USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 41
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Mr. Avery met with a sudden and accidental death. On the fifth of January, 15-2. while driving his horse and cutter in Syracuse, he collided with the sleds of a party of coasters an! # 1>
ha.
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BIOGRA PIIICAL.
thrown violently to the ground. He suffered a severe concussion of the brain and other injuries which caused his death on the 12th of that month. The calamity was a shock to the whole com- munity and the feeling of great loss was general. At a memorial meeting after his death the Milk Association adopted a testimonial to the memory of the deceased from which it is fitting to make the following extract: "In the decease of our brother this Association loses the influence and zeal of one of the first to originate, sustain and defend it through long years of trial. Honest in principle, generous in purpose, with good business tact, he ever commanded esteem and such assistance as will usually render long enterprise successful." Personally Mr. Avery was one of the most genial of men. Ilis heart was warm and filled with good impulses. No person ever entered his employ in whatever capacity who was not placed under deep obligation to him. His friendships were loyal and kindness untiring. Mr. Avery left no children.
E ARL B. ALVORD was born in the town of Steuben, Oneida county, N. Y., October 7, 1822. His father's name was Anson Alvord, and his mother was Abigail Clark, and both were origi- nally from New England. There were three sons and two daughters in the family, Earl B. being the youngest. In March, 1829, the family moved to Onondaga Valley. The subject of this sketch was only six years of age when the family came to Onondaga county, and from that time until 1841 he remained at home, working for neighbors or attending the district school, where he acquired his entire education. In 1841 he engaged in the lime business with his brothers, Clark Alvord and Henry G. Alvord, at Onondaga Valley. He soon afterward purchased his brothers' interest in the business and continued it as one of his several interests until his death. In 1849 Mr. Alvord moved to Syracuse and soon afterward built a lime mill on the corner of Lock and Canal streets, it being now occupied by the Mowry & Barnes packing house. His business prospered under his prudent and energetic management and in 1869 he invested largely in limestone quarries at Jamesville, N. Y., and established branches at that place and at Binghamton, N. Y., the same business being now conducted under the style of E. B. Alvord & Co. In 1878 he engaged largely in the coal business at Syracuse, and in ISSo opened a branch at Cleveland, Ohio. He continued in the coal business until his death in 1883. Mr. Alvord was the pioneer in making the McAdam pavement in Syracuse, Warren street being the first covered with that kind of roadway in the city. These were the more important of the many business enterprises which engaged Mr. Alvord's energies. He was a bitter opponent of monopolies and sacrificed many thousands of dollars in making the price of coal and other commodities cheaper for the people of Syracuse. With that end in view he enlarged his mill property on Lock street and converted it into an abbattoir which was the means of reducing the price of pork product in Syracuse. He was a man of unusually broad business views and possessed the capacity for grasp- ing large undertakings and pushing them to a profitable consummation.
Mr. Alvord was always liberal in his political views, never identifying himself closely with any party. Ile was frequently tendered the nomination for Mayoralty and other prominent municipal offices, but always declined. Ile was a firm believer in the future prosperity and growth of Syracuse and at favorable opportunities invested largely in real estate, of which he was large owner at the time of his death. Ile possessed a generous nature and often aided others in times of need. In all busi- ness connections he was a wise counselor and by his strict integrity and liberal business principles, gained a high position in the esteem of the community.
Mr. Alvord was married in 1549 to Miss Helen Ilickok, of Onondaga Valley, who still survives him. They had two sons, Anson E. and Edgar Alvord, both of whom are residents of Syracuse.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
J AMES BYRON BROOKS was born at Rockingham, Windham county, Vt., on the 27th of June,
1839. His father was Nathaniel Brooks and his mother was Emily Cutler, both of whom were from Massachusetts. The mother died in 1847, and the father went to California in 1853 and died in that State. He was a farmer and the subject of this sketch passed his boyhood on the Vermont farm and at the district school. In the spring of 1858 he attended one term at the academy in Spring- field, Vt., and in the fall of that year entered Newbury Seminary, at Newbury, Vt., where he con- tinued his studies, with some interruptions, until the breaking out of the war in the spring of 1861. He enlisted at once in the three months' service under the first call for 75,000 volunteers, in the Brad- ford Guards, formed at Bradford, Vt., which became a part of the First Volunteer Infantry of the State. The company was mustered into the U. S. service on the 9th day of May, 1861. The regi- ment was stationed at Fortress Monroe most of its term, but saw a little active service at the battle of Big Bethel. Returning home Mr. Brooks re-enlisted in Co. H, of the Fourth Vermont regiment, and on September 12, 1861, was commissioned Second Lieutenant of his company. This regiment formed a part of the Vermont brigade, which was connected with the Sixth corps of the Army of the Potomac until the close of the war. Lieutenant Brooks was detailed for duty in the U. S. Signal Corps, by order of General Hancock, on the 28th of December, 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant of Co. I, of his regiment, on the 19th of January, 1862. He remained at the Signal Camp of Instruction in Georgetown, D. C., until the 7th of March following, when he was assigned to field duty as a Signal officer. From this time Lieutenant Brooks served in the field with the Army of the Potomac and took part in all of the principal battles in which that army was engaged, except the battles of the Peninsula, at which time he was serving with General McDowell's command, and sub- sequently was under that of General Pope. He served continually in the field in the Signal Corps until August 31st, 1863, when at his own urgent request, Lieutenant Brooks was permitted to return to service in his own regiment. In the campaign which led up to the battle of the Wilderness, the regiment served with distinction, and in that memorable engagement on the 6th of May, 1864, Cap- tain Brooks received a gunshot wound. His Captain's commission is dated May 5th, 1864. He was taken to Seminary hospital at Georgetown, and later to the hospital at Annapolis, Md., and on the 5th of August, 1864, was honorably discharged from the service on account of disability from wounds received in action.
After reaching home Captain Brooks immediately entered Newbury Seminary to complete his studies. In the fall of the same year he entered Dartmouth College and graduated in June, 186g. Having decided upon adopting the law as a profession, Mr. Brooks began his studies with Col. Kos- well Farnham, lately Governor of the State of Vermont, who was then in practice at Bradford. This period of study was supplemented by a course in the Albany Law School, from which he graduated in 1871. He was at once admitted to the Bar in this State and commenced practice in Syracuse Februsry Ist, 1872. The second year of his practice he was a member of the firm of Fuller, Vann & Brooks, and in July, 1874, became a member of the firm of Ruger, Jenney, Brooks & French. He continued in this law firm and its successors until May ist, 1889, when the firm dissolved, Mr. Brooks retiring. Since that time Mr. Brooks has practiced alone.
In Syracuse Mr. Brooks has received several evidences of the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was Alderman of the Eighth ward in 1884-5, School Commissioner in 1886-7, and on June 21, 1888, was appointed one of the Board of Commissioners to examine into the sources of water supply for the city. After subsequent legislation, based upon the report of that Board, Mr. Brooks was made one of the Board of Water Commissioners of the city, which is now in existence and en- gaged in the preliminary work of building water works which will give Syracuse an ample supply of water from Skaneateles lake. He is a trustee of the Syracuse University, since 1885, and President of the Young Men's Christian Association since 1886. He is a member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Brooks was married on the 7th day of September, 1873, at East Orange, Vt., to Miss Caro- line L. Jewell.
T
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
HADDEUS M. WOOD was born the 9th of March, 1772, at Lenox, Massachusetts. He was a
T graduate of Dartmouth College, with the class of 1790. He entered upon the pursuit of his legal studies, with Thomas K. Gold, Esq., and closed them in the office of Joseph Kirkland, Esq., of Utica, immediately after which, in 1794, he came to Onondaga Hollow, and opened a law office,
the ranwoord
being the first lawyer who established himself in the county. He soon became distinguished for his legal capacity, and during his life exercised a prominent influence throughout the county.
Ile became widely known as a military man ; was Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, in 1809, in which capacity he was extremely active and useful during the war of 1812. He was elevated to the rank of Brigadier-General in 1818, and to the rank of a Major-General in 1820.
General Wood was a gentlemen of marked and well defined characteristics, both of mind and manners, and no one could be much in his society without understanding many traits of his character, while others were not so readily disclosed to the public gaze. In his manners he was often abrupt,
The above plate is a fac simile of an old print.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
sometimes even blunt and perhaps rough, but his thoughts flowed with great rapidity and power, while he often gave to them a sudden and impulsive expression.
As a lawyer, it is perhaps sufficient to say, that in the early part of the present century. when Kellogg, and Forman, and Sabin, were in the height of their practice and the zenith of their powers, the Onondaga Bar had no man superior to Gen. Wood, and perhaps not his equal, in all things. If the laws of real property and the action of ejectment, (which then embraced the most in- portant suits tried in the county, ) were better understood by Forman and Kellogg, Gen. Wood fully equaled them in his general acquaintance with the common law, in the investigation and preparation of his causes, and especially in the sagacity and astuteness which he brought into exercise on the trial of his suits. He omitted to present no favorable view of his client's case, no point which fortified his action or his defense. And on the other hand, he watched his opponent with an eagle eye, never failing to discover the weak points in his case, or to make every needful objection in the progress of the cause. His client's rights were safe, not in his learning and abilities only, but also in his remark- able care and unwearied devotion. He looked upon his clients as his wards, and extended his guar- dianship to the protection of all their rights. At about the age of fifty, Gen. Wood's large real estate, and the necessary cares of increasing property and other pursuits, began rapidly to withdraw him from his profession, and he gave but little attention to its duties, except so far as was necessary to his own business. For twenty years and more, during most of which time he was in company with the late IIon. George Hall, Gen. Wood had a very extensive practice. The firms of Wood & Hall, who were Democrats, and Forman & Sabin, who were Federalists, doing the most business by far, of any then in the county, unless their practice may have been equaled by that of Daniel Kellogg, at Skane- ateles. The Hon. Samson Mason, the Hon. Philo Gridley, and the Hon. Asher Tyler, are some of the many students who laid the foundation of their legal learning under his instructions.
During the war of 1312, he was a Colonel, and within twenty-four hours after notice of the threatened descent of the British at Oswego, he was on his way to the scene of danger, with most of the regiment under his command. And again, when the alarm of an invasion at Sackett's Harbor was given soon after, Gen. Wood, at a moment's warning, dispatched messengers throughout the county, aroused the slumbering warriors of the Onondaga nation, and with his regiment and Indian allies, at once repaired to the north. As an officer, he was in appearance remarkably fine looking, active and energetic, and had an opportunity presented, those who knew him will not doubt but his conduct would have commanded the approbation of the public, and the admiration of his friends. As a politician, Gen. Wood was ardent, active, untiring and honest. Hle embraced the principles of the Democratic party in early life, and supported them with ability and vigor. When the Democratic party was divided, he became a Clintonian, and continued such until the death of Mr. Clinton, and with most of the leaders of that party, supported Gen. Jackson in 1828 ; and left him in 1832, or be- fore. He took an active interest in public affairs until the close of his life, and at all times judged and spoke of public men and public affairs with all the acuteness and discrimination for which he was remarkable. Gen. Wood was celebrated throughout the State for the pungency of his wit, and quickness and severity of his retort. Ile was never at a loss for a reply, either at the bar or in pri- vate conversation, and the opponent who escaped from his wit and his satire uninjured, was fortunate indeed. Onondaga was almost as well known in the State by the wit of Gen. Wood, as by the sar- casms of Gen. Koot, or the enterprise and foresight of Forman and Geddes. As a neighbor, Gen. Wood was kind and obliging, ready at all times to grant those little daily kindnesses which good neighborhood so constantly require. As a father, no man was more indulgent or more affectionate With something of a rough exterior and an austere manner, fountains of the warmest affection for his children ever flowed from his heart. In speaking of them at the age of half a century, he wohl! often melt down to tears. Though some of them sometimes annoyed him by their indiscretions, and perhaps even irritated his rather impulsive nature, still, perhaps the most marked characteristic of Gen. Wood was his fondness for his children and his acute susceptibility to all that affected their happiness or their fame. tien. Wood's fondness for real estate was quite a passion. He was ready to buy, but never to sell. Ile, at an early day, became a very large landholder in the county, at Manlius, Liverpool, Salina, Onondaga Hollow, and between the Hollow and Syracuse, and at various
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
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other places. This passion also may have led to, or sprung out of another, a decided fondness for agriculture, at least its theory and study. Gen. Wood was not a good practical farmer. Ifis lands were far too extensive, and his other pursuits were far too numerous and pressing. But he took a great interest in agricultural pursuits, the introduction of improved breeds of cattle, and in the meet- ings and discussions of Agricultural Societies. Gen. Wood was never idle. If not engaged in the active duties of life, with which he was generally overwhelmed. he was storing his mind with those funds of knowledge which, combined with his wit, and a happy and joyous disposition, made him a most agreeable, entertaining and instructive companion. He knew the history of Onondaga from its early settlements until his death, in all the minuteness of its details, had been himself a prominent actor in all its stages, and by the aid of a careful observation, and in a most retentive memory, was furnished with an amount of knowledge on this subject, not now possessed by any of his survivors. Thus, he was at all times ready and happy to impart, and whoever drew from that fountain would be pleased to repair to it again. Gen. Wood was truthful in all his intercourse, moral in his habits. and possessed with a nice sense of honor. When severely pressed for money, and was anxious to raise it, and willing to give his own note, well endorsed, to obtain it, he has been known ro refuse to promise on his honor to meet the note when due, as that would compel him to pay it. Gen. Wood had his faults, as well as his virtues, and the truth of history requires that they shall not be passed over in silence. He was never popular. Lawyers are, from the nature of their profession, almost obliged to make enemies ; but General Wood had more than the usual number. There were many of them made no doubt in the ordinary course of legal proceedings, some perhaps by the pungency of his wit or the bitterness of his sarcasm, but more, probably, from other causes. His resolute de- termination not to sell his real estate added to a most deeply seated habit of procrastination, eventually very much embarrassed him in his affairs. He was at an early day sued more or less, and finally he paid a large amount of his debts in execution. These snits he often delayed by plea or de- murers, using the means which the courts then furnished to obtain time; sometimes perhaps by tech- nical objections to obtain a bill of costs, or defeat a just cause of action. This was one ground of complaint. Being pressed by his own debts, it is also said that he sometimes pressed his own debtors more severely than he should have done, and that his conduct was unkind and oppressive. This may have been so, but the state of his own private affairs must be his apology, not his justification. He also had more or less litigation with his father, and perhaps with some other of his relatives, and with his former partners, particularly with George llall and Benajah Byington. The suit with Hall was commenced about the year 1825, and was a bill filed by Hall for the settlement of their partner- ship accounts. This suit was more than twenty years in Court of Chancery, and was finally brought to a close hy the executors of Hall on the one side and the surviving administrator of Wood on the other. The history of the Byington suit is very much the same. fle was considered litigious in the community, but he did not bring needless suits, nor was he greatly in the habit of resorting to the law ; but being often sued himself by others, and defending many of the suits for delay or otherwise, he acquired a reputation in the popular mind which did not justly belong to him. Whatever may have been the respective merits of these various controversies, the effect no doubt was to make Gen. Wood unpopular in the community, and to injure his reputation to a certain extent. But they did not destroy the confidence of his friends in the native kindness of his heart, the goodness of his dis- position and the general integrity of his character. While they regretted his imperfections, as we all should and might more profitably our own, they admired him for his talents, his learning, and his wit, and they loved him for his many social virtues. And when the grave finally shut him from our view, few among us but felt that a great man had fallen, and that many kind, and generous, and noble qualities were buried in his tomb. He died at his residence at Onondaga Hollow, January roth, 1836, aged sixty-four years .*
In this connection it is fitting to devote a little space to the life of Mrs. Patty Danforth Wood. She was the first white child to settle in Onondaga county. Her father was the eminent pioneer,
*This sketch of Mr. Wood is taken largely from Clark's "Onondaga" and was written upon information furnished by Gen, Leavenworth,
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
Gen. Asa Danforth, of whom a sketch is given in the early pages of this work. Little Patty was about four years old when her father settled in Onondaga Valley, in 1788, where she soon became a pet among the Indians, and early learned their language. She met with many adventures in her early life, with the relation of which she was able to entertain her friends in after years.
When yet in her teens Patty Danforth was united in marriage to Thaddeus M. Wood, the rising young lawyer of Onondaga Valley, and they began housekeeping on a large farm on South Salina street. In this home four sons and four daughters were born to them, each receiving through the generous means of their parents a liberal education. General Wood, after a brief illness, passed from earth. Ile was buried with military honors from the Presbyterian Church in the Valley, and his widow and eight children took up the extensive and unfinished affairs of his life. Mrs. Wood occu- pied the family homestead, attended by her faithful servant, (formerly a slave of the family,) and with the same hospitality of early days attracted her many friends around her, remaining ever the same true friend of the Indians, and always giving food and shelter when required. On Thanks- giving day of the year 1854 Mrs. Patty Danforth Wood passed away at the age of 74 years, her four daughters surviving her, the sons having gone before. Her funeral was held from the Presbyterian Church, of which she was a member, and was largely attended by friends and many of the brave Ind- ians, who solemnly gazed the last time upon the face of their friend and advisor. Of this once large family, Mrs. Emily Wood Brackett, of San Antonia, alone survives.
HARLES A. BAKER was bornat Northampton, Mass., in the year 1799. His father was Deacon C Erastus Baker, of the old Puritan stock, and came from the east to La Fayette, Onondaga county, N. Y., in 1801, with his wife and little son. After that year eight children were added to the family. Charles A. left home at an early age for the western part of the State, there receiving an academic education. He taught school in that section for a time, after which he located at Onondaga Valley and began the study of the profession which had always been his goal, in the law office of General Thaddeus M. Wood, then one of the most prominent attorneys in this part of the State. Mr. Baker mastered the profession, was admitted to practice, and soon afterward, in November, 1827, he was married to Maria Wood, second daughter of Thaddeus M. Wood, a woman possessed of brilliant mental qualities and gentle culture, and a graduate of seminaries in Clinton and Troy. The young couple soon began housekeeping at "Salt Point," now the First Ward of Syracuse. The village of Salina was then far in advance of Syracuse in population and business importance, and many men of prominence resided there. But the younger village was just beginning to feel the impulse that soon enabled it to outstrip its older rival. Mr. Baker soon followed the general tide of settlement after the completion of the Erie canal, and removed to Syracuse, occupying what was known in the later days of its existence as the Larned house, which stood on the site of the Florence, corner of South Salint street and Onondaga. While living there two sons and two daughters were born. Mr. Baker's am- bition and industry gave him a prominent position in the bar of the county, and though not, perhaps, so brilliant in the court room as many of his contemporaries, he secured and held the entire confidence of his clients, as well as of the community at large. He was associated at one period with Gen. R. M. Richardson, and later with Col. A. W. Dwight, who lost his life in the service of his country in the late war. The care of estates entrusted to him, and especially that of General Wood, demanded most of his time in the later years of his life. He was a man of public spirit, and the growth and prosperity of the city was always prominent in his thoughts. By purchase and through his wife Mr. Baker became owner of a large tract of land in what is now the southern part of the city (lately the beautiful village of Danforth). Between the years 1840 and 1845 he built the large brick Gothic house on South Salina street, just in the outskirts of the city, where he resided many years. Through his lands, Mr. Baker gave about seventeen acres to public streets. The first one opened running east and west just south of his residence and by him named Castle street, it being at that time the nearest one to the Indian castle. Ou many of those streets he planted trees, which are now one of
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Cionales Bacher
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
the chief beauties of that section. On the front half of over twenty acres owned by Mr. Baker stood a beautiful grove of oak trees, and long before the final consummation of the undertaking he con- ceived the idea of appropriating that tract to a rural cemetery. In 1857 the proper influence was brought to bear, in which he freely co-operated, which resulted in the dedication in IS59 of our beautiful Oakwood Cemetery.
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