USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 48
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This John Wilkinson was not seventeen years old when the clash of arms resounding through the civilized world, announced the Revolution which preceded the birth of the new Republic. He entered the service of his country soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. By the fate of war he was captured and confined in the notorious Jersey Prison Ship in New York Ilarbor. The records of the sufferings of these prisoners, who were densely crowded between the close decks and even in the noisome hold, where they died by scores, have only been surpassed in former days by the Black Hole of Calcutta, and later by the cruelties of Libby Prison and Anderson- ville. After nine months he was exchanged, but with impaired health, which was only restored after the care of years. After his marriage he lived for some years in Cumberland. R. I. In 1790 he removed to Troy, N. Y. He lived there nine years, and there the subject of this sketch was born, September 30, 1798.
In February. 1799, John Wilkinson, the father, left his home in Troy, to create for himself a new one in the then wilderness of Central New York. He performed the long and toilsome journey on foot, leading a cow. Ilis wife and little ones, together with all his household goods, rode upon a sledge drawn by a yoke of oxen. At a sunnier season he had been attracted by the lovely. lake of Skaneateles and had selected the land for a farm in the midst of the forest one mile from its shores. Thither he came, and set to work literally to hew a home for his family, and also, as it proved, a grave for himself; for he died in less than three years, from injuries received while build- ing a barn. He was buried on his farm, which still remains in the family.
Here, in a log house, in the midst of a great forest filled with game, John Wilkinson grew up. Until the age of twelve he went to school at Skaneateles. Then the mother, not daunted by the ad- ditional burden entailed upon herself in her struggle with the wilderness for the support of four children, by the loss of her son's help upon the farm, or by the expense incident to the scheme, de- termined to give him the best education the country afforded and to send him to the Academy at Onondaga.
While pursuing his studies there he attracted the notice of the llon. Joshua Forman, then the great man of the country, and the principal patron of the Academy, and after he graduated he be- carne Mr. Forman's clerk, and a member in his family. In the law office of Forman & Sabin he studied his profession Hle was admitted to the bar in September, 1819, and was the first lawyer who settled in Syracuse.
In February, 1820, a post-office was established in Syracuse, and Mr. Wilkinson was appointed postmaster. In 1825, when the first election for village ofheers was held, Mr. Wilkinson was elected Clerk. He was for several years president of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, and by his influence succeeded in having the work-shops of that road built at Syracuse, thus adding the hardy population of the Fifth ward to our city. He was afterward president of the Michigan Southern Railroad.
As a lawyer, Mr. Wilkinson occupied a prominent place at the Onondaga Har. The late Peter Outwater, esq., was associated with him for many years, and later, James L. Bagg, esq. Mr. Wil- kinson was a director in the Onondaga County Bank from its organization in 1825, until its close. Ile was also president of the Bank of Syracuse, which he, together with the late Horace White, esq., organized in 1833, on the passage of the general Banking law, and so continued till his death. Both of these banks were managed with prudence and were exceedingly profitable to their stock_ holders.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
At Albany, February 24, 1825, John Wilkinson married Henrietta Wilhelmina Swart. They had eight children born to them.
In 1834 and 1835, he was elected Member of Assembly for Onondaga County, and occupied, while in that body, the position of Chairman of an important committee, viz: On the Incorporation and Alteration of Banking and Insurance Companies.
In the last years of his life, he operated the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, in his own name for two years as Trustee and Receiver.
. After the death of Capt. Oliver Teall, he became president of the Syracuse Water Works. He adopted the plan for collecting the water from springs and small streams into a reservoir. Mr. Wil- kinson was engaged upon this work at the time of his sudden death in September, 1862.
HOMAS BROCKWAY FITCH. The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Kirkland, T near the village of Clinton, Oneida county, N. Y., December 3, ISIo. He was a descendant of the Rev. James Fitch, who emigrated from England and settled in Connecticut as early as 1636, and who lived and preached in Norwich. Ilis father was Dr John Fitch, a very successful medical practitioner for forty years in Oneida county. His wife was the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Brockway, of Columbia, Conn.
When eleven years of age Mr. Fitch entered the drug store of J. E. Warner, of Utica, where he remained as a clerk for nine years. In 1830 he removed to Syracuse and established himself as a druggist in the "Green Drug Store" on the north side of Hanover Square. Soon after he asso- ciated with himself Captain Hiram Putnam. The firm name was T. B. Fitch & Co. They sold out to Dillaye & Co. in 1846.
Mr. Fitch was largely instrumental in formning the Mechanics' Bank (afterwards the Mechanics' National Bank), of which he was alternately president and cashier down to the day of his death. He was one of the founders and a trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank ; one of the original pro- moters, and a director, and for some time president, of the Syracuse & Binghamton Railroad Company; counselor of the Home Association; one of the founders and a trustee of Oakwood; trustee of the First I'resbyterian church for more than thirty years ; for several years a trustee of Syracuse University ; director of the Syracuse Gas Light Company ; largely interested in and director of several street railway companies ; a member of the firm of Ellis, Wicks & Co., large dealers in leather, and at one period heavy dealers in wool ; a member of the firm of Dunn, Salmon & Co., manufacturers of and wholesale dealers in boots and shoes ; and for a long time one of the owners of the Fitch and I'utnam Tract.
Mr. Fitch was not a politician, but he took great interest in public affairs and contributed greatly to the early development of the village, and, later, of the city of his adoption. Ile was originally a Whig, but became an earnest Republican, and especially active in promoting the Union cause during the war of the Rebellion. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention which re-nominated Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. He was public spirited and carest and active in every enter- prise which promised advancement to the city or benefit to the public welfare.
On the 20th of October, 1834, Mr. Fitch married the oldest daughter of Daniel Elllott, Mis- Ursula A. Elliott, sister of Charles Loring Elliott, the artist. He died of acute bronchitis after a short illness, August 27, 1879, leaving surviving him his widow and five children, Charles Elliott Fitch, Eliza S., wife of A. Judd Northrup, Mary Ella (since deceased), wife of Charles S. Symonds, of Utica, William E. Fitch, and Jennie B. Fitch.
DOBERT GERE. In the development of the various business interests which have contributed to the growth and progress of Syracuse and its vicinity, none took a more active and efficient part than the subject of this brief memoir, the late Robert Gere,
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Mr. Gere was born in the town of Groton, Connecticut, on the 26th of November, 1796. Ilis early opportunities for education were such only as the common schools afforded, but he possessed a mind of rare vigor and unusual acuteness of observation-faculties which, in the school of his varied experience, in after life, enabled him to become a sagacious judge of human nature and of the diversified business interests which he inaugurated and successfully carried out.
His hoyhood days were spent on his father's farm in his native town. In the 24th year of his age, on the 25th of October, 1820, he was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Stanton, and removed to Florida, Montgomery county, where he was a contractor on the original Erie Canal; and as the work approached its completion, by means of a river boat on the Mohawk and the finished portion of the canal, he removed his family to the town of Geddes in the spring of 1824, and settled on a farm purchased from the State, about one and a half miles west of the present village of Geddes. Two brothers, William S. and Charles Gere, came and settled on adjoining farms west-one preced- ing and the other following Robert Gere. They also purchased their lands from the State, and these three adjoining farms were then a dense forest, which was cleared by the proprietors and made as desirable hontesteads as any to be found in the county. They are still the property of Gere families.
Mr. Gere, well aware of the effeet upon a young and rising community of the beneficial influ- ence of education and religion, early gave the land and erected a school building, and maintained the same individually for fifteen years. He also united with a few others to form an Episcopal Church in the village of Geddes, Anxious to do more than his farm required at his hands, he early engaged in the manufacture of salt, and continued thereafter in that business in all its branches for fifty years. In 1832 he embarked in the lumber business, and, in connection with the late Joseph Breed, got out and shipped to tide-water a large amount of pine lumber from Cicero Swamp. In 1835-'6, in connection with llon. Elizur Clark, he was a very large contractor in the manufacture and delivery of the rails and. ties for the Utica and Schenectady and the Auburn and Syracuse Rail- ronds. Ilis house was the depot for the latter road when it was run by horses to his place, before the deep cut further east was worked through, in IS38.
Although Mr. Gere lost heavily by his generous endorsements for business men, he always man- aged by his energy and enterprise to be forehanded, and to keep in successful operation more than one important and lucrative branch of business. In 1843, leaving his farm, he came to Syracuse (then a village) and entered into partnership with those two noted and honored founders of Syracuse, William 11. Alexander and Columbus C. Bradley, in their furnace and foundry business. He sur- vived them both.
In 1848 his business ability and adaptation for the position made him the appointee of the Gov- ernor and the Senate for the office Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, the duties of which he admirably performed till 1851, when he resigned to become a contractor for the building of the locks at Salina and doing the section work of the Liverpool level of the Oswego Canal. Shortly after this work was completed he, together with the late llorace and Hamilton White, founded the Geddes Coarse Salt Company, of which he was President, and engaged in the business of manufactur- ing coarse salt on lands lying west of Geddes, and was at the time of his death the President and a large stockholder in that enterprise, as well as in the various iron industries now largely under the control of his family. In fact, Mr. Gere was the originator, founder and chief supporter of these and many other industries; his mind conceived them and his enterprise and capital supported them. Although he was the leading mind in many of the prominent industries of Syracuse and Geddes he never desired to appear conspicuous in any of them; but, on the contrary, as a wise educator of his sons, whose success and honorable standing as business men more than compensate for his gen- erous care and assistance, he chose worthily to stimulate their ambition and develop their business talents by placing them at the head of the various industries which he had been so instrumental in creating and supporting.
Mr. Gere died on the 18th day of December, 1877, aged SI years and 23 days. Of his family there remains to mourn him his widow, the faithful wife of more than half a century; Hon. R. Nel- son Gere, President of the Syracuse Iron Works and of the Merchants' National Bank; George C. Gere, Superintendent of the Geddes Coarse Salt Company; Anna, wife of Hon. James J. Belden,
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
ex. Mayor of the city of Syracuse; Hon. William H. H. Gere, Secretary of the Onondaga Iron Com- pany and ex-Supervisor for the Third Ward of Syracuse; and N. Stanton Gere, fate President of the Board of Supervisors, and representing on the board the town of Geddes. These are the children of Mr. Gere, born in the order named. Two of his sons represented Onondaga County in the Legis- lature, and all of them have exercised an influence of great importance in the business interests of the city and county.
The city of Syracuse and the county of Onondaga owe a large debt of grateful remembrance to their sturdy pioneers, among whom Robert Gere assumed a leading position. He wasa man of great strength of will, and possessed the most positive traits of character. A plain, blunt man, he was always just what he seemed to be. ITis inner nature was a genial, kindly one. He was deeply at- tached to his family, and took the keene t pride in the prosperity and advancement of his sons.
During the last year of his life when infirmities confined him to his residence, his family, with- out exception, were unremitting in their attentions to him and vied with one another in their efforts to mitigate his last suffering. When, at last, death had set its seal upon his long, laborious and useful life, his four sons bore all that was mortal of him to the grave.
We chp the following from a brief notice of his death, which appeared in the Daily Journal of December 18, 1877 :
"Another of our oldest, most honored and esteemed citizens passed to his eternal rest, when, at six o'clock this morning, the death messenger came to Robert Gere. For several days past it was apparent to those who gathered at his bedside that his end was near, that his lamp of life was flicker- ing. Months ago he was borne down by the weight of years, his physical strength having been al- most expended in the faithful discharge of the duties of an exceptionally active life. As colors melt away into shades and tints and finally disappear, so his life went out at the age of eighty-one years."
BLIVER TEALL was born August 5, 1788, in the town of Killingworth, Conn. ITis great-grand- 0 father came from Holland and settled in this country a number of years previous to the Revolution. His father, with four brothers, served their country in the war for American independence, in all, nearly six years each. Eighteen months of his term his father spent as a prisoner, having been cap- tured at Horse Neck, at the time when General Putnam made his almost miraculous escape.
Soon after the close of the war his father, Pr. Timothy Teall, resumed his profession, and. about 1791, removed with his wife (whose maiden name was Phoebe Hull) and several children, from Killingworth into the town of Manlius, Onondaga County. Shortly after their removal into Man- lius, Mrs. Teall died, leaving her husband with six children, four daughters and two sons. Oliver, the subject of this biography, was then but about four years of age.
Oliver, so soon as he was able. was put to work upon the farm, much of it then being yet unre- claimed from the woods. And there he continued to toil until he was 17 or 18 years old, when he was allowed to deal for himself, with the understanding that he was to work on the firm when not otherwise employed. His facilities for acquiring literary information all this while were, of course, very slender. He has been heard to say that all his schooling did not amount to more than one year at a common district school. Vet, so soon as he had been taught to read, he began to occupy his little leisure time in the perusal of such books as were within his reach.
Ile soon after engaged in various branches of business. For a while he conducted a limekiln. laboring at it himself very hard. Then he entered into partnership in the tanning, currying and shoemaking business. Afterwards he engaged in iron smithing, in its various branches. Thus he acquired a great deal of practical information in a variety of useful arts, which was of inestimable value to him in subsequent life.
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BIOGRAPHICAL. .
In the war of 1812 he commanded a company, which he ordered to muster in Manlius, and marched tu Oswego, when it was threatened by the enemy. Hence the title by which he was so familiarly known.
At an early period of life, Captain Teall commenced his speculations in real estate, the buying of water powers, erecting mills, carrying them on a while, and when he had made them valuable selling them to advantage. The experience which he gained in these transactions, qualified him for an enterprise which, in the event, greatly enhanced his property, and made him more than ever known and respected by the business men of this part of the Empire State. In 1818, he took what was then a large contract on the middle section of the Erie Canal. The thoroughness of the work done under his supervision, and the accuracy of his accounts, inspired all who were cognizant of his skill and fidelity with the highest confidence.
Mr. Teall was the father of the first water supply for Syracuse ; was very conspicuous in sup- port of the educational institutions of the place and was prominent in temperance and benevolent work.
In ISog, Capt. Teall married Catherine Walter, a farmer's daughter, in the town of Manlius. She was frugal, industrious, gentle, distinguished for her general benevolence, and for her untiring devotion to her family. She died September 30, 1836. By her he had five children, two sons and three daughter ..
Soon after his marriage, he purchased a farm in Manlius, and erected a commodious stone house, which he expected would be his dwelling-place so long as he should live on earth. But on his appointment to a stiperintendency upon the Eric Canal, he removed to that part of Syracuse which was called Lodi, purchased of the State the right to the surplus waters of the west end of the Kome level, and erected mills, which for a number of years he managed in addition to his public business.
In the summer of 1857, he was attacked with a disease of the lungs which at first assumed a serious and alarming appearance. By advice of physicians he was taken to the sea-shore in the hope that a change of climate might restore his wonted powers. In this, however, his friends were doomed to disappointment, as he rapidly became worse. They, therefore, started for home with him and on arriving at New York the most skillful medical aid was procured, but without avail. leaving New York for Catskill he was able to reach Newburg only, when he was met by the unerring messenger, and on the 15th day of August, 1557. summoned to his final rest at the the age of 69 years and 10 days.
H ON. GEORGE FRANKLIN COMSTOCK, ex-Judge, and ex-Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals, was born at Williamstown, Oswego county, N. Y., August 24, 1811. The baptismal name of his father indicates the New England origin of the family; for his parents with biblical reverence and true devotion to the pilgrim temper, gave him the unusual Scripture name Serejuh (or Seraiah, "Prince of the Lord"). Imbued with the spirit of resistance to tyrants, Serajah Com- stock, then in his youth, enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and served until the last enemy surren- dered in his presence at the capture of Yorktown. Following the tide of emigration which set in after the conclusion of the war, he left his native State, Connecticut, and settled at Williamstown, where he died in the boyhood of his son, George F. Comstock. The son, whose early years were marked by a love of reading and study, had imbibed in the common schools the desire for a higher education, but was thrown on his own resources. By teaching at an early age, and by the aid of friends, he acquired the means of pursuing a classical course. lle graduated with high honor at the Union College in 1834, and then for a time taught the ancient languages in an excellent classical school at U'tica, N. V , while he used all his leisure in the study of law. The following year he en- tered the office ot Noxon & Leavenworth, at syracuse, the former of whom, B. Davis Noxon, held a distinguished rank among the best lawyers of the State, while the other, Elias W. Leavenworth, be- came well-known as a New York Secretary of State and as a member of the Forty-fourth Congress. Ilere Mr. Comstock completed his legal course as a student, and in 1839. received the hand of Cor- nelia, Mr. Nowon's daughter, in marriage. Two years previously, in 1937, he had been admitted
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
to the bar, and commenced practice at Syracuse. Devoting himself with energy to the practice of his profession, he closely studied at the same time the fundamental principles of the law. In 184; he had attained such a reputation for legal acumen and research that he was appointed by Governor Young reporter of the Court of appeals, a position previously occupied by Denio, Hill, and others of great and acknowledged ability. The first four volumes of the New York Keports were his three years' work as a reporter, during which period he also pursued his profession actively. ITis reputa- tion as a lawyer was now fixed, and his counsel was often sought, especially in the higher courts. In 1849 he aided in organizing the Syracuse Sayings Bank, and was one of the incorporators. I'res- ident Fillmore called him to the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury of the United States in 1852, and he served during the remainder of the Presidential term. The Whig party, with which he had always acted politically, was now weakened by dissensions, but the Conservative Whigs, then called " Silver grays," in unison with the Native American party, nominated and elected him one of the judges of the Court of Appeal in 1855. At the close of his term of service on the bench, the country was excited with the political discussions which preceded the civil war. The old Whig party had ceased to exist, and the Conservative Whigs found their natural home with the Democrats. Judge Comstock regarded the new Republican organization as fraught with danger to the Union, and en- deavored to allay sectional animosities by a consideration of the constitutional questions . involved. His speeches and addresses, both before and after the commencement of the war, com- manded the attention of thinkers in both parties. The Democrats presented his name for re-election to the Court of Appeals in ISot, but the tide was setting too strongly in the opposite direction, and all the candidates of that party were defeated. This was to Judge Comstock, a most fortunate event, as he has ever regarded it. With the increased distinction resulting from his judicial decisions, he was recognized throughout New York as second to no lawyer in practice. Ilis aid 'was sought in cases involving the most important principles and the largest interests, but he took time to edit a new edition of Kent's Commentaries, at the solicitation of the heirs of the Chancellor. When the convention of 186S for the revision of the constitution of the State was called, it was understood that the judicial system of the State required change, and that Judge Comstock was, by his legal learning and experience, his breadth of mind and his elevation above partisan influence, well fitted to aid in the work. He was elected a delegate for the State at large. To him and to ex-Chief Justice Folger is to be accredited chietly the formation of a new judiciary article, which was adopted by the convention and submitted to the vote of the people. Judge Comstock has taken a very prominent part in founding and supporting educational and benevolent institutions. He initiat- ed the movement at Syracuse in 1869, to secure the establishment of a University at that place. Hle aroused the interest of the citizens at public meetings, wrote articles for the press in its favor, and, above all, donated $50,000 in addition to the $100,000 required of the city for its location there. Since the organization in 1870, he has been one of the trustees, and is now the first vice- President of the Board. Fine buildings have been erected, and the institution is provided with an ab'e faculty. While the University is under the auspicies of the Methodist denomination, Judge Comstock is a member of St. Paul's (Protestant Episcopal) Church. He may also be considered as the founder of the "St. John's School for Boys," at Manlius, as it is now organized. The institution was incor- porated in 1869, but necessary changes have been recently made, and $60,ovo presented to it by Judge Conistock. Judge Comstock is one of the trustees of the State Idiot Asylum, at Syracuse. appointed by the Governor. For many years he has been connected with various financial and busi- ness enterprises. In 1868 he was one of the incorporators of the Syracuse, Chenango and New York Railroad, and became a director of the company; the road was completed in 1873. Like many other residents of Syracuse having surplus capital, he has invested in the great salt interest. He originated and is President of the American Dairy Salt Company, and Treasurer of the "Union" and "Western" Coarse Salt Companies. He is a director of the Syracuse Gas Company, and of the Water Company, and a director of various other manufacturing and commercial corporations. Ili- co-operation in public movements and associated effort has been invaluable to his co-workers. In his legal and busines, temperament he preserves the mean between the theorist who does not regard the application of principles, and the routinist who does not look beyond precedents and immediate surroundings. Blending a dignitid presence with simple and engaging manners, and profound at- tainments with practical usefulness, he enjoys in his ripened age the universal repute of a learned jurist, a true gentleman, and a friend of humanity.
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