USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 50
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June 19, 1844, Mr. Howlett married Miss Minerva Ames, of Mexico, Oswego county, N Y., daughter of Leonard Ames, a prominent pioneer of that section. He hastwo children, Alfred Ames llowlett, one of the Directors of the Salt Springs National Bank, and Augusta Adell, wife of J. F. Durston, of Syracuse. A. Ames Howlett is also President of the Carolina Land and Improvement Company, of Sumter, S. C., and his was the leading spirit in the recent construction of the Charles- ton, Sumter, and Northern Railroad in that State.
TON. PETER BURNS was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, July 30, 1814. IIe was the H only child of David and Mary (Dempsey) Burns, both of whom were natives of Dublin. When four years of age his mother died, aged twenty-six years. In the spring of 1819 the father and son emigrated to America, on board a merchant vessel bound to New York city. After a stormy vovage the vessel was wrecked off Sandy Hook, but nearly all the passengers were saved. Arriving at New York, where he remained but a short time, they located in Delaware county on the east branch of the Delaware River, the father returning to New York to follow his previous business of brewing and distilling. Five years later David Burns removed to Ulster county, where he remained until his death, which occurred in 1850.
During the period when the subject of this sketch lived in Delaware county the country in that section was new and comparatively unsettled, and afforded very limited advantages for schooling. He lived most of the time with a French family, and learned to speak their language quite fluentiy. . Mt the age of twelve years he went to Ulster county, where his father had located, and there passed the succeeding five years in a family of Hollanders, working on a farm, but obtaining very restricted op. portunities for bettering his education from books ; he was, however, well schooled in habers of in fa .. try, economy, frugality, and morality, and carefully diciplined in the doctrines of the Reformed Dutch Church. It was in this model family that the turning point in his life was reached, and from tia! five years of experience he dates the real beginning of his later career.
At the age of seventeen he began work as an apprentice to the saddlery trade in l'Iste: cou-11. N. Y., and remained there and at Woodstock until he was twenty one years of age, warn ir atot to New York city to still further perfect his mechanical skill. After two years spent in that i fr he came to Syracuse in the year 1836, while it was yet a village. After following h.y tralr av a ' w.f. neyman until the spring of 1840 he made a tour of the Western States to recuperate hn -spa rej health, returning to Syracuse in the following autumn. Mr. Burns felt the need of better edun' a. and being unable physically to continue at his trade he spent the following two years in voh at the Onondaga Academy, with a view of fitting himself for a teacher ; but after obta wing tos Bipionsa he was induced to enter upon a clerkship in a saddlery hardware store in Syracuse, where he remained five years. By following his principle of living within his means he had by this time accumula ed sufficient to embark in trade for himself, and he accordingly opened a store for the wie of saden hardware, which he successfully conducted until the year 1853, when he began the manufacture of saddlery hardware, in partnership with the late Kanon Frazer. This business was continued with
E.
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steadily increasing success, until the death of Mr. Frazer, in 1876, by which time it had become one of the leading industries of the kind in the country, and its product found a market in most of the States of the Union. After the death of Mr. Frazer Mr. Burns continued the business one year and then retired, leaving his son, Willis B. Burns, in full possession of his interest.
In politics Mr. Burns was early identified with the Whig party, and afterwards with the Anti- slavery party ; but on the formation of the Republican party he became and has always continued an ardent and consistant supporter of its principles. His quiet and effective work in the political field, gave Mr. Burns a position of strength with his party, and his ability was recognized in various ways. After filling several stations of trust in the city he was elected to the Legislature, and served in that body two terms - 1871-72. llis legislative record is one of entire credit, and thoroughly effective in its results. He was on the Committee on Election and Privileges and the still more important Committee on Railroads. In the later capacity )Ir. Burns was instrumental in effecting much impor- tant legislation, notably the preparation and passage of the Open-Cut and Viaduct Bill, which gave the New York Central Railroad Company its present means of reaching the Grand Union depot in New York city from Harlem, a work which cost about 820,000,000. The first charter of the Gil- bert Elevated Railroad Company was also passed during that period, which action has led directly to the establishment of the great elevated railroad system of the metropolis.
lle served as Supervisor of the Sixth ward of Syracuse in 1859-60, and was several years Chair- man of the Board of Inspectors of the Onondaga County Penitentiary. Ile was one of the first Police Commissioners of the city, and as Chairman of that Board assisted in the present organization of the police force. He hasbeen a Director in the Merchants' National Bank for thirty years, and for many years a Director in the Trust and Deposit Company, and its Vice-President at one period. In all of these positions Mr. Burns has exhibited that sound judgment and prudent business capacity which have given him the confidence of his associates. For several years as Trustee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Syracuse University, he has rendered to that institution valiable services.
At the age of twenty years Mr. Burns became a member of the Reformed Dutch Church, but upon his coming to Syracuse he united with the First Presbyterian Church, and was for a time Su- perintendent of its Sunday-school. Ile was one of nine persons to organize the Reformed Dutch Church, in James street, and contributed to the erection of the present Plymouth Church, of whose Board of Trustees he was President for about thirty years. In his support of the various char- ities of the city Mr. Burns has been conspicuously liberal, especially in connection with the Onon- daga Orphan Asylum, over which he has for many years exercised a watchful care. Ile is at present President of its Board of Trustees. The present excellent arrangement of the structure is largely due to him.
The career of Mr. Burns in this city is one of unusual material success, and at the same time commands the respect of all who are acquainted with it for its unostentatious interest in the general well- being of the community and its consistent Christian character.
On the 9th of May. 1850, Mr. Burns married Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Bates and Jane Phillips, both natives of Chesterfield. Mass. They have two children, Hon. Willis B. Burns, of Syra- euse, and Flora E., wife of Lyman C. Smith, of Syracuse.
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HENRY H. LOOMIS, a native of Onondaga county, and for the past sixteen years a resident of Syracuse, was born in Cicero, April 20, 1833. More fortunate than most families, this one has produced one member, Elias Loomis, L1 .. D)., professor of Natural Philosophy and Astron- omy in Yale ( ollege, who had the rare good sense to compile a book of ancestral descent, entitled "Genealogy of the Loomis Family." published at New Haven in 1370, and giving the names and residences of 4.305 of the descendants of Joseph Loomis, one of the first settlers of Windsor, Conn. From this we learn that Joseph Loumis, of Braintree, Essex county, England, born about 1590, a woolen draper by trade, sailed, with his wife, five sons, and three daughters, from London, April 11, 1638, in the ship Susan and Ellen, which arrived in Boston, July 17, 1638 ; that the family settled
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in the town of Windsor, Conn., where they bought land in 1640 ; that Joseph Loomis had a son Joseph, also born in England; that Joseph Loomis, jr., had a son Jamies, born in Windsor, Conn., in 1609 : that James Loomis had a son Nathaniel, born in Windsor in [712 ; that Nathaniel Loomis had a son Jabez, born in Coventry, Conn .; that Jabez Loomis ha 1 a son Ebenezer, born in West- moreland. N. Y., in 1765 ; that Ebenezer Loomis had a son Chester, born in Westmoreland, N. V., in 1785, who was the father of Henry H. Loomis, the subject of this sketch. Such a genealogical record, with no missing links, would enable many families in America to become possessed of large estates left in the old countries, whose rightful heirs here are helpless because of the negligence of their ancestors to keep and preserve correct family records.
Chester Loomis married Abby Adams, and became a farmer at Central Square, Oswego county, N. V., where seven children were born to them. In 1823 they came to Cicero and bought a farm of 150 acres, on which the house was built by --- Lynch in ISog. Here five more children were added to the previous group of seven, and here these worthy parents spent the afternoon and even- ing of their earthly existence, rearing these twelve children to maturity, and equipping them for the momentous journey of life. The care and toil, the prudence, the wisdom necessary to the cred - itable issue of such a life-long task take rank with the competent management of complex public affairs, and command the adn:iration and respect of every reflecting person. To such faithful, self- sacrificing parents the foundations of good society and the perpetuity of national life are indebted. Their acts should be remembered with gratitude, recounted with pride, and recorded with care by their descendants. Of this old-fashioned family Henry was the youngest. Happily for him the years of his minority-that period when so unconsciously, but never so surely, habits are formed and character receives a stamp that no succeeding period can entirely obliterate-were passed amid the blessed surroundings of a good home. There his impulsive, buoyant boyhood expanded into youth and rounded into manhood. The old-fashioned district school, succeeded by a few terms at the llo. mer Academy, were his educational helps. It is a serious inquiry whether the multiform surface- garnish of the modern graded schools or the feverish, reacting overstrain of our State Normal schools are furnishing more adequate equipments for the sturdy struggles of life. Chester Loomis died at the old homestead in Cicero, September 7. 1851.
The year IS54 was an eventful one for the subject of our sketch. He married Ciara Marriam. of Cicero, and in company with his brother, Addison J. Loomis, bought the interests of the heirs to his father's farm. Ten children were living. Two daughters had died before their father, one of whom had left children. The two brothers ran in debt for nine-elevenths of the estate, and in five years they paid every dollar. This proved the stuff they were made of. They won the first battle, and so inade all the rest easier. In 185g he sold his interest in the farm to his brother, A. J. Loomis, and left the parental roof, under which his first twenty-six years had been so happily spent.
With a desire to see the wild West he bid his young wife good bye for a season and started for Pike's Peak. The railroad terminated at Jefferson City, from whence he took a Missouri River steamboat for Kansas City, then only a sort of trading post of 2,500 people. There were seven 10 his party. and the journey with ox-teams from there to Denver took them seven weeks. It secar queer to think that the site of the present opulent city of Denver consisted then of five sod house, all told ; but Mr. Loomis says that was the sum total of the buildings. There were swarms of adventurers there, camping on the bare ground or under blankets and tents. From there the party packed on horses and mules one hundred miles to the mines, where they eagerly joined the ranks and dug for gold. When cold weather came in the fall Mr. Loomis returned home with a hit'e more money in his pocket than when he started, pluss an experience of great value. For the new fifteen years he was again a farmer in -his native town. In 1875 he went into politics and was elected Superintendent of the Poor for Onondaga County on the Republican ticket. This cause i h., removal to Syracuse, which has been his home ever since. Three years later he was re-elected to a second term, which expired in ISS1.
Mr. Loomis now found more time to devote to business interests. He hid, in 1577, become interested in the canning industry, and in company with others had built an extensive canning fac- tory in Cicero, and later one in this city, in both of which he still retains a large interest and past- nership. The firmof H. H. Freeman and H. UI. Loomis is also the largest willow basket manufact-
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urer in the State of New York. A fuller statement of these canning and basket industries may be seen in the manufacturing chapter in this book.
In isso Mr Loomis made a second trip to Colorado, when he became so deeply interested in the wonderful mineral resources of that State that he made investments in mining lands and organ- ized " The Oro Mining and Milling Company" at Breckenridge, of which he is President, with five directors in Syracuse and four in Colorado. He is also President of the Onondaga Coal and Oil Company, the American Bleach and Chemical Company, the Eastern Building and Loan Association of Syracuse, and the Onondaga County Loan and Trust Company. He has always retained a liking for farming, and in 1882, '33, 'S4, and '85 he was President of the Onondaga County Agricultural Society. Mr. Loomis had the great misfortune to lose his wife in 1888, leaving three children-Ed- win L., who is his partner in business ; Dora, wife of Dr. D. H. Murry ; and Anna Grace, the central joy of her father's home. With an excellent constitution, good health, and the good sense not to overtax his energies, Mr. Loomis undoubtedly has many years of useful activity and quiet enjoyment before him. Ilis life has been marked by that simplicity and rectitude of character that well become a successful man.
W ILLIAM A. DUNCAN, Ph. D .- William A. Duncan came to Syracuse sametime previous to IS40, when it was but a hamlet. He had been trained from youth as a workman on the granite buildings of Aberdeen, Scotland, and was a finely educated builder and master mechanic. He was the son of Alexander Duncan, a man well known in his day as an educator, and one of the best educated men on Dee side. With him came his young wife Mary, the daughter of James Wood, of Airlie, Scotland. He located here because he saw the great possibilities of the city, be- cause of its nearness to the limestone quarries. Many of the mansions around Fayette Park, in James, thesec. and Onondaga streets, and the older public buildings of the city, show in part the fruits of his early efforts towards beautifying the style of the dwellings and public buildings of the young city. As Superintendent of construction for the contractor he supervised the erection of the First Presbyterian church in Salina street, laying the corner and the top stones. The St. James's church (recently burned) and other stone edifices were built under his supervision. His integrity and ability as a builder caused his services to be in demand in many of the large cities of the State and in Canada. Syracuse owes much of its admiration for the substantial and the beautiful in archi- tecture to his early presence. Their children were William A .: James D .; Joseph M., President of the Duncan Salt Company, Silver Springs ; John H., Superintendent of the American Dairy Salt-Mills, Syracuse ; Mrs. F. Morgan ; and Mrs. E. Tankie. Memorial windows in memory of William and Mary Duncan have been placed in the First Ward Presbyterian church and in the Good Will Congregational church of this city. Many of Mr. Duncan's contemporaries have with him completed the record of their lives, but his memory lives, and his most upright character is his best monument. Neither are his example, teachings, and mental attainments lost, but by their inheritance the world has felt new impulses for truth and better civilization.
Dr. William A. Duncan, eldest son of William and Mary Duncan, was born at Oswego, N. Y .. in 1837, and while in infancy came to Syracuse, where he has since resided, and during his mature years has been one of its most active, useful, and respected citizens. Before reaching the period of manhood, and while acquiring his education, he became strongly imbued with a desire to aid in the promotion of the cause of secular and religious education in the broadest sense, and it may be said of him that his highest hopes could hardly have conceived such a brilliant and successful career as he has enjoyed, and which has not yet, probably, reached its zenith. With his originality of thought and superior educational abilities be combines business qualifications of a high order, so that he is pos. sessed of such versatility as enables him to successfully grapple with a great variety of situations and opportunities, in both religious and secular pursuits. He is of strong physique, has Scotch determin-
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ation and perseverance, -- which generally means success,-possesses a wonderful memory a. capability for the speedy disposal of business according to correct methods, and has a wide acqua. ance from much travel and physical endurance such as but few men possess. llis trained nuind ... quickly, almost impulsively, but ever safely.
Dr. Duncan became an educator when he was a young man as the Principal of an acade ... . but later in life was afforded one of the very best of opportunities for making a study of the Le . educational methods. For fourteen years, and until he declined further service, he was a member ( ! the Board of Education of this city, representing the Fifth ward, and was for two terms l'resider tet the Board. Grace School was established during his term of service, and the Seymour School edite which is widely recognized as a model school building, was planned, designed, and erected by I ... I. It has a capacity for one thousand pupils, and upon its wall hangs the life-size portrait of its build!e . placed there at the pupils' request. The plan of this building has been adopted in many cite Among the many improvements which he introduced to the Syracuse school system was the "Quin '1 . method " of teaching, and which aided materially in bringing, the public schools of the city up to .. standard which, to say the least, was, and is, second to none in the United States. It is to the [. . tient and intelligent study and experiences of these years, during which he also accomplished a great deal of religious and business work, that he owes much of his present success.
His greatest achievements have been in the religious field. For several years he was a memihr- of the Executive Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and later became P'res'der: of the association at a time when it was in a transition state. It is fair to presume that he was elected I'resident because the association was greatly in need of just such service as he could render. and results justified the sagacity of the action. While I'resident he projected and planned the present beautiful and commodious V. M. C. A. Building ; at the end of his first official year, and with t ?: assistance of Dwight L. Moody, he laid the corner-stone, and at the close of his second term the build- ing was formally dedicated to the uses for which it was so happily designed. The plans of ti . building have been adopted by many associations elsewhere. The records of the association als .. speak to the credit of his administration, by showing an increase of membership from a comp.r." tively small number to about six hundred. From that time until the present the association has enjoy ... a season of uninterrupted prosperity.
Dr. Duncan served as Superintendent of the Plymouth, Good Will, and Pilgrim Congregation . Sunday-Schools of this city during a period aggregating twenty-five years. The Good Will Cc .. gregational church was one of the outgrowths of these labors. The present Pilgrim Sunday School. with its branch church, was organized by him, and he is at present the Superintendent of the schei For nearly twenty years he was the teacher of the Syracuse Sunday-School Union Teachers Ci ... at the V. M. C. A. rooms. He organized the Syracuse Sunday-School Association, and served a. its first P'resident, and was for three years the President of the Onondaga County Sunday-Sur Association.
He was elected President of the New York State Sunday-School Convention held in Saratoga. N. Y., in June, TSyt, and has been for eleven years Chairman of its Executive Committee who h has charge of the missionary and institute work of this association, representing the interdenomination !! Sunday-school work of the State of New York. During the past fiscal year this association hay organized nearly four hundred Sunday-schools, and held more than twelve hundred Sunday-sci 1 Normal institutes and conventions. For nearly fifteen years he has represented the State of New York as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Sunday-School Association !: the United States and Canada. This committee is associated with the International Sunday .... Lesson Committee in the organized interdenominational Sunday-school work of the world. He is the originator of the organization known as the New York State Woman's Missionary Aid . 1>-0044 tion, organized for the purpose of canvassing the school districts of the State and gathering the children into Sunday-schools. He is the author of " home classes," or what is now known as the home department of the Sunday school, which recognizes those who study in the home, what's individual, neighborhood, or family classes, as having the same rights and privileges as though ve. were members of either the primary or main department of the church school, receiving the. . ..
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supplies from the Sunday-school with which they are connected, and being recognized in full member- ship as though they were in attendance upon the regular services of the school. This work was originated in 188t, and has grown with marvelous rapidity, so that at the present time there are thousands of schools in the land that have organized classes of this kind, and there are at least. fifty-thousand students connected with them. The plan has been adopted by the Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and other denominations, and has become a permanent feature of nearly all our Sunday-school work, since it completes the organization of the Sunday-school. The blessing which it at present is bringing to mankind cannot be estimated, nor can the multitude of its benefits for the future be foretold or surmised. W. II. Hall, Secretary of the Connecticut State Sunday-School Association, said this to the large Sunday-school convention held in Saratoga last June in reference to the home classes: " If Dr. Duncan had never done anything but give birth to this one idea, he has done enough to place him among the greatest benefactors of the race."
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Dr Duncan has for many years been the Field Secretary of the Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, located at Boston, Mass. This society represents the Sunday-school work of that denomination, and this, in connection with the international work, calls him to every part of the United States. Within the past few years he has traveled over two hundred and fifty thousand miles, and addressed more than fifteen hundred audiences, including State. International, and the World's Sunday-School Convention in London, in 18Sy. Hundreds of Sunday-schools have been organized through his efforts, and thousands of youths gatheted into them.
He is the Secretary and Superintendent of the Chautauqua University. located at Chautauqua. Chautauqua Lake, New York. This is the original Chautauqua Assembly, and the center of all its activities, including the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the Chautauqua Assembly, the Chautauqua University, and the Chautauqua School of Theology Next to Lewis Miller and Bishop Vincent, Dr. Duncan is one of the most widely known officials connected with the Chautauqua move- ment. Through him all official documents are promulgated and details of management are arranged. He has full charge of the grounds, directs all improvements, decides the style after which all public structures and private cottages shall be built, attends to all grievances, and is to Chautauqua what the engine is to the manufactory, and, like it, never tires. When he was elected Secretary of the association, in 1883, the institution was 890.000 in debt. At the close of last season the Assembly debt had been reduced to $20,000,although there had been an expenditure of nearly $100,000 in improve- ments during these seven years. Dr. Duncan's first connection with the Assembly was in the season of 1878, when he was selected by Chancellor Vincent as his assistant. He continued in this position until 1883, when he was made Secretary and General Superintendent. How well he has filled that office everyone who is acquainted with Chautauqua is aware. Dr. Duncan is the creator of a branch Chautauqua at Albany, Ga., which bids fair to rival its parent in the North. At a recent meeting, at which Governor Gordon and Senator Colquitt were present, 3,000 day tickets were told in addition to the season tickets. Dr. Duncan has been hailed as a missionary of Northern good-will, and his Georgia visits are occasions of public rejoicing. Ile owns a cotton and fruit plantation of 3,500 acres twelve miles from Albany, which is in Dougherty county, 200 miles south of Atlanta. The people of Albany have overwhelmed the Secretary of Chautauqua with attentions, among which was the presentation to him of a gold watch through a committee consisting of Mayor H. Melntosh, Col. Nelson Tift (the builder of the Confederate ram Albemarle), and Captain Richard S. Hobbs.
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