USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 37
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The living children are Jane Antoinette, now Mrs. Antoinette W. Sherman ; Clara Keep, now Mrs. Robert L. S. Ilall, of New York ; and Hamilton Salisbury White and Howard Ganson White, both of Syracuse. A son, Barrett Rich White, and a daughter, Sarah Aphia White, are de- ceased.
LJORACE WHITE was born in the village of Ilomer, Cortland county. N. V., on the 19th of April, 1802. His father was Asa White, who was born in the town of Monson. Mass., in the year 1774. removed to ITomer in 1798, and there in 1800 married Clarissa Keep, daughter of Caleb Keep, who settled in Homer at the same time. Horace White was placed in the store of IIorace Ilill at Auburn, N. Y., at the early age of fourteen years, and two years later in a store in Albany in which his father was interested. Returning to Homer he entered the store of Jedediah Barber, who was for many years a leading merchant in Cortland county, and remained there for ten years, acquiring during that period a reputation for integrity, energy, and excellent business capacity. Ilis health, however, was not robust, and he decided to engage in more active employment, and for that purpose spent two or three years on a farm, thus regaining to a large extent his former health. In 1831 he married Clara Dick on, daughter of Andrew Dickson, a native of Massachusetts, whose wife was Ruth Hall, of Connecticut. In 1835 Mr. White accepted the doctrines of the Episcopal church and united with Calvary church in Homer. In 1838 he removed to Syracuse, where he joined St. Paul's church and remained with it until his death, acting as vestryman and warden. Mr. White's life after his removal to Syracuse was marked with great activity and unusual success. Under the general banking law of 1835 the Bank of Syracuse was organized in the following year, principally through the efforts of Mr. White and John Wilkinson. Mr. Wilkinson became president of the bank and Mr. White cashier. The capital was $200,000, and the bank was for a number of years the leading financial institution of Syracuse. During a later period Hamilton White was president of the bank, and still later the Ion. Andrew D. White filled the position, thus identifying the insti- tution in a special manner with his family. Both Mr. White and Mr. Wilkinson were also directors in the Onondaga County Bank, of which Hamilton White was a director and the cashier. In con- nection with these institutions Mr. White gained a high reputation as a judicial and prudent financier, who, while carefully protecting the interests of the banks, was still ready at all times to use their in. fluence and means for the welfare of the community. The association of Horace White and John Wilkinson extended beyond the sphere of banking. The latter did much towards establishing the early railroads of the State, and was one of the commissioners appointed by the act incorporating the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad in 1834 ; the road was finished in 1339. In the same year the Syracuse and Utica Railroad was opened under the presidency of Mr. Wilkinson. Ten years later the demands of travel and transportation caused the construction of the direct road between Syracuse and Rochester, the company being organized in 1849, and in the following year the two other con- panies and the new one were consolidated under the name of the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad Company, all of which prepared the way for the general consolidation in 1853 of all the roads be- tween Albany and Buffalo. In these various plans and enterprises Mr. White was directly interested and took an active interest in their consummation. Under the general railway act of 1850 the
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
Syracuse and Binghamton Railroad was undertaken in 1351. Mr. White was made treasurer of the company, and his financial ability was conspicuously displayed in the building of that road, which was opened in 1854. When the great consolidation was effected which created the New York Central Railroad Company Mr. White was promptly called into the Board of Directors, under the lead of Erastus Corning, then one of the most prominent railroad men in the country. The success of the consolidation was a foregone conclusion and Mr. White contributed not a little to the prosperity of the then great organization. Prominent among the several local manufacturing industries in which Mr. White was interested was the founding of the Geddes Coarse Salt Company, in which he was associated with his brother Hamilton and the late Robert Gere. His declining health compelled him to withdraw from the banking connections in 1856, and to curtail his other business operations ; but he still felt a deep interest in public affairs and in that year aided in organizing the Onondaga County Agricultural Society, and was a delegate to the State Agricultural Society at Albany. Mr. White was a man with broad, benevolent principles. His gifts for the support of missions and other church interests, his endowment of a professorship and of prizes at Hobart College, and his gifts to various institutions connected with his denomination, were munificent, while his unseen and unknown charities were numberless. Ilis memory is revered by all who knew him. He died on the 5th of September, 1860. His widow died on the 23d of August, ISS2. Mr. White had two sons-the Ilon. Andrew Dickson White, late President of Cornell University, State Senator from 1864 to 1867, and late Minister of the U. S. to Germany ; and Horace Keep White, the well known capitalist of Syracuse. The splendid White Memorial Building in Syracuse was erected by these sons to the memory of their father.
JAMES L. BAGG, a veteran member of the Onondaga County Bar, was born in the town of Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., on the 27th of September, 1815. He retained his residence on his father's farm, sharing to the best of his ability in its arduous labors, until the year IS3S, when he took up his residence in Syracuse and has ever since remained here. During his boyhood on the farm he attended the district school, and was also happily favored with six months' tuition in Latin by the pastor of the Congregational church. During his fourteenth and fifteenth years he was em- ployed as clerk in a grocery store conducted by his cousin in the city of Albany. At the age of six- teen he began regular study at the academy at Lenox, Mass., and remained there three years, fitting himself for college. Ile then entered Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., as a Sophomore, and graduated with credit in 1337. At that time he had relatives residing in Syracuse and it was upon their advice that he determined upon it as his future home. Coming westward to Utica by railroad he took a stage at that place (there being no railroad between Syracuse and Utica) and reached Syra- cuse in April, 183S. Ile had decided upon adopting the law as a profession and immediately entered the office of II. & T. T. Davis, where he remained until July of that year, when he changed to the law office of Wilkinson & Outwater (John Wilkinson and Peter Outwater, Jr.). John Wilkinson was then postmaster of the village and one of its foremost citizens. Mr. Bagg remained in that office until he was admitted to the Har of the Supreme Court in May, 1841. Soon afterward (and on the retirement of Mr. Outwater from the tirm) Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Bagg formed a copartnership which continued until 1843. when John Fleming, then of Manlius, was admitted to the firm. Mr. Fleming died in 1844 and Mr. Wilkinson retired from the firm shortly afterwards. Thereafter Mr. Bagg continued to practice alone until iso8, when he formed a copartnership with W. G. Tracy. which firm was dissolved in the year 1569. In the year 1974 Mr. Bagg formed a copartnership with Jacob A. Nottingham, which firm continued until 1887, when D). A. Pierce was admitted. The firm of Bagg. Nottingham & Pierce is still in existence.
This is a brief chronicle of a long and very busy career. In his early professional labors Mr. Bagg gave his attention to the various branches of practice, both in and out of the courts, but the spirited contests and great uncertaintie , as to results were not to his taste. His preference has al-
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BIOGRAPHICAL ..
ways been for the quieter walks of the profession, in which he has now, and always has had, a large business. His acknowledged ability and integrity have led to the placing in his charge of numerous estates and trusts demanding the exercise of those qualifications combined with skill as a financier.
While a student at law Mr. Bagg devoted a portion of his time to duties in the postoffice, for which he received his board in Mr. Wilkinson's family and sufficient compensation to cover his living expenses. Syracuse was then a village of about 8,000 population, and Mr. Bagg calls to mind the fact that one clerk at a salary of $600, together with himself, who gave to the work about three hours a day, did all of the business of the office; while at the present time the postoffice requires the entire time of forty or fifty clerks and other employees.
It may be said in simple justice to Mr. Bagg that the most important and useful work of his life was his untiring service in connection with the Onondaga County Savings Bank. Mr. Bagg early formed a high opinion of the usefulness and importance of savings banks ; and although one such bank had been in existence here for six years, and although it then had a deposit of less than $100,- 000, still Mr. Bagg believed that there was room for another such institution in Syracuse, and that the business and convenience of the public demanded it.
With the plan well formed Mr. Bagg in 1855 drew up the charter and circulated through the city a petition to the Legislature for its enactment, and jointly with others advocated its passage before the Legislative Committee. The room in which the bank commenced its business was pro- vided by him. He was made vice-president and attorney. These positions he held for twenty-two years, resigning them in 1577. During this period he gave unstintedly of his time and energies to the welfare of the institution. The results of that labor, with that of his associates, are well known to the community.
Mr. Bagg has never sought political office, and never held any but that of Alderman of the Eighth ward of Syracuse in 1855. He has always interested himself largely in various reforms, par- ticularly that of temperance, and in many charities and in public affairs generally. To all worthy objects he has been a liberal giver commensurate with his means. He has filled the office of Presi- dent of the State Temperance Society and of several local societies. Originally a Democrat in poli- tics, he united with the Republican party upon its organization and has acted with it ever since. Mr. Bagg merits the honorable title of a public spirited citizen with lofty principles of business and social conduct. He is a member of the Unitarian church.
Mr. Bagg was married in 1844 to Mary B. Redfield, second daughter of the late Lewis H. Red- field, the eminent printer and journalist of Syracuse. They have had two children: one daughter who died at the age of twelve years, and a second daughter, now Mrs. E. H. Merrell.
LJON. EL IZUR CLARK. The Clark family of whom the subject of this sketch is a member H dates back to the early settlement of the New England States, and is descended from John Clark, who immigrated to America about the year 1644 and settled first in the State of Rhode Island. The ancestors of Elizur Clark were noted for longevity, his grandfather's family consisting of four sons and four daughters ; all lived to upwards of eighty-three years, the youngest living to the advanced age of ninety-three years. His father was Beamont Clark, born July 25th, 1767, and lived to the age of ninety years, and was a native of Saybrook, Conn., as was also the grandfather.
Elizur Clark was born in the town of Saybrook, Middlesex county, Conn., October 5th, tSo7. Ilis father came with that part of the family which had not preceded him, and settled in the town of Cicero, Onondaga county, in the summer of 1823. He was a farmer by occupation and aided very much in the early settlement of that town, until 1837, when he removed to Michigan, where he died in the year of 1957. llis mother, whose maiden name was Nabbe Spencer, lived to seventy-three years of age, and died in Michigan. She was born January 14, 1770.
The subject of this record was only fifteen years of age when he came to Onondaga county with his father, and was next to the youngest in a family of eleven children, -eight sons and three daughters,
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
- all of whom except himself are dead. Mr. Clark's early opportunities for obtaining an education were limited. On reaching Syracuse he embarked in business for himself, and his subsequent suc- cessful career has abundantly proved that a practical education is more the result of capacity, energy. and self application than of book study. He spent his time until the year 1834 in such various kinds of business as came to his hand. He leased the Salina mill property of Henry Seymour, and carried on the lumber business until 1537. when Mr. Seymour died and Mr. Clark purchased a half in- te 'est in the property, the other half interest being owned by ex-Governor Horatio Seymour. lle carried on this business until 1846, when he purchased the other half of the property and sold the same to llon. Thomas G. Alvord, and in partnership they carried on the lumber business until 1863, when Mr. Clark retired from the firm and (with the exception of an agency connected with a party to whom he leased the mill property, continuing until 1870) retired from the active duties of life. Mr. Clark, also in 1846, became connected with the salt industry, both coarse and fine, and a little later was largely interested in the manufacture of coarse salt. Ile was one of the originators of the Salina Coarse Salt Company and now controls $93,000 of the $150,000 of its stock. He was for many years a director in the Salt Springs Bank after the year 1868, and until his removal from the city, and was also a trustee in the Syracuse Savings Bank.
Uniike his father and grandfather, who were closely allied to the Federal party and afterwards to the Whigs, Mr. Clark cast his first vote for tieneral Jacksou, and has been an unswerving and con- sistent member of the Democratic party ever since. Ile can boast of having voted for fifty years without a single interruption. He has never been an active politician, and has looked rather to prin- ciples than to party interests. He has been identified with the public offices of trust and resonsi- bility in the history of Salina and Syracuse, in many instances, and was one of the first Aldermen elected after the organization of the city, representing the First ward. In 1856 he was Supervisor for the same ward, and in the year 1863 represented his district in the State Legislature. All these public positions have been filled with that integrity of purpose and honest action which have charac- terized his whole life.
Mr. Clark is a plain, unassuming man, having the full confidence of his fellows, and now at the great age of eighty-four years retains his faculties almost wholly unimpaired, and acts with the same calm judgment and prudence that governed his transactions many years ago.
In the year 1825, November 13, Mr. Clark married Miss Jerusha N. Spencer, of Onondag.1 county. To them were born ten children, of whom Harriet E., wife of Augustus Avery, John Sey- mour, and Mary D., widow of Edward Manning, are still living, and all reside in Syracuse. Ilis wife died in 1865, and he married, in November, 1869, Miss Augusta M. Peck, daughter of Charles L. l'eck, a native of Lyme, Conn., and a descendant of Deacon William Peck, born in England in 1601, and came to America in 1638, settling in New Haven, Conn. In 1878 Mr. Clark took up his residence in Lyme, Conn., though much of his time is passed in Syracuse.
W ILLIAM PREVOST GOODELLE was born in the town of Tully, Onondaga county, N. Y .. on the 25th day of May, 1838. Ilis father was Aaron B. Goodelle, a successful farmer ; and his mother was Eleanor A. Prevost. After preliminary studies at the common school the subject of this sketch spent one year in Ilomer Academy, and then entered Cazenovia Seminary as one of the only two to take a five years' course, the period being from 1854 to 1860. In the spring of isut he entered Dartmouth College as a Sophomore, and graduated in the class of 1863 with high honor .. lle was one of those selected to deliver an oration at Commencement.
Returning from college Mr. Goodelle was requested to accept the principalship of Moravit Academy, which he did for one year, and then, as he believed, began his continuous life work In the study of the law in the office of L. IT. & F. Hiscock, in Syracuse. But after a few months of study he was earnestly solicited to go out to Onondaga Valley and assume charge of the academy which was then in sore need of re-organization and improvement. Mr. Goodelle accepted the charge and remained there two years, but supplemented his labors by law study as far as he was able during the period. Ile gave up teaching at the close of the year 1866, resumed the study of law in the
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ينالق بلج
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
same office where he began, and in October. 1865, was admitted to the Bar and immediately began practice, remaining with the Messrs. Hiscock for one year thereafter. Ile then actively engaged in independent practice for three years, and in the fall of 1871 had reached a position at the Bar and a degree of confidence with his fellow citizens which resulted in his election as District Attorney of Onondaga county. At the expiration of his term of office, three years later, Mr. Goodelle devoted himself wholly and enthusiastically to his profession in which he has attained such an exalted posi- tion, particularly as a criminal lawyer. Immediately after theexpiration of his term as District Attorney he was retained by the New York Central railroad company and has ever since re- mained in its service, his field of labor extending from Buffalo to Albany. At the time un- der consideration and for several years previous, crimes of various descriptions against the great railroad company had been alarmingly on the increase, such crimes ranging from wreck- ing of trains and destroying human life, down to the robbing of cars. Mr. Goodelle's career as District Attorney was a notable one; and this may be stated without disparagement of any other incumbent of that office. lle was, and is, peculiarly adapted by nature, and especially so by study and experience, to deal with the criminal class. It delights him to get one of its notorious members in his grip ; and when he does, as a rule his victim's doon is sealed and he speedily finds his proper abiding place in prison. To-day it stands to Mr. Goodelle's high credit, that he has convicted and sent to prison at least four hundred criminals ; and the railroad authori- ties, basing their action largely upon his record in the District Attorney's office, were wise in their selection of an attorney who has shown himself so well litted to, and competent for, the position. In that connection Mr. Goodelle has come in contact with all shades of crime and all sorts of criminal characters, as well as with many of the best lawyers in the State acting in their defence. There is scarcely a county in the State of New York, and certainly none along the line of the Cen- tral railroad, where he is not quite well known as a lawyer and where his eloquence has not been heard in behalf of peace and of safety from crime. So effective has his work in this direction been that it is now a well known and acknowledged fact that crimes against the railroad company within Mr. Goodelle's jurisdiction have diminished almost to disappearance.
While in the District Attorney's office, it was Mr. Goodelle's good fortune, if it can be called such, to conduct the prosecution of many notable cases, among which were several of a capital character. The most prominent of these was, perhaps, that of Owen Lindsay, who was charged with the murder of Francis Colvin, and whose trial began in Syracuse on the 26th of January, 1874. The proceedings in this remarkable case are published in book form and the details cannot, of course, be alluded to here ; but it involved the most persistent work, untiring research, patient investigation, and ability of a high order to bring it to a successful issue. The perplexing question of distinguish- ing human from animal blood stains was prominent in the case and under peculiarly harassing con- ditions; and was by Mr. Goodelle, for the first time in this State, introduced into its criminal jurispru- dence. It is an evidence of his thoroughness in his professional work that he spent two weeks in I'hiladelphia with eminent experts in making himself familiar with the subject. In the defence of Lindsay such eminent counsel as Charles B. Sedgwick, Frank Hiscock, and others were employed. Lindsay was hung. Mr. Goodelle received the most enthusiastic congratulations from his brethren of the Bar and from the public press, for his masterly work in this case. In alluding to the close of the trial a local paper said :
"Mr. Goodelle's address to the jury was a most fitting close of his untiring labors as a public officer of Onondaga county. During the delivery, not only the jury, but the entire audience gave that attention which demonstrated the power of the learned counsel's eloquence and the strength of his argument. Mr. Goodelle otten rose to the height of impassioned eloquence. He forgot his associates ; he forgot the audience hanging upon his words ; he forgot all but his case and the jury. His presentation of the people's evidence was perfect. * * Taken altogether, the effort of Mr. Goodelle, in its plain statement of the work the people had to perform, in its minute tracing of the testimony, in its final welding of the circumstantial and direct evidence into an unbroken chain and fastening the same about the prisoner, formed one of the most masterly forensic efforts ever made at the bar of this county."
Another paper said, in alluding to the importance of the question of detecting blood stains in the vase: " This blood test was the great battle field of the trial, and when Messrs, Goodelle and Sedg- wick crossed swords on this point, there was a display of forensic eloquence and ability rarely seen."
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
Another case of great importance was that of Mary J. Holmes, who was charged with poison- ing her husband, in which Mr. Goodelle defended the prisoner. This trial lasted six weeks and at- tracted wide-spread attention both from the public and from the attorneys of Onondaga and surround- ing counties. Before the trial the general belief in the public mind was that the woman was guilty. This was largely changed by the proceedings of the trial, in which Mr. Goodelle secured the acquit- tal of the prisoner. A local newspaper on the last day of the trial, printed the following, which in- dicates the public interest in the trial and pays Mr. Goodelle a deserved compliment :
" The last tick of the parting day was almost simultaneous with the final words of an argument for the prisoner which had consumed seven mortal hours. The Counselor's face bore the plain evi- dences of the mental and physical strain to which he had put himself. *
* A masterly effort had been expected from Mr. Goodelle, whose acumen and learning are a source of pride to the bar of this county. Never in the criminal history of Onondaga county was a more comprehensive defence made of a human life. Mr. Goodelle's impassioned style of oratory put. into graceful language his logical deductions from an investigation of the case as viewed from the side of the defence. Every point was covered one by one, but at no time was there a break in the continuity of the argument. It was probably the longest argument ever offered in a court of justice in Syracuse."
The celebrated Greenfield case, also, was another which acquired almost a national reputation, especially for the persistency with which the defence clung to every straw which would postpone the end or possibly acquit the prisoner. This case was before the various courts six years and was tried three times. Mr. Goodelle was engaged in Greenfield's delence, with Judge S. C. Huntington, of Oswego county, and at a critical time in the case the latter broke down, leaving the whole burden of the latter part of the trial in Mr. Goodelle's charge. His address occupied nearly four hours, and it need not be added that he acquitted himself with great credit and honor. We cannot in this place go further into the details of the numerous important cases, success in which has given Mr. Goodelle his high reputation both as a civil and criminal lawyer. He has had the conduct of some twenty capital cases and the same high degree of efficiency and ability has marked his efforts in them all. ITis reputation has necessarily and without effort on his part, extended over a wide extent of territory. Hle is at the present time called in as counsel by the best attorneys in many of the counties of this State, when cases of importance, both civil and criminal, are to be tried. So common are such occurrences now that one-half or more of Mr. Goodelle's practice is outside of his own county ; and, though still in the prime of life, his whole practice is one of the largest in this section and of an exceptionally important general character.
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