USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 2 & 3 > Part 3
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John Seymour, who sold to J. Richmond. It passed to David R. Hamilton and son William, then to Lyman HI. Dratt, and in 1844 to Mr. Hinds, in whose possession it was burned February 9, 1875. The present grist mill is owned by C. A. Coleman. Samuel West was an early blacksmith, having a shop that was burned where Frank Maguire's shop afterward stood. In 1846 Griffin Green started a tannery that went down several years ago. A hotel was built and opened at an early day, of which Abram Dratt was proprietor.
About 1877 Thomas S. Law established the bluing manufactory now conducted by his son Arthur E. Azel C. Hough recently began the manufacture of a cash recorder, of which he is the inventor and patentec. In 1867 Dr. Jerome Hibbard commenced making cheese boxes herc, and established the present extensive Hibbard basket works, in which at one time more than 100 hands were employed, the present number being from twenty-five to thirty. He was also the inventor of the Hibbard farm gate in 1868. Dr. Hibbard was born in February, 1830, and died here April 4, 1888. He was a graduate in 1861 of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city and an assistant surgeon in a Virginia hospital during the war.
South Butler village now contains, besides the above, a hotel, two general stores, a drug store, a post-office and confectionery store, two blacksmith shops, a hardware store, three milliners, two wagon shops, one grist mill, a district school, four churches, two or three physicians, and about 360 inhabitants. The postmaster is George W. Pangburn, who succeeded De Witt C. Wheeler.
BUTLER CENTER, so called from its geographical position, had its nucleus in the saw mill of Jacob S. Viele in 1819. Afterward a fulling and carding mill was built, but was long since discontinued. The pres- ent saw and feed mill is owned by Joseph H. Potter. Besides this the place contains two stores, a blacksmith shop, school, one church, post- office, and small cluster of dwellings. Abel Wing, a long time mer- chant here, was postmaster for several years and was succeeded recently by A. M. Armstrong.
WEST BUTLER, in the western part of the town, was originally called Murray's Corners, and is now frequently termed Cider Hill. It formerly had a post-office, which was discontinued in June, 1881. It is merely a small rural hamlet.
CHURCHES .- A Baptist church was organized in Butler as early as 1824. In 1825 Rev. Luther Goodrich was installed as pastor, and about
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1830 was succeeded by Rev. Isaac D. Hosford. June 26, 1834, the Baptist church of Butler and Savannah was regularly constituted at South Butler by Rev. Rowell Osborne with about fifteen members. Rev. Mr. Hosford was the first pastor and Ames Winnegar the first clerk. The first and present frame house of worship was erected in 1850 at a cost of $1,200, and in that year a Sunday school was organized. The society has about eighty members under the pastoral charge of Rev. Levi R. Reynolds. The superintendent of the Sunday school is Mrs. James Foster.
The Presbyterian church of Butler was organized in 1831 under the Presbytery of Geneva. In 1836 they built at Sonth Butler the first church edifice in the town. Among the earlier pastors or supplies were Revs. William Clark, Gelston, Samuel R. Ward (colored), Lewis C. Lockwood, and James Gregg. In 1853 Rev. Antoinette L. Brown, the first woman regularly ordained to the ministry in the State, was installed pastor "by a speech from Gerrit Smith." Soon afterward the society langnished and finally ceased to exist. Their old church is now used as a dwelling.
The Disciples Church of Sonth Butler originally consisted of eleven members, among whom were John Dratt and wife, Lyman Hill and sister (Mrs. Chapin), Israel J. Clapp and wife, and a Mr. Comstock. Mr. Dratt was the elder. The meetings were first held in an old tan- nery, and for some time in school houses. This church, first designated "Campbellite, " then "Disciples," and later " Christian, " was instituted about 1831. They denied Scriptural authority for ordaining or setting apart any one as a minister of preacher, or as specially authorized to administer the rites of the church, such as baptism and the Lord's supper; and maintained that a hired ministry and the " paying for preaching " were unnecessary. This dogma was therefore practiced upon. They organized themselves into a congregation of baptized be- lievers, and any one of them might perform the duties of the church. Their first meeting house, which cost about $800, was sold to the Advents. In 1861 the present edifice in South Butler was ereeted at an expense of $3,000. The first located minister was Josiah I. Lowell, who remained until his death in 1858. The first Sunday school was organized by Dr. M. F. Sweeting about 1853, with fifty pupils. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Applegate. The society has 140 members.
The Second Advent church was organized at South Butler in 1861. The old church edifice of the Disciples was purchased and used as a
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place of worship. They still maintain regular services and a Sabbath school. The local preacher is E. P. Stevens.
The Methodist Protestant church of South Butler was erected in 1879 with Rev. A. L. Stinnard in charge. Prior to his appointment a class was organized at the house of R. H. Arnold, with twelve members, and with Arthur Skinner as leader. The first church services were held in a hall over the hardware store, and the first quarterly meeting con- vened here June 3 and 4, 1880. The Baptist church was leased and later the Advent church was used, and in 1881 Rev. W. H. Bentley be- came pastor. Their frame edifice was erected that year and dedicated in August by Rev. M. Prindle. It cost about $2,500. The present pastor is Rev. Hale Gardner. The society owns a parsonage and has about forty members.
The Methodist Episcopal church of Butler Center was erected prior to or about 1836 and belonged to the Rose circuit, for on the records is the following entry: " The first quarterly meeting was held in the Methodist chapel. Butler Center, December 3, 1836. Present-Isaac Stone, presiding elder; Burrow Holmes, preacher in charge; Joseph Byron, assistant; John Roe, secretary; Thomas Roberts and Daniel Smith, local preachers; Austin Roe and Francis R. Nichols, exhorters. Class leaders: M. Smith, Paul H. Davis, James Cosgrove, William Wadsworth, Thomas West, Russell Rusco, Thaddeus Collins, Benja- min Jenkins, Joel HI. Lee, James Park, Amos Aldrich."
The society owns a frame parsonage and a cemetery plat adjoining the church lot. The membership numbers about ninety and Rev. C. C. Tucker is pastor. F. R. Pierson is Sunday school superintendent.
A Methodist Episcopal church was built at a very early day on the present site of the Disciples parsonage at South Butler. It was finally moved to Savannah village, where its frame forms that of the M. E. church building there.
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
TADIRRARD
BIOGRAPHICAL.
CHARLES T. SAXTON.
CHARLES T. SAXTON, attorney in Clyde, Wayne county, N. Y., and nominee in 1894 of the Republican party for lieutenant-governor of the State of New York, was born in ('lyde in 1846. He is a son of Daniel Saxton, who was for nearly fifty years a respected citizen of Clyde, and who died in 1891. His advantages for securing an early education were very limited. After attending district school until he was fourteen years old, he worked about a year as clerk in a dry goods store. He was ambitions to go to college, and with that purpose in view studied Greek while working as clerk. He hoped to be able to fit himself to enter college and then work his way through. But the breaking out of the war changed his plans. It required very little consideration by him to arrive at a determination to enlist, and he did so, with a few of his young companions, joining the 90th New York Infantry soon after the conflict began and went with the regiment to East New York, where he remained until Jannary 5, 1862. From there the regiment proceeded to Key West, Fla. Mr. Saxton was then only fifteen years old. In the miserable Florida barracks the regiment was attacked by yellow fever and 200 of its number died. In the summer of 1863 the regiment went to Port Hudson and in the siege of that place experienced its first taste of real war. Then followed the Red River campaign, in which Mr. Saxton won the rank of sergeant-major. At Pleasant Valley, Cox's Plantation, and other engagements the 90th Regiment served with credit. After this the regiment was not engaged until the summer of 1864, when they were ordered to Washington, where they joined Sheridan and shared in the glorious Shenandoah Valley campaign. The extreme marches and field privations of this campaign caused Mr. Saxton's severe illness, and he was sent to a Washington hospital with a fair assurance that he would not leave it alive. But he is of sturdy stuff and was soon afterward sent home on a furlough, tipping the scales at 114 pounds; his present weight is 225 pounds. Forty days later he was again ready for the field. At the close of the war his regiment was ordered to Hawkinsville, Ga., where they were kept until February, 1866. On February 19 they were ordered to Hart's Island and mustered out, four years and three months after Mr. Saxton's enlistment.
Returning from the war, still young and ambitions to enter a profession, Mr. Saxton began the study of law in the office of Vandenberg & Baker in Clyde and studied night and day until his admission to the bar in 1867. He was only twenty-one years old at
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this time, and married soon after his admission to the bar with no other expectations of income other than what he might earn by hard labor. He went with his wife to Grand Rapids, Mich., and opened an office. Partly on account of his wife's desire to live among friends they returned to Clyde and he formed a partnership with John L. Crane, which existed two years. In 1876 he formed a partnership with his old teacher in law, John Vandenberg, of Clyde, and for the succeeding seventeen years they worked har- moniously and successfully together until the death of Mr. Vandenberg in the spring of 1894. A quick thinker, a concise, eloquent and effective speaker, Mr.' Saxton early attracted attention in his profession, and he attained unusual success. A Republican in polities, he identified himself with the work of his party, and his talents were soon recognized. After holding the offices of village clerk in Clyde, trustee and president of the village, and justice of the peace, he was elected in 1886 to the State Assembly, re- ceiving the largest majority the district ever gave a candidate for that office. He was one of the readiest and most conspienous debaters in the Legislature and served with special credit and ability on the Judiciary Committee. He was elected to the Legislature in 1888 and 1889; was chairman in both years of the Judiciary Committee, and under- took to seenre the passage of his famous ballot-reform measure. His well-directed efforts, his eloquent speeches, and his untiring labors were finally erowned with success. In the fall of 1889 he was elected to the State Senate and was re elected without op- position in 1891. In that body, as in the Assembly, he occupied a conspicnous position, not only in the councils of his own party, but in the promotion of many important measures. In 1891 he seenred the enactment of the ballot-reform bill, which embodied the main features of the Australian ballot system; but he was forced to accept it in an imperfect form by the opposition of the other political adherents. In 1888 he had charge in the Assembly of the bill providing that the death penalty should be inflicted by electricity, which became a law the same year. In 1891 he framed and introduced a corrupt practices Act, which defined offenses against the elective franchise and re- quired, among other things, the publication by candidates of their election expenses. This is the first act of the kind ever placed on the statute books of any American State; and he has never ceased his efforts to supply the deficiencies of that law, but thus far without marked snecess. In the fall of 1893 he was again elected to the Senate for the third time by a plurality of 8,500, and by the unanimous expression of his Republican colleagues was made temporary president and leader of the majority. Mr. Saxton's career in the last session of the Legislature is well known. It was marked by the same untiring activity, adherence to what he heheved to be for the best interests of the State, and his eloquent advocacy of those measures which made that session conspicuous. In the fall of 1894, and while this volume is in press, Mr. Saxton was made a candidate of his party for the office of lieutenant-governor, with Levi P. Morton for governor, and the ticket has been unanimously nominated at Saratoga, and elected on the 6th day of November. . This election forces Mr. Saxton to resign his office in the Senate.
Senator Saxton is noted for his brilliant advocacy in the Legislature of those measures designed to promote the moral and intellectual advancement of the people at large. Among the many bills of general interest introduced by him, which are now upon the statnte books, are the university-extension bill, the anti-pool room bill, and the bill
Stephen K. Williams lams
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
regulating gifts for charitable purposes, which is designed to prevent the failure of such great public charities as that contemplated by the will of the late Samuel J. Tilden. He is recognized throughout the State as one of the most popular and effective of the campaign speakers.
In 1892 Mr. Saxton was chosen honorary chancellor of Union College, Schenectady, and delivered the chancellor's address to the graduating class, receiving the degree of LL.D.
Mr. Saxton is a prominent member of the G. A. R., in which he has been commander of two different Posts, a member of the Department Council of Administration, and was delegate-at-large from this department to the National Encampment of 1894.
Mr. Saxton's marriage took place in 1868 to Helen M., daughter of Ambrose S. Field. They have four children.
STEPHEN K. WILLIAMS.
STEPHEN K. WILLIAMS was born in Bennington, Vt. His father was Richard P. Williams, a successful physician of that place. His mother was Lucy Fletcher, of Lud- low, Vt. When he was four years old his family, consisting of his father, mother, and older brother Fletcher and himself, removed to Newark, N. Y., where Stephen K. has since resided. His father, Richard P. Williams, practiced his profession of physician and surgeon several years, but finally retired from practice on account of ill health, and died several years ago. Ilis mother, Lucy F. Williams, died recently at the age of ninety-five years. His brother, Fletcher Williams, is a banker at Newark, and president of the First National Bank, of which he is the founder.
Mr. Williams's ancestors on his father's side came from Wales. His mother's name was Keyes. His mother's brothers, Elijah and Timothy Fletcher, of Lynchburg, Va., and Michael, Calvin and Stoughton A. Fletcher, of Indianapolis, Ind., were prominent men in the States where they lived.
Stephen K. Williams was from childhood a student, attending the common school at Bennington, Vt., when three years of age. Ile is indebted. to his father, who taught him on winter evenings not only the common branches, but also the beginning of Latin and Greek, for the foundation of his education. At ten years of age his father sent him back to Bennington to attend the academy for a year, during which tine he studied Latin and other branches. On his return the remainder of his academic education was obtained in the Palmyra, N. Y., Academy. He entered Union College at Schenectady at the age of fifteen years, one year in advance, being the second or sophomore year, took the classical course, and graduated at eighteen. While in college he stood among the first in a class of about 125.and at the end of his course there received the honorary election as member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and was also one of the members of his elass selected to deliver an oration on Commencement day. He has since received from Union College the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
On his graduation from college he spent part of a year in Adrian, Mich., with his father, buying wheat. He then returned to Newark, N. Y., and, as his father had
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selected the profession of law for him, he entered the law office of Hon. Lyman Sher- wood, county judge, as a student; and after remaining there about a year, finished his law studies in the office of George H. Middleton, an able and accomplished attorney, and on his admission to the bar was offered and accepted a partnership with Mr. Middleton in the law business, with whom he remained several years. On Mr. Middleton being elected county judge the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Williams opened a law office by himself in Newark, where he has since resided.
Mr. Williams has always been a devoted student and taking for his motto that " Genius is labor," has exemplified it by hard labor in his office and has risen to the rank of one of the most prominent lawyers in the State. He has always given close attention and patient labor to his law cases and preparing them from his extensive law library, is quite successful, and is always listened to with attention in the Circuit Courts and in the General Term of the Supreme Court, and in the Court of Appeals.
Mr. Williams has also during a part of his life been a politician and interested him- self actively in the advancement of his party. He was district attorney for Wayne county for three years. He declined other political preferment for some time, but at length yielding to the solicitations of his friends, he was elected State senator for the 25th district including the counties of Wayne and Cayuga, in 1864, and performed his duties in that body with such acceptance to his constituents that he was twice re-elected, holding the office six successive years. He gave the same ardent and industrious effort to the duties of his political positions, as to his private practice in his profession. While in the political field Mr. Williams was recognized as a factor of influence in his connty and throughout the State. Hle for a long time enjoyed the intimate friendship of Will- iam H. Seward (of Cayuga county), one of the counties represented by Mr. Williams in the Senate, especially while Mr. Seward was secretary of state in President Lincoln's and President Johnson's administrations. Mr. Williams was in Albany, as senator, at the time of President Lincoln's assassination and took part in the ceremonies attending the reception of the president's body in that city on its way to the tomb in Springfield, Ill.
Mr. Williams was active in forwarding legislation in support of the government and in raising troops during the war. He was a member of the County War Committee and president of the Town War Committee, and freely devoted his tune and energies to the raising of and care for the volunteers during the great struggle.
Mr. Williams was president of the Sodus Point and Southern Railroad Company while that road was in process of construction and nutil its completion, and contributed largely to its building. The completion of this road was the commencement of the permanent growth of the village of Newark and it has ever since been a principal factor in the ex_ ceptional advancement and prosperity of that village.
In 1882 Mr. Wilhams became the editor of the United States Supreme Court Reports, published by the Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Company, of Rochester, and has surce, with the exception of one year, acceptably filled this responsible position. In that year he went to Washington and inaugurated the necessary arrangements for the publishing of these reports, and while there became acquainted with Chief Justice Waite and the other members of that court. This edition is now in thirty- eight volumes, each one containing four of the official volumes.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Mr. Williams has always kept up his law practice at Newark and is a partner with his son, Byron C. Williams, in that business.
Mr. Williams married Angeline Crane, daughter of Judge Zenas S. Crane, of Mont- clair, N. J., who is now living. They have five children: Byron C., above mentioned, Sarah Elizabeth, Frances J., Ida, and Cora May, all of whom except Ida A. are living.
JOHN HENRY CAMP
WAS a native of Tompkins county, N. Y., and was born in Ithaca April 4, 1840. Ilis father was Frederick M. Camp, who removed soon after the birth of his son to Trumansburg, where he died. His mother was Sarah (Platt) Camp, who was nearly related to Hon. Thomas C. Platt; she died in Trumansborg in January, 1894. The other children of this family besides John II. were Mrs. Frank H. Griswold, of Anburn, (a half sister), Mrs. George M. Patten, of Bath, Me., and the late Mrs. David S. Biggs, of Trumansburg.
John H. Camp attended the academy in his native county where he won his first laurels as an orator and debater, and afterwards entered the Albany Law School from which he graduated with honor. Following this he spent a short time in Mr. Bishop's law office m Rochester, whence he came to Lyons where the number of attorneys then seemed less in proportion to population than in most localities. He opened an office with the late R. W. Ashley, but in 1863 was appointed by Judge George W. Cowles to take charge of the surrogate's office. This position soon gave him opportunity to form a valuable acquaintanceship in all parts of Wayne county, which was of great service to him in later years. He remained in that office under Judge L. M. Norton also; but it should not be understood that he acted as " surrogate's clerk," as he preferred to feel free to keep up the practice of his profession. Clients sought him frequently and he soon gained a considerable practice, in which he met with gratifying success. He was an eloquent speaker, peculiarly persuasive and courteous in his address, while his legal ability and conscientious efforts for his clients rendered him a formidable opponent at the bar. He early entered the political field, which had great attractions for him, and he became one of the most popular and effective campaign speakers in the State.
In 1867 Mr. Camp was elected district attorney of Wayne county and served most acceptably through an important term, the prosecution of the murderer Graham falling to him-a case that attracted attention throughout the country. In 1872 Mr. Camp was one of the Republican Presidential Electors, and secretary of the Electoral College. During these years be was rapidly gaining political strength and prestige, and in 1877 he was elected to the 45th Congress, where he made a brilliant and snecessful record for six years. He exerted a large influence in that legislative body and left a record in every way worthy of his talent and character. It was while in Washington that the persistent malady attacked him from which he was thenceforth to suffer.
Returning from his labors in Congress Mr. Camp was nominated in 1883 for the high office of justice of the Supreme Court. His colleague ou the judiciary ticket, Ilon. W.
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LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY.
D. Stuart, of Rochester, had incurred the enmity of many members of the Mouroe county bar, which led to the formation of an association of lawyers to defeat the Re- publican nominees. This action in combination with the wave of Democratic success growing ont of the Folger-Cleveland campaign, and the popularity of the Democratic candidates, was sufficient to defeat the opposing nominees in a district that is regularly Republican. There was also treachery in his own county that contributed to defeat Mr. Camp, though he was reluctant to believe it. It was a disappointment, undoubtedly, to Mr. Camp, but it was not an numixed misfortune; for he entered with renewed ardor into the practice of his profession and with most remarkable success. He worked hard and his great ability, his power as an advocate, his versatility and unbounded con- fidence in himself, rendered him a legal antagonist to be feared. Admitting to partner- ship, I. W. Dunwell, a young attorney who was destined to attain eminence in the profession, the firm became favorably known not only throughont Wayne county, but far beyond its bounds. His partnership with Mr. Dunwell began in 1877, continned till Mr. Camp's death, and was one of the strongest in this part of the State. The New York Central Railroad Company and other large corporations sought the services of the firm, and their practice became very large and Incrative.
His passion for polities again prompted Mr. Camp to enter the field, not as a candidate for office, but as a controlling factor through Wayne county and a powerful infhience in the western part of the State. His talents were readily recognized by the State leaders and in all important councils his presence and voice were songht. For years he was intimately associated with Thomas C. Platt, by whom he was implicitly trusted, and in 1891 when age compelled Hon. John N. Knapp to relinquish the chairmanship of the State Committee, Mr. Camp was placed on the committee and would have been given the chairmanship had not his increasing ill health interfered.
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