USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 35
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
A
ยข
245-4
2
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
book-keeper, from which he rose through the several stages to the position of Superintendent. This advancement was fairly earned by the exercise of those qualities which have since enabled him to reach a degree of success in life to which few attain. It early became evident that the interests of the roads east of Syracuse required a shorter route between Syracuse and Rochester than existed in 1848 via. Auburn. Mr. Barnes joined in the preliminary surveys along what was known as the "canal route to Rochester " and found a more level road twenty-two miles-shorter. After some op- position the three companies were united as the Rochester and Syracuse Company in IS50. This was the first step in the grand consolidation of the seven roads between Albany and Buffalo into the New York Central Railroad Company which was effected in 1853.
Mr. Barnes had been drawn into a closer relation with Mr. Wilkinson's family than that result- ing from their official connection. Mr. Wilkinson was the uncle of Miss Rebecca S. Heerm aans, daughter of Thomas B. Heermans, of the noted hardware firm of Corning, Rathbone & Heermans, of Albany. Losing her parents in her infancy, she was brought up in the family of Mr. Wilkinson, where Mr. Barnes, made her acquaintance, and they were married in IS49.
The first money accumulated by Mr. Barnes was wisely invested in a lot on James Street Hill. This locality had attracted his eye, and gratified his love of the beautiful in nature on many a stroll over the sightly eminence, and prompted him to make the purchase of the land, whereupon he after- wards erected the first house on James street, into which he moved in IS53. It long stood alone on what is now the magnificent Jantes Street Ifill, and was illustrated in the first directory of Syracuse in 1853.
On the consolidation of the railroads Mr. Barnes embraced the opportunity for a respite from labor, and visited his childhood home in England. After his return he became proprietor of the Syracuse Evening Chronicle, which had originally been pubilshed as The Free Democrat, in 1852. Mr. Barnes adopted the principles of the new Republican party and made the Chronicle the first Republican daily published in the State, outside of New York city. In IS55 he sold the paper to Samuel 11. Clark, and in the next year removed to Cincinnati and accepted the general superinten- dency of the newly opened Marietta and Cincinnati railroad. This road shared the fate of many other western enterprises of that time in the financial collapse of 1857, and the following year Mr. Barnes returned to Syracuse and began his career as a banker, which he has ever since pursued and in which he has attained the highest positions.
In 1860, he formed the acquaintance of William A. Sweet, who had in 1858 commenced the manufacture of knives for mowers and reapers on a small scale, and at which time there was but one other establishment of the kind in the United States. In 1864, the corporation of Sweet, Barnes & Co. was formed for carrying on this business in connection with the manufacture of steel. The business grew so rapidly as to. demand the whole attention of Mr. Barnes, and in 1863 the steel works were sold to Mr. Sweet, and that manufacture has since been conducted by the Sweet Manu- facturing Company. The corporate name of Sweet, Barnes & Co. continued until 1873 when an order was procured from the Supreme Court changing it to that of George Barnes & Co. Mean- while large factories had been erected in the Fifth ward, to which additions have been made from time to time until they now present an unbroken frontage of 253 feet of brick structure on Marcellus street, and 175 feet on Wyoming street and three stories high, including in addition to the vast man- ufacturing plant, the finest and most commodious offices in the city. Under the management of Mr. Barnes the business quadrupled between the years of 1868 and 1877 and an arrangement was effected in that year by which the works at Syracuse were consolidated with similar factories at other points and the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company became the successors of George Barnes & Co., of Syracuse. The capital of the new company, of which Mr. Barnes was elected president, was $100,000, but by subsequent increments it now stands at $2,000,000. This union of the skill, experience and capital of the manufacturers has enabled them to increase the production and improve the quality of their product without advancing the price The entire control of the business, which soon grew to an industry of great importance, is now in the hands of this corporation, which employs in all its branches more than 1,000 men. Of this great corporation Mr. Barnes still remains president.
3
BIOGRAPHICAL.
In appreciation of Mr. Barnes's financial capacity, and the lofty principles of integrity which have always governed his business acts, his fellow citizens have called upon him to accept many trusts, private and public, to all of which he has given the same faithful fidelity accorded to his own personal matters. He was one of the original incorporators of the Onondaga County Savings Bank, chartered in 1855. Failing health and the pressure of other business caused him to resign his trusteeship in the year 1876. In 1369, he joined with other prominent citizens in the formation of the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga with a paid up capital of $100,000 which received a special charter authorizing it to make investments for persons at home or abroad, and to act as agent, assignee or trustee either by power of attorney or appointment of Court. Mr. Barnes was for many years Vice- President of this institution and has been President since the year 1876. Under his wise and prudent management this institution has gained the entire confidence and liberal patronage of the community.
In 1873, Mr. Barnes and his associates organized the State Bank of Syracuse with a paid up capital of $100,000 of which he has been President since 1876. This bank shares the same degree of success that has been attained by other institutions which have come under his direct control.
Mr. Barnes was one of the originators of the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company, but failing health compelled him to abandon that enterprise.
For many years Mr. Barnes was the Treasurer and Financial Manager of the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum and other similar positions have been filled by him to the entire satisfaction of those most interested. Year after year Mr. Barnes took great delight in having all the orphans from the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum on his lawn to spend a gay afternoon and evening. On these oc- casions every orphan received a suitable gift and a bountiful supper,-not exactly in accordance with those usually bestowed upon orphans. Maurer's Band was always in attendance and the march around the grounds to the supper tahle, headed by the band, was a very pleasing sight. Following up Mr. Barnes's love of fun and entertainment, he and Mr. James Barnes organized a Punch and Judy show with which they always entertained the orphans and many children of larger growth who were not orphans.
During Mr. Barnes's life in Syracuse he has watched its growth from a small village to a proud and beautiful city. In all of its affairs he has shown the interests of the representative citizen of broad and intellectual views. In the business community he has long been a conspicuous and hon- ored figure. Socially he is one whom it is always a pleasure to meet and his home is the often visited Mecca of a large circle of friends. The failure of his health in a somewhat alarming degree took him to Europe for several months of the year 1886 to seek council of the world's most eminent phy- sicians. Though now an invalid, he still maintains his interest in all the various affairs that have for so long occupied his attention.
H JON. NATHAN FITCH GRAVES, President of the New York State Banking Company, of Syracuse, was born in Oneida county, N. Y., February 17, 1813. The Graves family of this country and England are descended from a physician who was brought over from Normandy by Wil- liam the Conquerer as his attendant at the time of the conquest. Many of the descendants, following the ancient practice of transmitting a father's occupation or profession to his son, became physicians and during the early reigns were often court physicians. The principal seat of the family was Mick- leton, county Gloucester. One of the members was elevated to the peerage under the title of Biron Graves, and if he had lived in our own dlay and fand be could! apparently have had no higher regard for the bird that figures on our national escutcheon, for his coat of arms displayed an eagle ducally crowned, with a cross consisting of an eagle and circled round the body and below the wings by a ducal coronet, and for supporters, two eagles with wings expanded and inverted. Among the more recent of those bearing the name who have risen to eminence in England are John Graves, a divine and antiquary, who died in 1729; Richard Graves, a poet and novelist, born in 1715, who died in 1804; Admiral Graves, who commanded the British fleet in Boston harbor at the commencement of
4
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
the revolutionary war; Richard Graves, Dean of Ardagh, Ireland, who died in 1829; Charles Graves, Bishop of Limerick, who died in 1866; Robert Graves, a line engraver, born 1798, who died in 1873. and whose father of the same name, was a noted connoisseur of rare prints; and Samuel Robert Graves, a politician, was born in ISIS. The emigrants to this country were Roswell Graves, Sterling Graves, and Benjamin Graves. Benjamin settled in the town of Lyme, New London county, Conn. The family took an active part in the revolutionary struggle. At the battle of Bunker Hill, Admiral Graves, the British naval commander, trained his guns on the American works, while a brother of his, an American officer, was assisting in repelling an assault of the troops. Benjamin Graves, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the defenders of Fort Griswold, in New London harbor, and was slain at the atrocious massacre by the British on taking the fort. The next day Elijah Graves, son of Benjamin and grandfather of our subject, enlisted for the remainder of the war. He was in several battles and often acted as the aid of General Washington. His son Benja- min, born at Lyme, married Molly Stark, also of Lyme, named after the wife of General Stark by the. General himself, the hero of Bennington,-a name rendered imperishable by Stark's battle cry: "Now, my boys, we must beat them, or Molly Stark is a widow to-night." . These were the parents. of Nathan F. Graves, whose father became a prosperous farmer of Oneida county, and gave to his children, after their common school education, as thorough a training as the academies of the county afforded. Nathan was an apt and forward scholar and at the age of sixteen years was com- petent to teach others. Desirous of further knowledge, he passed several years alternating between teaching and study. Choosing the law for a profession, he studied for a year in the office of J. Whipple Jenkins, at Vernon, in Oneida county, and for two years with Hon. Joshua A. Spencer, at Utica. Admitted to the bar in 1840, he formed a co-partnership with Timothy Jenkins, an estab- lished and prosperous lawyer of Oneida Castle, a village in the township of Vernon, near the old council grounds of the Oneida Indians. Here he made a favorable commencement of his legal career, and soon considered himself sufficiently established to contract marriage. His first wife was HIelen P. Breese, daughter of S. Sidney Breese, Esq., a native of Shrewsbury, N. J., who studied law with the celebrated Elias Boudinet, and settled and practiced law in Cazenovia, Madison county, and was the first Clerk of the county, removing afterwards to Sconondoa, Oneida county. He was a member of the New York Assembly, and filled other important and influential positions. His father, Samuel Breese, who settled at Shrewsbury, was the son of Sidney Breese, an officer of the English navy. Mr. Graves and Miss Breese were married June Ist, 1842. She died in 1844, and the same year he removed to New York and opened an office in Nassau street, which then had a distinctive character as the principal lawyer's street of the city.
On the 23d of November, 1845, he married Miss Catherine HI. Breese, a sister of his first wife. Although he succeeded in building up an extensive practive in New York, he concluded on account of ill health to abandon it and in 1849 he returned to Central New York and formed a legal partner- ship in Syracuse with Daniel P. Wood, then a rising young lawyer admitted to the bar three years before, and since well known as a member of the Assembly and Senate of this State, and still residing in Syracuse. The association of the two continued for about fifteen years, though in the meantime Mr. Graves had entered upon the financial career which drew upon the most valuable portion of his time. The Burnet Bank was organized in Syracuse in 1852 and he became its President. The Teller was John J. Knox, afterwards Comptroller of the Currency at Washington, who was at that time highly esteemed for his financial ability and knowledge of the banking business. As a State Bank it ceased to exist after the passage of the National Act, but was reorganized as the Fourth Na- tional Bank. The State system being preferred by the directors and stockholders, the National chir- ter was relinquished in 1872, and the institution has since been known as the New York State Bank- ing Company. During all these changes Mr. Graves has continued to guide its fortunes, and it has maintained its character as a safe, prosperous and well-managed institution. After so long and ard- uous business course he needed relaxation for his health and in 1872 visited, with his wife, the l'a- cific coast and made a tour around the world, contributing valuable letters to the New York Obserter. the Syracuse Courier and the Northern Christian Advocate. From his correspondence it appears that he journeyed more than twenty-thousand miles with very little discomfort, without missing
5
BIOGRAPHICAL.
connection or encountering a serious storm. He visited the beautiful temples of Japan, and China, and saw the principle idols ; the inland seas of Japan, with their many islands and teeming population ; the stately mansions on the Bund at Shanghai ; the white walls and arched windows of Hong Kong ; the busy mart of Singapore ; Ceylon and its groves of palms ; the mighty Ganges and thousands vainly trying to wash away the sins of their souls in its sacred waters ; the holy city of Benares ; the government train of one-hundred elephants, and the Fortress of Lucknow ; the peerless Taj of Agra ; the mosques, palaces, and ruins of Delhi ; the great caves of India ; the Red Sea and the Nile canals and groves of palms. He visited also the most important missionary stations in the countries through which he passed and bore testimony to their laborious and useful services and the respect in which they were held for their character and learning. Government officials often spoke of the good they were accomplishing and in many places he noted that they were selected for important trusts by different governments. On returning from his travels, Mr. Graves was, in 1874, elected Mayor of Syracuse. He has always been a public-spirited citizen and taken an especial interest in educational improvement, having acted for several years as School Commissioner and President of the Board of Education. He is an intelligent writer and has one of the best private libraries in the State, com- prising more than ten-thousand volumes collected by himself, and embracing Audubon's Birds and many other rare and costly works. He has every diplomatic publication issued since the government was founded. His library is visited by scholars from distant points, who avail themselves of its treasures. HIe sustained a lectureship on Missions at the Seminary at New Brunswick, the last course having been delivered by Rev. John Hall, D.D. Mr. Graves is also a liberal patron of the fine arts.
Although now far past the years said to be allotted to man, Mr. Graves continues to act as Pres- ident of the New York State Banking Company, having been continuously President of a bank longer than any other person in the city, and down to quite recent years has to some extent pursued the practice of his profession. In the bank he has a most efficient coadjutor in the person of Mr. R. A. Bonta, who has been cashier since 1864, having first entered the Burnet Bank as a clerk in 1856. Mr. Graves has also been a Trustee for many years of the Syracuse Savings Bank, the foremost insti- tution of that character in the city. Ile is and has been for many years one of the Trustees of the State Idiot Asylum, located in Syracuse.
His sympathy with all measures looking to public improvement is illustrated by his uniting in ISS2 with several others from among the most distinguished citizens of the city to form the Civil Service Reform Association, of which he was made President.
Mr. Graves invested largely in real estate in Syracuse and has erected a great number of dwell- ings which now form a portion of his estate and demand from him considerable attention. Although now far advanced in years, these various interests still retain him in the ranks of busy men. A neighbor and life-long friend has described his genial social disposition as making his home one of attraction and enjoyment, while his culture and liberal hospitality have drawn around him the most refined and cultivated. The same authority has borne testimony to the simple and pure Christianity which is the soul of his integrity and fidelity to business trusts, and which early linked him closely to the spiritual interests of the church, while his liberality, though without ostentation, has made him the friend of charitable and benevolent societies.
In his declining years, Mr. Graves may look back upon a long life that has been crowned with much more than common success in a material sense, and made him the center of a large circle of those who hold him in high esteem as a friend and as a man.
W TILLIAM BROWN SMITH, son of Job C. Smith and Esther Brown, was born March 2d, 1815, in Brighton, Monroe county, N. Y., although his progenitors were English, coming to this country in 1630, and locating in New London, Conn., the original farm being now owned and occupied by lineal descendants of the founder of the family in this country, Rev. Nehemiah Smith.
4
6
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
His mother died at the time of his birth, and he was placed in the care of Mrs. Jeremiah Maples, of West Walworth, Wayne county, N. Y., where he lived until he was thirteen years old-for the most of this period under the impression that these kind people were his parents,-his father having married again when he was still a young child, and moved to the then distant State of Ohio.
When thirteen years of age, his foster father, Mr. Maples, died suddenly, his foster mother hav- ing died some six years previous, and then being left without friends in the east, he made arrange- ments with Joshua Hicks, of Walworth, whereby he was to learn the cabinet trade, and here he worked until he was eighteen years old, the larger portion of his time being spent on Mr. Hicks farm and in his cabinet shop.
About this time, Mr. Hicks having died, he hired out to his son, Levi J. Hicks, also a cabinet maker, agreeing to work for two years, the first year for $4 per month and the second for $7 per month, with the understanding that he was privileged to work outside when he pleased, but was to make up the time, so that he was to work for Mr. Hicks a full two years, under the contract. Inas- much as he spent considerable time during the hay and harvest season in working for the farmers, and in going to school in the winter, it took him three years to fill this contract, at which time he had reached his majority, had learned his trade, was the possessor of a good set of tools, good cloth- ing, and $roo in money.
Hoping to better himself, he made a trip by canal as far as Buffalo, visiting the various cabinet shops on the way; but finding no place to his liking, he at once returned and hired to James Jenner. cabinet maker, of Palmyra, N. Y. After a few weeks he was made foreman of one of Mr. Jenner's shops, where he remained for four years, at the end of which time he had laid up $1,000.
At this time he married Lucy, the daughter of Gilbert Veomans, of Walworth, and about the same time he entered into a co-partnership with his brother-in-law, T. G. Yeomans, in the mercantile business at Walworth.
ITis wife lived but a few months. He afterwards married Augusta M. Boardman, daughter of Silas Boardman, of Westerlo, Albany county, N. Y. After four years of mercantile life, finding it did not agree with his health, he came to Syracuse, and bought a half interest in a small nursery, with Mr. Alanson Thorp, under the firm name of Thorp & Smith, the nursery comprising four or five acres, situated on West Genesee street, near the present residence of W. Brown Smith, for which he paid $2,000. This nursery was increased from time to time, until it occupied several hundred acres. The firm name was changed at various times by the addition or retirement of other partners, until Mr. Smith became the sole proprietor of the business. In 1868, Mr. Edward A. Powell married his only daughter, Lucy C., and became a partner in the business, which was soon after extended by the ad- dition of the live stock interests, from which was developed the celebrated "Lakeside Stock Farm," which is noticed elsewhere in this work.
In 1879, the firm was again changed by the admission into partnership of his sons, Wing R. and W. Judson Smith, under the firm name of Smiths & Powell, and in 1885, Mr. Anthony Lamb was admitted as a partner, the firm name becoming Smiths, l'owell & Lamb, which is still retained.
Early in life Mr. Smith adopted the motto, "Never put off until to-morrow what you can do to- day," and the rule of his life has been never to deviate from this, and to his remembrance he has never forfeited a contract, or failed to meet an obligation. In business, energetic, honorable and trustworthy. In religion, through early associations, he became a member of the Baptist Church, bat later in life he became interested in the Unitarian Society and since his residence in Syracuse has been identified with that church, and has been one of its sustaining members and for many years one of its Trustees. In politics a Republican, having voted with the Whig party for William It. Harrison, and although always interested in the political welfare of his city and country, he has never sought any office, but was elected for several terms School Commissioner in his district, and served for one term as President of that Board.
He has been largely identified with the development of the city, having been connected with many of the leading public and business enterprises, and at present holds several positions of trust and honor, among which may be mentioned the following : President of Oakwood Cemetery, Vice- President of the Syracuse Savings Bank, Director of the Salt Springs National Bank, Director of the Syracuse Water Company, and Counselor of the Old Ladies' Home.
Lucas Gleaient
7
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Outside of his regular business interests, Mr. Smith has for many years been a large investor in real estate in Syracuse or its vicinity. He made it a governing principle that money invested in real estate near at hand which would nearly or quite pay the interest on its cost was well invested. Re- sults have justified his judgment and now Mr. Smith and the firm of which he is a member own about 1, 200 acres of land, a large part of which is his personal property and much of which is very valuable.
Mr. Smith has always been an earnest advocate of temperance and morality, and has both by precept and example endeavored to impress these principles on the minds of those with whom he came in contact, and he makes with pride the statement that he never touched, tasted or handled in- toxicants of any kind, or tobacco, nor offered them to others.
L UCIUS GLEASON, the subject of this brief sketch, was born in the village of Liverpool, Onon- daga county, N. Y., December 8, 1919. His father was Ara Gleason, who came from Middle- field, Mass., and settled in Liverpool in 1812, where he engaged in farming and boating. His . mother's maiden name was Mary Ilint. Lucius Gleason was the oldest child of this marriage. He obtained a good education in the district school of the village, which he attended quite regularly un- til he was eighteen years of age. During the three preceding summers, however, he spent most of his time in boating on the canal, adding thereby to his pocket money. At eighteen he began work as clerk in the general store at Liverpool, kept by John and Henry Paddock, where he remained two years. At this time the natural taste which he possessed for civil engineering developed itself and he gave up his clerkship and went to the neighboring village of Lodi, intending to study the science un- der Professor Root. Lacking means to procure the necessary instruments for prosecuting his studies he was forced to abandon his design and returned to Liverpool ; there he accepted an engagement in the store of Aiken & Sons, receiving for his services the muniticent sum of $200 and his board. This was then considered a good salary for a beginner. During this period he gave up much of his leisure to study ; but his bright outlook in mercantile pursuits caused him to abandon his intention of becoming a surveyor or civil engineer. In the latter part of 1842, he bought out the firm of Aiken & Sons, mostly on credit and thus when only twenty-three years of age was fully launched in trade. He continued the business until 1864, during which long period he invested portions of his increas- ing capital in various other enterprises. One of these was the salt business, then the leading industry of Syracuse, in which he was largely engaged from 1842 to 1$56, and to a lesser extent in later years. His method of operating for a number of years was to buy the salt in Liverpool and ship it to western markets. In 1857, he joined with a number of other men in the formation of a company for more extensive operations in this product, but owing to the terrible financial stringency of that time and the restricted demand for salt, the enterprise was not successful. Mr. Gleason, as well as his asso- ciates, lost heavily ; but his native courage and hopefulness enabled him to rise above misfortune, and alone he put forth his best efforts during the next few years, buying, selling and manufacturing salt exclusively and with the most satisfactory results. A second attempt was made to organize the salt manufacturers into a large company in 1860, and the agreement bound its members for ten years. This great organization embraced about all of the salt manufacturers on the State Reservation and practically controlled the business. In this organization Mr. Gleason was a power ; he was, of course, a large shareholder and during the ten years of the company's existence was a member of its executive committee and general traveling agent. This company was an unqualified success from the beginning, and remarkable prosperity attended its operations, particularly during the war period, when foreign salt was partially excluded from our markets. Prices ruled high and the profits were large, Notwithstanding the discovery of large quantities of salt about the beginning of the war, at Saginaw, Mich., and later in Canada, the volume of the staple made at Syracuse steadily increased, . averaging from 1867 to 1871 more than eight and a half million bushels per year. In 1870, the com-'
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.