilities devolved upon his son. He was promptly chosen to the office of president of the First National Bank, which position he has since filled, perpetuating in all respects the former policy of the institution and rendering it an important factor in the business life of Oswego. In 1891 he was chosen president of the Oswego Water Works Company, and still holds the position. In 1891 he was made vice-president and treasurer of the Oswego Gas Light Company, was elected secretary and treasurer of the Home Electric Light Company, all of which positions he now fills to the entire satisfaction of his business associates. In 1892 he was chosen vice-president of the Niagara Falls and Clifton Suspension Bridge Company, and still holds the office.

It will be seen by the foregoing brief statements that although scarcely in middle life, John T. Mott is in a broad sense a man of affairs. As such he enjoys the un-

BIOGRAPHICAL.

limited confidence and respect of his fellow citizens. Prompt and outspoken in his decisions on all business questions, unfailing in that business courtesy which makes a man accessible to all and places the humblest at his ease, a quick and accurate judge of human nature, and a hater of sham and trickery of every kind, Mr. Mott is an ex- emplar of what is admirable in the modern American business man and citizen. He is active in politics, believing that good citizenship demands it of every man. The Republican party finds in him an earnest supporter, and, though he never asks and never accepted strictly political office, his services are well understood and widely recognized. As chairman of the Republican District Committee since 1880 he has given generously of his time and means to the advancement of the political measures which he believed were most contributory to the welfare of the State. He is now a member of the Republican State Committee for the 24th District. From 1880 to 1883 inclusive he held the post of aid-de-camp with rank of colonel on the staff of Gover- nor Alonzo B. Cornell, giving him his well-known military title.

Mr. Mott is prominent in club life; is a member of the Fortnightly and the City Clubs of Oswego; of the University and Sigma Phi Clubs of New York city; of the Syracuse Club; of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto; the Rochester Yacht Club; the Sodus Bay Yacht Club, and a member and commodore of Oswego Yacht Club.

Mr. Mott was married on October 30, 1873, to Alice J. Wright, daughter of Luther Wright, who was long one of the prominent citizens of Oswego. They have one son, Luther Wright Mott.

WILLIAM BENJAMIN PHELPS.

WM. B. PHELPS was born in Eaton, Madison county, N. Y., on September 24, 1817. He came from Puritan stock and always felt pride in the fact that his grandfather, Elijah Phelps, fought as a private in the battle of Bunker Hill. His father was John Phelps, who was a farmer, and died at the age of forty-six years. The early years of the subject were passed with his uncle at Springfield, Mass., where he obtained his education. On October 7, 1839, when he was twenty-two years old, he removed to Oswego, traveling on a packet boat. There he taught penmanship and composi- tion for a time, and then found employment in the office of Penfield, Lyon & Co. His first business venture on his own account was as a partner in a hat store; this was not successful and its failure gave him a life-long distrust of mercantile business. After a brief period of work in a shoe store he entered the employ of the chandlery firm of Cooper & Barber, and in 1852 began work for a steamboat company. This business was at that time rising to the height of its prosperity, and many men of good capacity found the beginning of successful careers in connection with the lake commerce of the place. Mr. Phelps's business capacity, his energy, and his popular- ity soon gave him a purser's berth; this was then a lucrative position, for it was not uncommon for a lake steamer to sail with a passenger list of from 1,000 to 1,500. Mr. Phelps performed the duties of his position on several well-known vessels to the sat- isfaction of his company, and soon gained a wide popularity. About the year 1851 he went to New York as a steamboat agent, and in 1857 removed from Oswego to C

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

Buffalo; but the outlook there was not sufficiently attractive to him and he returned to Oswego. At the beginning of the season of 1860 he was acting as chief clerk of the Ontario Steamboat Company, and continued his connection with that organiza- tion several years. He finally, in common with other men of foresight, became con- vinced that the already numerous railroads would eventually outstrip the steamboats in commercial operations, and he counseled the sale of the Ontario line and aided in its accomplishment in 1867. In 1867 he was appointed superintendent of the Oswego and Syracuse division of the D., L. & W. Railroad, then the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad. In this responsible position he remained nearly twenty years, giving the highest satisfaction to both the company and to the public, and only resigned it in 1885 to accept the lighter duties of general agent of the same road, a station which he filled at the time of his death.

Mr. Phelps always entertained a strong liking for military affairs, and was chiefly instrumental in continuing Fort Ontario as a military station, visiting Washington and having personal interviews with the secretary of war, General Sheridan, and others for that purpose. His interest in military matters prompted him to store his mind with a large fund of statistical information on the subject, and he was especially well informed in the military history of the country. He was a charter member of the old Oswego Guards, organized in 1837, and served as fourth corporal, from which fact he derived his familiar title of "Corporal." He was also an honorary member of various military organizations in Central New York.

In politics Mr. Phelps was a staunch Republican, but not an active partisan. His influence was always exerted for the cause of good government. He served as alder- man of the third ward and was honored with re-election. In 1878 he was beaten by Thomas Pearson in an exciting contest for the mayoralty of Oswego.

Socially Mr. Phelps was one of the most companionable of men, and his popularity wherever he was known was boundless, while his domestic life was of the most enviable character. He was married on December 24, 1843, to Caroline Matilda Stone, who died on September 25, 1889. They had four children who survive, Mrs. B. S. Ould, Mrs. C. H. Bond, John P. Phelps, and W. B. Phelps, all of whom are residents of Oswego.

It is proper to close this brief sketch of the life of Mr. Phelps with the following words of eulogy written by one who knew him well:

" Men like Mr. Phelps are unfortunately the rarest of the earth. But few communi- ties are favored with such a character. As wit, raconteur, and bon vivant, this quaint little man could keep a company in a roar. Some of the quips and sallies that have dropped from his lips have provoked to laughter the mightiest of the land. His smile was sunny, a true index of his disposition, almost invariably genial, inquiring, reminiscent and sanguine. This was his social side-a good fellow, a prince of good fellows. From another standpoint a good citizen was revealed, one whose love for his country, her history, her institutions, was so great, so high. so manifest in his every-day doings as to be worthy of standing as the type of sincere patriotism. And more prominent than all, perhaps, was the business side of Mr. Phelps. He was essentially a man of affairs, and however much his attention might be solicited by other matters, he never permitted it to stray from his work sufficiently long for the latter to suffer, It was in the routine of his duties as the representative of the rail-

Form& Caffrey

BIOGRAPHICAL.

road, perhaps, that the manifold qualities which endeared the man to his fellows were best shown. His ear was ever inclined to the tale of the needy, his mind was ever ready to sympathize with the afflicted, while thousands in straits of trouble were made partakers of his generosity and kindness. His monument has long been raised in the hearts of these."

Mr. Phelps died on May 17, 1893.

HENRY D. McCAFFREY.

H. D. McCAFFREY was born on Island Noah, Canada (on Lake Champlain), June 14, 1841, son of Charles, born in the city and county of Armagh, Ireland, who died in Centerville, Canada, aged seventy-nine, and was buried with Masonic honors. He was a life-long Mason. Mary (Davis) McCaffrey, his wife, was born in Bath, Eng- land, and died in Centerville, Canada, aged seventy-two years. The father was in the British service, connected with the Engineer Department at the time of our sub- ject's birth. The latter first attended a military school at Kingston, Ontario. He came to Oswego county, N. Y., when quite a young boy, worked at different voca- tions, and attended school, when possible, during the winter months. At the break- ing out of the war in 1861, he enlisted in the 12th Regiment, New York Volunteers. After the Military Telegraph Corps was organized he entered that department, and served in the line of construction of telegraphs during the war, and has since been. and is now, connected with telegraph and telephone construction. He has been con- nected with all the chief lines of the United States during their construction. He crossed the continent during the sixties, and is well versed in the geographical lay of the country, having built lines over the United States territories and British Amer- ica. In 1870 he came East to accept a position with the N. Y. O. & W. R.R. Co. as general lineman, having full charge of the lines between New York and Oswego.

In 1873 he married Mary A. Fitzsimmons, and their children now living are Ida M., born August 5, 1875; Cora A., Laura E., Henry R., Frederick J., and Walter C.

Mr. McCaffrey commenced constructing in a small way in 1879, and has worked his way up to be one of the largest and most successful contractors in telegraph and telephone construction in America.

In 1883 and 1884 he represented the first ward of the city of Oswego as alderman, and was elected mayor in March, 1888, by the Republicans. In his administration of these city offices he gave general satisfaction to his constituents. He is intimately connected with all the charitable institutions of Oswego, and is now a trustee of the Oswego City Hospital, the Oswego Orphan Asylum, the Oswego County Savings Bank, and is a director of the Oswego Gaslight Company, and the Oswego Casket Company. The family are all members of Christ Episcopal Church, in which Mr. McCaffrey has served several years as vestryman. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he is a thirty-second degree Mason, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. McCaffrey is now (1895) engaged in buying telegraph poles in Canada, and supplies the various telegraph and telephone com- panies in that country and the United States.

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY

HENRY S. CONDÉ.

HENRY SWITS CONDÉ, a successful merchant and manufacturer of Oswego county. sprung from a noble family founded in France in the 12th century by Godfrey de Condé, who derived his name from the town of Conde in the French department of. Nord, and from whom descended the illustrious princes of Condé. One of the earli - est noted representatives of the line was Prince de Condé, Louis I. de Bourbon (1530-1569)1 younger brother of Antony of Bourbon, king of Navarre, who distin- guished himself by his gallantry at the siege of Metz, the battle of St. Quentin, and the capture of Calais, and who from jealousy and conviction joined the Huguenots. The most illustrious of the name was Prince of Condé, Louis II. de Bourbon (1621- 1686) who at the age of eighteen was intrusted by his father with the government of Burgundy. He married a niece of Richelieu, became commander of the French forces at the age of twenty-two, and acquired a name that still remains in the first rank of the Frenchmen of his century. He was known as "the Great Condé.' Adam Condé, a scion of this ancient family and a French Protestant (Huguenot), owing to religious persecution fled to Holland in the latter part of the 16th century and thence came soon afterward to America, settling in Schenectady, N. Y. He was called the "Chevalier" Condé, and in 1724 was high constable of Albany. In 1748 he was killed by the Indians within a few miles of Schenectady, and was sur- vived by two sons, Adam and Jesse. Jesse Condé was born in 1743, married Par- thenia, daughter of Jonathan Ogden, in 1762, and had born to him five sons and two daughters. Albert, one of the sons, married Hester Toll, eldest daughter of Daniel and Suasn (Swits) Toll, and they were the parents of Henry Swits Condé, who de- rived his middle name from Henry Swits, brother of Susan and a member of a re- spected Holland family.

Henry S. Condé, it will be seen, descended from a distinguished line of ancestry. He was born in Charlton, Saratoga county, N. Y., May 30, 1809, and inherited all the principles of manliness which characterized his race. His early life was not unlike that of his playmates, but a naturally superior intellect very soon made him a leader among them, a position he held among men as well throughout an honorable career. Of books his knowledge was necessarily limited, his rudimentary education being confined to the scanty advantages of his time, but keen perception, shrewd and close observation, and systematic reading placed him high in the first rank of his con- temporaries before he had reached his prime, while his youthful avocations developed a natural business instinct. His most marked characteristics were unerring judg- ment and intuitive foresight, two invaluable traits which in his case are exemplified by living results. In 1830 he settled in Central Square in the town of Hastings, where he followed the mercantile trade and held the office of postmaster twenty-two years. There he accumulated property and established a reputation which ever afterward marked his numerous commercial relations. In the fall of 1855 he was elected clerk of Oswego county by an overwhelming majority and removed to Os- wego city. At the expiration of his term of office in 1859, during which he had ma- terially advanced his popularity, he engaged in the manufacture of knit goods, founding the present extensive establishment of the Swits Condé Manufacturing

1 Chambers's Encyclopaedia.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Company. In this he was eminently successful. He was also interested in iron works, in various oil wells in Pennsylvania, and in cotton and sugar plantations in the South, and to all these enterprises he brought a trained ability and shrewd busi- ness qualifications. His best energies, however, were directed towards the main- tenance and development of his interests in Oswego. Starting in a small way while the manufacture of knit goods was yet in its infancy, he gradually increased the capacity of his plant as the demands for his products augmented and lived to see his business become one of the leading factors in the commercial life of the city. A few years prior to his death, which occurred in Oswego on April 28, 1878, he practically retired. His wife, Dorcas A. Peckham, who was born August 5, 1812, also died in Oswego city June 30, 1888. Two sons, Swits and Frederick (elsewhere mentioned), and one daughter, Marion, all residents of Oswego, survive them.

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 86

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410