USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 39
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
On the return of peace Mr. Redfield found a still more interesting topic for discussion in his columns in the projected canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. In favor of this great under- taking Judge Forman, then living at the Valley and one of the earliest and most powerful advocates of the canal, wrote a series of articles for Mr. Redfield's paper in its favor, and at the same time the editor's pen was eloquent in its behalf. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that the Register was for a number of years nearly at the head of the country newspapers of the State in character and influence.
In submission to the wonderful changes produced in Onondaga county by the opening of the canal and the springing into existence of the Village of Syracuse, (incorporated in 1825,) and subsequent removal from the Ilill of the county seat, Mr. Redfield transferred his newspaper to Syracuse and consolidated it with the Syracuse Gacette, begun in 1823 by John Durnford. The journal now bore the name of the Onondaga Register and Syracuse Gasette and for its accommodation Mr. Redfield erected a four-story building on the site of the present Onondaga County Savings Bank, where he also carried on a book store .. The condition of his health obliged him to dispose of his newspaper property in 1832, but he continued the book business twelve years longer, when he retired with a competency. At intervals thereafter his attention was occupied with various enterprises and profit- able real estate operations.
In 1834, he was honored with the Presidency of the Village and in many ways his influence was devoted to its adornment and improvement. The possession of Forman Park by the city must be largely credited to him. For thirty years he was a director of the old Bank of Salina and later in life was a director of the Salt Springs National Bank. In 1872, at the age of eighty years, he was com- plimented by the Democratic vote of the State for Presidential elector, but he seldom permitted the use of his name for public office.
Mr. Redfield never ceased to take pride in the fact that he was a practical printer, aside from the intima e connection of that art with journalism. In the busy printing offices of the village and city he always felt at home and was always welcome. He was an ardent lover of nature and to his latest years held to the faith that there were few fairer spots than the beautiful valley wherein he passed most of his life. The last eight years of his life were passed at the residence of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Bagg, and his remains rest in Oakwood cemetery beneath a shaft bearing the following inscription prepared by himself: "Lewis H. Redfield, printer-a worn and battered form gone to be recast more beautiful and perfect."
Mr. Redfield left two sons and four daughters. The sons, G. Davis Redfield, who died in Min- neapolis, leaving one daughter, Mary E., and two sons, Lewis R. and Charles Treadwell. Lewis H., who resides in Syracuse; and the youngest, Charles, resides at Glen Haven and Syracuse al- ternately and has one son, Robert Longstreet. The daughters of Mr. Redfield are Mrs. C. T. Longstreet, Mrs. J. L. Bagg, and Mrs. William H. H. Smith, who live in Syracuse. and Miss Jane L., who lives at Clifton Springs. Mrs. Longstreet has one daughter, Mrs. Cornelia Tyler Poor, re- siding in Skaneateles, N. Y. Mrs. Bagg one daughter, Mrs. Ina Merrill, residing in Syracuse.
W ILLIAM CRAWFORD RUGER, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, was born at Bridgewater, Oneida county, N. Y., on the 30th of January, 1824. Ili- father, John Rnger, was a prominent lawyer of Bridgewater, where he successfully practiced his profession until 1847, when he removed to Syracuse, and continued practice until his death in IS55. The son enjoyed the advantages of a classical education obtained in the Bridgewater Academy, a very excellent institution. At the close of his studies he entered the law office of his father and gave himself wholly to study, until 1545, when he was admitted to the Bar under the old Supreme Court at Utica, in July of that year. He opened an office in Bridgewater and practiced there unt .. 1853, when he followed his father to Syracuse and joined in partnership with him under the tirme
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name of J. and William C. Ruger. From the time of his father's death until his elevation to his present high office, Judge Rnger was in constant active practice in Syracuse, having been a meni- ber at various periods of the firms of Ruger & Lester, Ruger & Jenney, Ruger, Wallace & Jenney, Ruger. Jenney, Brooks & French, and Ruger, Jenney, Brooks & Marshall. During this long period of practice Judge Ruger was called to the conduct of many cases of great importance, and as each one passed through his hands he constantly acquired a higher reputation and gained the confidence of the community, by the masterly and generally successful efforts in his profession. Judge Ruger is and alwas has been a Democrat in politics and has been frequently called upon to represent his party in its high councils. He was a delegate in the famous Hunker Convention of 1849: also at the first State Judicial Convention in 1870; the National Convention of 1872, and the State Convention of 1877. He has also twice been the candidate of his party for member of Con- gress, in 1863 and 1565, but of course, in his strong Rupublican district with no expectation of an election. His bearing under these honors was such as to still further raise his character and extend the knowledge of his ability in the general mind of his constituency. In his own profession he has also received evidences of appreciation and confidence. Upon the organization of the Onondaga Bar Association, in 1875, he was made its first president and continued in the office three years, when he was succeeded by Judge Daniel Pratt. He was also elected President of the first State Bar Asso- ciation, held at Albany in 1376, and was afterwards its president in 1882.
In 1832 Judge Ruger received the nomination of his party for the exalted office of Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, his opponent being Judge Charles Andrews, who was, perhaps, as strong a candidate as could have been found in the Republican ranks. It is more than probable that no other candidate who might have been named by the Democrats could have been elected ; but the high qualifications of Judge Kuger for the office, qualifications that were as freely acknowledged by his political opponents as by his friends, gave him the requisite majority, and he has since that time filled the high judicial office with dignity, ability and uprightness. Judge Kuger is endowed with natural abilities of a high order, and is possessed of an acute and logical mind, supplemented by extensive learning in the law. His forensic efforts when in practice were always able and effective, as much, perhaps, through their remarkable clearness of expression and directness of reasoning, as from their eloquence. llis arguments were always based upon the real merits of his causes and were never infused to the slightest degree by any appearance of trickery of words or show of mere bald assertion, unsupported by facts. His professional fife was always con- spicuous for its uniform fairness and courtesy. In his present high station he has still further gained the esteem and respect of the profession, while his judicial labors have been of such a character as to sustain his reputation as an able and a just Judge.
Judge Kuger was married on the ad of May, 1860, to Harriet, eldest daughter of Hon. Erastus . S. Prosser, of Buffalo, N. Y., and they have one son, Crawford Prosser Ruger, now practicing faw in Syracuse.
W ILLIAM KIRKPATRICK was born in the town of Amwell, Huntingdon county, New Jersey, November 7. 1769, of Scottish ancestry, who came to this country early in the last century. He was the son of the Kev. William Kirkpatrick, a Presbyterian minister, who was gradu- ated from Princeton College in the first class after the college was removed from Elizabeth to Princeton, 1758, and was pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Trenton, N. J., a chaplain of the Colonial forces of New Jersey during the French war, a trustee of Princeton College and Mod- erator of the Syned of New York and Philadelphia. The son was a graduate of Princeton College, 1788, and studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Bush, of Philadelphia, and at the University of Pennsylvania. Hle commenced the practice of medicine at Whitestown in 1795 and continued there ten years. In isog he was appointed Superintendent of the Salt springs and located at Salina, which office he held for twenty-two years. D
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
Although it was generally understood when Dr. Kirkpatrick began the practice of medicine in the county of Oneida, that his professional education was of the highest order, and that nothing stood in the way of his attaining a commanding position as one of the most scientific and skillful physicians of the age in which he lived, if he had devoted himself to the practice with that assiduity and enthusiasm which are so essential to success in any of the learned professions, yet it was unfor- tunately true that his nervous temperament was of such a peculiar and sensitive character as to unfit him in a great degree for the practical duties of a physician. Although he had pursued the study of medicine with great diligence and effect and had attained in the closet all the knowledge that could be acquired by reading and thought; yet, when he was called upon, standing by the sick bed, to apply his skill and learning to cases of actual suffering and disease, he soon discovered that his feel- ings of sympathy for the afflicted patient were so acute as in many cases to materially affect that self-possession and calm observation of the symptoms so vitally essential in determining as well the true nature of the disease itself as the mode to be adopted for its cure or alleviation. The effect of this peculiarity of temperament was (as might have been expected), to cause in the mind of Dr. Kirkpatrick at an early period of his medical practice, a dislike of the profession, which not only continued through the remainder of his life, but after a few years led to its total abandonment.
The society at Utica and Whitesboro during the period in which Dr. Kirkpatrick resided there, although small, was in many instances of a refined, intellectual, and literary character; and he was never more happy than in those days when, in the company of his intelligent friends and neighbors, he had an opportunity to converse on the literary topics of the day and to impart and receive that intellectual instruction in which he so greatly delighted. Although he still continued to practice as a physician, yet he rather declined than sought an increase of business and gradually withdrew from the active business of his profession, except in cases of a few private friends and families who would not consent to surrender their claims upon his skill as occasion required, and for whom he continued to prescribe so long as he remained in that county.
Dr. Kirkpatrick commenced life and continued until his death a Republican (afterwards termed a Democrat) in politics. As he possessed a very active mind and ardent temperament, he soon en- barked in the political controversies of the day and ever afterward took a deep interest in such matters. While living in Oneida county he was elected a member of the Ioth Congress (1808-9) for the Eleventh District, the last two years of President Jefferson's administration. Although he made no pretensions to parliamentary speaking, and did not, therefore, assume a prominent position before the public, yet he was generally respected at Washington as an intelligent, educated and high- minded man and during that period formed an intimate acquaintance and friendship with many of the most distinguished men of the day who then occupied places in the national councils, and with some of whom he continued to correspond for many years afterwards. As an illustration of this, a little reminiscence may be given. When in Congress, Dr. Kirkpatrick became the intimate personal and political friend of Win. H. Crawford, of Georgia, then a Senator from that State, and afterwards Secretary or the Treasury under President Munroe, and a prominent candidate for the presidency in 1824. While Mr. Crawford was Secretary an application was made by many of the prominent citi- zens of this State for the establishment of a branch of the United States Bank at Albany and among other names appearing on the application was that of Dr. Kirkpatrick. This paper was transmitted in the first instance to the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington with the request that he should send it forward to the directors of the parent bank at Philadelphia. Mr. Crawford, in doing so, wrote upon the application: "Among the many names to this application I find that of Dr. William Kirkpatrick. I can say with great pleasure that I know him well, and a more honorable, high- minded and intelligent gentleman I am not acquainted with."
It was at this time that he, with others, elected the " Canal Ticket " in Onondaga county, which was the first political action taken in regard to the construction of the Erie canal. Joshua Forman. a Federal, and Jolin MeWhorter, a Democrat, were elected on the Canal ticket. In January, 1509. he, in company with Judge Forman, called on President Jefferson at the executive mansion. The President had in his last message recommended that the surplus monies of the treasury be appropri- ated to the great national objects of opening canals and making turnpike roads. They informed
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
him that in view of his message the State of New York had explored the route of a canal from the Hudson river to lake Erie. That the canal would enhance the value of land and settle the frontier, open a channel of commerce for the western country to our own seaports, a military way in time of war, and form a bond of union to the States. Mr. Jefferson replied that it was a very fine project and might be executed a century hence. "Why, sirs," said he, "here is a proposed canal of 350 miles through the wilderness. It is little short of madness to think of it at this day." They in- formed him that the State of New York, having conceived the idea, ascertained its practicability, and in some measure appreciating its importance, would never rest until its accomplishment. Mr. Jef- ferson lived to see the canal completed and to realize its importance. He afterwards acknowledged his mistake and regretted that he had not associated his name and his administration with this great public work.
He closed his Congressional term in 1809 and was reappointed Superintendent of the Salt Springs in 1811 and held the office until 1831. Upon his reappointment he removed to Salina, where he continued to reside until his death in 1832.
The few adventurers who up to this period had dared the inhalation of the pestilential miasma of the marsh, and were willing to wade through its mud and water, in attempting to earn a scanty pittance for themselves and families, had usually but little pretension to that intelligence or refine- ment of intellect and manners which so peculiarly distinguished the individual who had been chosen to protect the public interest and collect the revenue to be derived from this invaluable fountain. As it respects Dr. Kirkpatrick, it might well be supposed that the singular and strongly marked transition which had occurred in his life, from the polished and intellectual society in which he had previously moved, to the cheerless and almost semi-barbarous condition of things then existing at Salina, would have had the effect of producing disgust and despondency on his part. But this was not so; he entered upon the discharge of his new duties with alacrity of spitits and kind feelings. He lost no time in making himself acquainted, not only with the then present state of the manufacturing opera- tions, but also with the persons employed in the business and he took early measures to increase the State revenue by judicious improvements, while he was disposed in every way in his power to aid the worthy and industrious manufacturers.
During the whole life of Dr. Kirkpatrick, after his removal to Salina, he continued to cultivate his literary taste by an intimate reading of all the standard works of the day, and particularly of the English and Scotch reviews; indeed to works of this character he devoted a large portion of his leisure time. lle was of a joyous and pleasant temperament and delighted to sit down with friends of his own habits of thought and reading and converse upon the current topics of the day. He continued also through his life to be an ardent politician of unswerving fidelity to party obligations and denounced the least violation of party faith as a crime of almost unpardonable magnitude. He was in mind, thought and feelings a gentleman. In his manner he had an easy, dignified and graceful address, by which the most casual observer would have distinguished him in a crowd as a man who, from habits and association, had always moved in refined society ; and still he was free from haughtiness and pride and as accessible at all times to the most humble laborer, as to the highest dignitary of the land.
As one of the remarkable traits in the character of Dr. Kirkpatrick, it may be added that, with the renowned Dr. Johnson, he had a morbid and awful horror of death. He frequently remarked that the thought of dying and of death -- of passing from this sublunary state to the mysterious world be- yond the grave-of the body instinct with warmth and life, and all its beautiful and complicated machinery becoming cold and inanimate-filled his soul with dismay and terror.
In the summer of 1832, and with only a few hours of premonition, the dread king of terrors, by his most terrible vicegerent, the cholera, approached his bedside and beckoned him away. He looked upon the face of the pale specter with composure and apparent fearlessness and seemed to have summoned in the last hour a fortitude of mind which he did not before know he possessed. When he became assured of the presence of the pestilence in his own person and that he could not live but a few hours, he summoned his beloved wife to his bedside, and with the composure of one about to enjoy a peaceful sleep for a time, or take a short journey, gave her a brief history of a few matters of
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
business and a few words of affectionate condolence, and then resigned himself to his fate with ap- parent submission. Ile died on the 2d day of September, 1832, in the 63d year of his age.
Such is a very brief notice of a good and worthy man. He had no enemies ; it was impossible he should have had any ; for he never entertained an unkind wish in respect to any human being.
lle married Miss Nancy Dunscomb, of Salina, and left two sons-William Kirkpatrick, who is a resident of this city, and Donald Kirkpatrick, who died here September 19, 1889. *
NATHAN COBB. The subject of this sketch, one of the best known and most respected of the earlier citizens of Syracuse, died December 15, 1869. He had been a resident since 1845. when Syracuse.was but a village, and had been in various ways identified with its interests and its progress. Mr. Cobb was born in Stonington, Conn., September 17, 1805, and had thus passed his eighty-fourth year at the time of his death. He was the son of llenry S. and Mary B. Cobb, and was but a mere boy when the English fleet attacked his native town, in the successful defense of which his father distinguished himself. The early education of Mr. Cobb was considered complete and sufficient after a course at the Stonington academy, before he was fourteen years of age. He then went to Philadelphia by sloop, with a small allowance in his pocket, to make his way in the world. He began his career as clerk for an elder brother, who was in business in that city. After a time, the brother, Alfred Cobb, was appointed United States Consul to Peru and remained in South America sixteen years, engaging largely in mining operations and acquiring a substantial competency. Meantime Nathan Cobb had removed to Chittenango, N. Y., and afterwards to Syracuse, in 1845, where he became variously engaged, first in the wholesale grocery business, and afterwards in the coal trade, in which he was a leading operator for a number of years. Hle brought the first boat load of anthracite coal by canal into Syracuse, having two yards, one on Water street, for conven- ience to the canal, and the other in connection with what is now the D. L. & W. railroad to Bing- hamton. Later, when the death of two brothers, Henry and Alfred, made it necessary, he assumed the care of the Phien & Foundry, operated by them, and in 1864 organized the firm of Cobb, Hier- rick & Co., for general machine work, foundry work and boiler making. This establishment re- ceived Mr. Cobb's best business efforts, and they were of a high order of efficiency, and it prospered from the first. The head of the firm possessed the entire confidence of all from whom he drew his custom, and the knowledge was general that every contract entered into by the firm and piece of work undertaken, would be executed upon a basis of the strictest integrity. The business was several times enlarged and the manufacture of steam engines was added, which gained an extended reputa- tion for excellence. Mr. Cobb continued with this firm until 1881, when he retired from active busi- ness, and from that date until his death he lived in the quiet of his home in the enjoyment of the good will and friendship of all with whom he had been associated. It was written of him at his death, in relation to his business habits, that "he was careful and conservative and strict integrity marked every transaction. Ilis kind and considerate treatment of his employees secured their hearty esteem and good will, and all his business acquaintances bear testimony to his uniform urbanity, as well as to the uprightness of his transactions." The position he held in the estimation of his fellow members of the board of trustees of the Syracuse Savings Bank is indicated in a testimonial which was prepared after his death and published. From it may be made the following extraets: "Ilis business career was characterized by probity, excellent judgment and honest work, and was crowned with substantial success. Mr. Cobb was elected a trustee of this bank in 1865 and continued in the office to the time of his death. During all that period his personal character has substantially con- tributed to the credit and good name of this institution. He was judiciously conservative, yet he readily adapted his views to the changes wrought by the marvellous growth of our city and the cor- responding growth of and demands upon this bank. He was a safe and wise counselor, and his care-
#Prepared from a sketch by the late Hon. John G. Forbes, an intimate friend of Dr Kirkpatrick.
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fully considered judgment will be seriously missed by those so long associated with him. It was his happy fortune to live out the full measure of years alloted to man ; to pass the period of old age in calm and serenity ; to be cheered and comforted to the last by domestic relations of the sweetest character ; to walk among his fellow citizens, who well knew his life among them, honored and be- loved, and to possess down to his dying day, the unclouded mental vision, the clear judgment, and the unimpaired manhood of his mind."
Mr. Cobb united early with the Reformed Dutch Church at Chittenango, and on coming to Syra- cuse joined the First I'resbyterian Church, of which he continued an active and esteemed member for more than forty years. Ile served in the office of Elder and of Clerk of the Session for nearly the same period, and was perhaps best known for his active interest in all religious work, in which he was most useful and most beloved.
In early life Mr. Cobb was a Democrat in politics, but in the first days of the history of the Re- publican party he joined its ranks as a Republican of pronounced anti-slavery principles, and remained with it to the end. He was several times a successful candidate for political office.
Mr. Cobb was married in 1854 to Miss Frances F .. Avery, who survives him. They had two children, of whom one only is living, the wife of Dr. F. H. Stevenson.
1 RVING GOODWIN VANN was born Jannary 3, 1842, in the town of Ulysses, Tompkins
county, New York, on the west shore of Cayuga lake. His earliest known ancestor on the pa- ternal side was Samuel Vann, his great-grandfather, who was a native of New Jersey, and a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, also named Samuel Vann, died in 1878, aged 106 years. Ilis father, Samuel R. Vann, was a well-to-do farmer who, although born in New Jersey, spent the most of his life on his farm in Ulysses, where he died in 1872.
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