USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 54
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Carroll E. smith's youth was spent in the local schools. Ile completed an academic course in the Syracuse Academy, and then entered the Seward Institute at Florida, Orange county, N. Y., from which he was graduated in 1952 with honors. At an early age he entered the printing office of the Syracuse Journal, and there learned the various branches of the printers" trade. When nineteen years of age he began his life-long newspaper career in a subordinate capacity, and subsequently, be- fore attaining his majority, became local reporter for the Daily Journal and then associate editor of the Daily Chronicle. . In Isoo he assumed editorial charge of the Journal, since which time his work in this capacity has been marked with an unusual degree of success and devotion to the material in- terests of the community.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
So intimately has Mr. Smith been identified with the remarkable career of the Journal (the oldest daily newspaper in the county) that a brief history of that publication is necessarily a part of the history of the lite of its editor. The paper was started March 20, 1839, by V. W. & S. F. Smith (father and uncle respectively of its present conductor), as the Western State Journal. In 1844 the name was changed to the Syracuse Weekly and Daily Journal, and three years later the firm of Barnes, Smith & Cooper became proprietors and publishers. Vivus W. Smith, in 1849, assumed sole control, and so continued till 1850, when Seth Haight became proprietor and George Terwilliger edi- tor. In 1853 the proprietorship passed to Danforth Merrick, and the following year Thomas S. Truair purchased the plant and franchise and made Andrew Shuman editor-in-chief. This arrange- ment continued one year, when John G. K. Truair bought the establishment, and September 1, 1856, Anson G. Chester became the editor. In 1859 Rodney L. Adams was admitted to the firm, which became J. G. K. Truair & Co., and in 1862 the style of the partnership was changed to Truair, Smith & Miles by Carroll F Smith and Marcus M. Miles both taking an interest. From 1868 Truair, Smith & Co. conducted the paper till April 21, 1576, when Dwight II. Bruce purchased an interest, and the firm became Truair, Smith & Bruce, which continued till 1SS5, when the latter retired and a stock company was formed with Carroll E. Smith, President ; J. G. K. Truair, Vice-President and Treasurer ; and Eugene M. Grover, Secretary and Superintendent. October 23, 1889, Mr. Truair died, and soon after the company was re-organized with Carroll E. Smith, President and Treasurer ; Charles C. Smith, Secretary; and Charles Blasdel, Superintendent. March 14, 1891, a disastrous fire destroyed the entire Journal plant in East Washington street, including a new Hoe web-perfecting press and an extensive job and bindery plant, but owing to the indomitable energy of Mr. Smith not a single issue was missed. Its home was then moved to 130 and 132 James street, where it now occupies an eligible and commodious building. Mr. Smith guides the policy of the Journal with the assistance of the following staff : Charles C. Smith, managing editor ; Myles T. Frisbie, associate editor ; John A. Mackay, city editor ; and Harvey D. Burrill, Henry W. Chapin, and Frank H. Chase, reporters.
Mr. Smith has been recognized by his party and the people in being elected to positions of trust and responsibility, in all of which he has labored assiduously for the interests of his constituents. From 1854 to 1857 he was City Clerk, and took much interest in framing the charter of the city which has since been the basis of its municipal law. In 1865 he was elected County Clerk and served three years, and in 1876 and 1577 he was member of Assembly, in which body he held a prominent posi- tion. Ile was Chairman of the Committee on l'ublic Education, and the author of legislation in the interest of popular education. He was also a member of the Committees on the Affairs of Cities and Apportionment, in whose action he took a deep interest. He declined to be a candidate for re-elec- tion, preferring to devote his entire attention to journalism. In ISS8 Mr. Smith was elected by the Legislature a member of the Board of Regents of the State University, which position he still holds. For six years he was President of the New York State Associated Press, and for twenty-two years has been one of the managers of that association. October 17, 1889, he was appointed by President Harrison Postmaster at Syracuse and custodian of the Government Building, and in this department he has inaugurated material changes in the local postal service, notable among them being the im- provement of the free delivery service. Besides these he has been and is prominently connected with the management of several public associations and identified with various other business enterprises.
Mr. Smith commenced his political life a Republican by casting his first vote in 1856 for John C. Fremont for President. He has ever since maintained an active interest and influential position in politics, and has always given his best efforts to elevate and purify political affairs. His vigorous pen wields a potent influente in the councils and actions of the party with which he is identified. As a journalist he seeks to promote the highest goud of the community by upholding the cause of relig- ion, morality, and temperance, and by the advocacy of the best phases of political and public policy. Always holding himself independent and free to criticise, he has ever been ready to dissent from the action of party leadership which tended contrawise to his views of public welfare. He is careful in his statements, but outspoken in all matters of general interest, and always goes to the pith of the subject under comment in a way peculiarly his own. Ilis writings, always original, simple, and con- cise, have been filled with thought of the keenest character, and invariably impress their power upon
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
both friend and foe. Although tenacious of his rights, he carefully respects those of others, and is thoroughly interested in all matters tending to elevate and improve society. In the sanctum or on the platformalike he attracts attention by the vigor of his presentation and logical reasoning. He possesses a strong individuality. His standard of honor and truthfulness is high. His nature, although some- times apparently brusque, is kindly and sympathetic. He makes friends readily and does not relinquish them easily. A man of the people, he possesses great persisteney, untiring energy, and a rare insight into character and motives. Straightforward and frank he tells the truth as he sees it, let it hit where it may. He is ranked among the ablest editors in the State, and as such enjoys the esteem and respect of the fraternity and the public. He has made the Journal a synonym for truthfulness and morality, and has thoroughly imbued it with his own high ideal of the newspaper as a public educator-the perfect abnegation of self in its conductors, with the highest development of news enterprise and the most perfect devotion to the interests of State and people. Mr. Smith married Miss Harriet E. Hor- ton in 1854, and his family consists of Charles C. Smith, who is associated with him in the manage- ment of the Journal, Vivus G. Smith, Mrs. A. V. Meeker, and Miss Hattie E. Smith. Mr. Smith resides in his handsome West Onondaga street honte, which is the center of a generous hospitality.
H
JON. CHARLES BALDWIN SEDGWICK was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, in March,
ISIS, and died in Syracuse, February 7, 1883. He was the son of a prominent lawyer of that day, Stephen Sedgwick, and inherited much of the character of his father, who died when Charles B. was an infant. When our subject was four years of age his mother was married to Daniel Gott, a lawyer and politician of distinction. He took a course of study at Pompey Academy, and at the age of seventeen years entered Hamilton College, from which institution he was graduated with high honors in 1834. Returning to l'ompey he entered the law office of his step-father, pursued the re- quired course, and was admitted to the Bar in 1837. It is said of him that in these years he gave great promise of becoming eminent. He was methodical and logical in his reading, and carried these characteristics into practice. In 1842 he came to Syracuse and formed a partnership with Peter Ontwater. He was for some years Master in Chancery, an office which was abolished by the Con- stitution of 1846. Subsequently Charles Andrews became associated with him, the partnership con- tinuing until Mr. Sedgwick went to New York, where he spent a year, when he returned to Syracuse and became a member of the law firm of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy, which earned for itself a wide and honorable reputation. This co-partnership existed till IS70, when Mr. Andrews was elected to the Court of Appeals. William G. Tracy and Charles H. Sedgwick were then admitted under the firm name of Sedgwicks, Kennedy & Tracy. Mr. Sedgwick continued in practice until 1375, when he formally retired, and with his family made an extended tour of Europe. Before his departure he was tendered a banquet at the Vanderbilt House, which was attended by many of the most prominent judges and lawyers in the State, and over which Judge George F. Comstock pre- sided. It was an event of general interest, in which regret was mingled with compliment. Upon his return from abroad Mr. Sedgwick found it distasteful to remain in retirement from the profession in which he had been so successful, and so he resumed practice, forming a partnership with I. N. Ames and his son-in-law, John L. King, which firm continued until his decease.
Mr. Sedgwick was a close observer of politics and political events. He was originally a Demo- crat with anti-slavery proclivities, but became a Republican when that party was organized. Ile was very active in the Free Soil movement of 1848, and a prominent member of the Buffalo conven- tion which nominated Van Buren for the I'residency. During that canvass he was one of the most effective of popular orators. In 1555 he was elected to Congress, and during his first term was a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs. He saw in those two years what seemed to him to be certain evidence of a conflict between the North and the South, and constantly advised the putting of the navy in the most efficient condition. Ife was re-elected, and during his second term was chair- man of this committee and rendered most important service to his country. He gave his best ener-
IIO
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
gies to his work, and became entirely familiar with the navy and its needs. He was made a candi- date for renomination, but was defeated after a protracted struggle by Thomas T. Davis. In 1863 President Lincoln charged Mr. Sedgwick with important trusts in relation to the navy, he being se- lected because of his familiarity with the navy and eminent fitness for discharging the service required. He held close relations with President Lincoln, and never spoke of him without making reference to his exalted character and eminent statesmanship. His esteem for the President was so great and his intimacy so close that he was fitly chosen to pronounce the funeral oration when obsequies appropriate to Mr. Lincoln's death took place in this city. That oration has ever remained in the memories of those who heard it. It was a masterly review of a noble life, and a most scathing criticism of those, both North and South, who had assailed the honor of our flag.
In professional, public, and social life Mr. Sedgwick was alike honored. He possessed a strength of character and clearness of opinion which made him both magnetic and powerful in every position. His intercourse. with people was always marked by the courtesy of a true and cultured gentleman. His hospitable home was the resort of representatives of art, of science, and of literature, and he numbered among his friends and companions the choicest spirits of political and literary activities of the country, and he himself held rightful rank with them.
Mr. Sedgwick married in 1337, soon after his admission to the Bar, Miss Ellen C. Smith, daughter of Rev. Ethan Smith, a Presbyterian clergyman of Pompey Hill. She died in 1846, leaving two children : Ellen, wife of Osgood V. Tracy, and Charles II., a prominent lawyer in active practice in Syracuse. In 1847 he married Deborah W. Gannett, daughter of Rev. Thomas B. Gannett, a Unitarian clergyman of South Natick, Mass., who still survives. Their children were Anna B., wife of J. L. Silsbee; Sally, wife of John I .. King, who died in 1882; Katharine, wife of Walter A. Burlingame; Dora, wife of Frederick R. Hazard; and Frank Lyndon, who was drowned at the age of twelve years.
A RTHUR JENKINS, manager and principal owner of the Evening Herald and the Sunday Her- aldi, was born of English parents in Buffalo on July 23, 1851. The family removed to Milwan- kee in 1855, and young Jenkins received his education in the common schools of that city. His first oc- cupation was as office boy in the commission house of Van Kirk & McCeoch. He was only fourteen years old when he thus started out upon his active career in life, but he had the fire of ambition in his breast, and even then gave promise of a bright and successful future. After some further expe- rience in a bank, and later in a drug store, he finally decided to become a printer, and, with that ob- ject in view, secured employment in one of the Milwaukee offices. In 1$71, having previously worked at his trade in a number of cities, he came to Syracuse. He was then in his twentieth year, ener- getic, ambitious, and self-reliant. For six years he continued the industrious pursuit of his calling in one or the other of the local offices, his last place of employment being with the Journal, where he obtained his first experience as a newspaper writer. It was in 1876 that the idea of branching out into business for himself first occurred to Mr. Jenkins. He saw here a field for a cheap, live, enterprising newspaper, and easily convinced himself that its success would be only a question of proper management and conduct. In January, 1877, his ideas took definite shape, and on the 15th of that month, having severed his connection with the Journal, he established the Evening Hera !.. The new paper was a six-column sheet, and it was first issued from the job printing office of Arthur White in Fayette street. Mr. Jenkins began the publication with but little capital, and it was only by hard struggling that the enterprise was kept on foot. Gradually, however, the little newspaper secured a hold upon the public, its prosperts began to brighten, and on June 3d, 1878, the Herald Company was organized with Mr. Jenkins as President. The first issue of the Sunday Herald was run from the press on May 20, 1850. Mr. Jenkins was one of the organizers of the United Press Association, and for a time acted as its manager. lle has been a member of the Board of Directors ever since the association was formed.
In June, 1874, Mir. Jenkins married Miss Emma Hogan, of Geddes. They have one child, a daughter, now in her twelfth year.
III
BIOGRAPHICAL.
LTOWARD GANSON WHITE, son of Hamilton White (whose biography will be found on page If), was born in Syracuse, N. Y., May 5, 1856. Hisearly education was confined to the local schools. When about fourteen years of age he attended St. John's School at Manlius, and later en- tered Cornell University under the presidency of his cousin, IIon. Andrew D. White. His health, however, was delicate, and it was found that long-continued study was likely to break it down alto- gether. After a year or two of college life he was obliged to relinquish it, and to turn his attention to other and more robust pursuits. The two years following he spent in travel abroad in company with Prof. Horatio S. White, now of Cornell University. Fully restored to vigor and health he was anxious to get back to the growing city which always engrossed his thoughts. Accordingly he re- turned to Syracuse, which place was to become the future field for the exercise of his varied talents. Burr Burton and T. K. Porter had already founded a growing business in making castings for the salt works, and their operations were expanded from time to time to embrace mill machinery of vari- ous kinds, steam pumps, cotton presses, and steam engines and boilers adapted to a great variety of manufacturing purposes. Messrs. Burton and Porter sold out. and Mr. White, with others, organ- ized in 1877 the Porter Manufacturing Company with his brother, Barrett R. White, President ; Robert Townsend, Vice-President ; George A. Porter, Treasurer; and D. H. Gowing, Secretary. In ISSo Howard G. White succeeded to the presidency, and it was owing to his efficient management that the company laid the foundation for the world-wide celebrity of its portable engines and boilers which it has achieved. During this period Mr. White conducted a stock farm (now the Palmer tract) of sixty-five acres near the city, upon which were found some of the finest strains of Norman Perch- eron horses in the country. Many of these were imported, and were celebrated for their size and strength for heavy work. He had also a fine stock of Holstein cattle, in which he took much inter- est and pleasure. In 1885 he sold this farm to the Onondaga County Agricultural Society, as its lease of Tallman Park was about to expire, and new and larger quarters had to be secured. At the same time he sold his stock to New York and Kochester parties.
In 1883 his attention was called to the Syracuse Standard as a newspaper property in which an investment might be made with fair promise of a satisfactory return. At this time Mr. White had begun to take an active part in the politics of the city and county. He thought a better newspaper than the Republican party then had would serve a good purpose. Ile therefore joined John HI. Durston and others in the ownership of the paper, and soon after he acquired the interests of all the other owners except Mr. Durston's. This partnership continued until April 7, 1887, when Mr. White became sole owner of the establishment. Under his control the Standard was improved in every department, and its circulation extended throughout Central, Northern, and Southern New York. He transferred his plant to a new building, splendidly equipped as a newspaper office, and thenceforth gave it his undi- vided attention.
In 1889 he was selected by the Republicans of Onondaga county to represent them in the Assem- bly for the First District, and before entering upon the duties of this office he resigned the presidency of the Porter Manufacturing Company. Gen. James W. Husted, Speaker of that body in the session of 1890, placed Mr. White on the Committee on Cities, in which relation to the legislation of that year he held an important position. In Isgo he was re-elected to the Assembly, and though the Speaker- ship was a Democratic prize he was again placed on the Committee on Cities. As it was to that com- mittee in 1890 that the Syracuse water bill was referred he was largely instrumental in its passage against the strenuous opposition of the canal counties. As this volume goes to press Mr. White is a candidate for the Senatorial nomination on theRepublican ticket in the Onondaga-Cortland district.
Mr. White is a gentleman of high culture, refined tastes, and progressive ideas, and takes a lively interest in everything affecting the welfare of Syracuse. He inherited the strong characteris- tics of his father, who in the early progress of the town helped materially to lay the foundations of its present prosperity and importance. Mr. White is a man of convictions in which, being once confirmed he is well-nigh immovable. His judgment is deliberative, and by experience has been shown to be uncommonly sure. Thus in his active participation in public affairs he has usually been found on the side which, in the end, has been demonstrated to be right. This faculty of mind eminently fits him for journalistic as well as political spheres. Mr. White married, September 25, 1879, Miss Emma Sawyer, datighter of United States Senaor Philetus Sawyer, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and their wedding tour consisted of a trip around the world and a visit to almost every country.
7
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
ILTON HARLOW NORTHRUP, since 1870 the chief editor and principal owner of the M Syracuse Courier, was born in the town of Smithfield, Madison county, N. Y., April 3, 1841. HIe is on both sides of the house of New England ancestry. His father, Rensselaer Northrup, was a native of Massachusetts, but was brought when an infant into the then wilderness of Central New York. Hismother, Clarissa Judd, was a " daughter of Pompey," her father having been Ansel Judd, one of the pioneers of that town who emigrated from Connecticut.
The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm, the fifth of nine children, of whom Judge A. Judd Northrup was the eldest. When eleven years of age he was sent to the Peterboro Academy, an institution built under the anspices of Gerrit Sinith. There he prepared for college, and entered the Freshman class of Hamilton College at Clinton, N. Y., at the age of fourteen, the youngest of his class. Graduating from that institution in 1860, with one of the highest honors of his class, Mr. Northrup started at once for the South to seek a situation as teacher. It was the heat of the first Lincoln campaign, and the South was in a state of great agitation. The outbreak of the great Rebellion found the youthful teacher principal of the Preparatory Department of Oglethorpe University, at Milledgeville, then the capital of Georgia. A fellow boarder was Sidney Lanier, then eighteen years of age, a tutor in the university from which he had graduated, destined in later years to achieve world-wide fame as a poet and litterateur. Between the young teachers, representing the hostile sections of the Union, there sprang up a warm friendship, interrupted by the war, but sub- sequently revived, and ending only with the " Southern poet's " untimely death. Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, which practically closed the schools of the South, Mr. Northrup, in the summer of 1361, came to Syracuse and succee led Prof. James Marshall in the conduct of a private classical school in the Washington Block. He conducted this school for two years, retiring in 1863. Mean- while he spent his spare moments in the study of law, and was admitted to practice at Binghamton in May, 1863. In the fall of that year he was chosen clerk of the Onondaga Hoard of Supervisors. At the close of the session he was made clerk to the Supervisors Bounty Committee, which had the handling of vast sums of money voted by the county as bounty to volunteers. In the summer of 1864 Mr. Northrup, who was then a private in the old Citizens' Corps, was appointed aid-de-camp. with the rank of captain. to Brigadier-General John .A. Green, jr. General Green was then, by special order of Governor Horatio Seymour, in charge of the defense of the Northern frontier of the State, his department extending from the Wayne county line to the line of Vermont. The threatened raid of rebels from Canada never occurred, and General Green and staff had no opportunity to cover themselves with gore and glory.
In the winter of 1565 the " striking" of a thousand-barrel well on Pithole Creek, Pennsylvania, aroused the oil excitement throughout the country to its highest pitch. Mr. Northrup, too, was seized with the "oil fever " and hastened to the front. Ile was one of the pioneers of Pithole City, and saw its growth to a population of 10,000 or more in almost a single night, to vanish, like Jonah's gourd. before daybreak. Between speculation in oil interests and an attempt to practice law during a fifteen months' residence in the "oil region " Mr. Northrup diverted himself by writing letters for various newspapers. As the oil region was then the central point of interest, his correspondence at- tracted wide attention, especially his letters to the New York World, which were the first descriptions of the wonders of Pithole City which had appeared in any metropolitan journal. In the Legislature of 1867 Mr. Northrup commenced his journalistic career as Albany correspondent of the New York Express, by appointment of Hon. Erastus Brooks. Hle represented the same paper in the Consti- tutional Convention of 1867. In the fall of that year he was transferred to Washington as correspond- ent at the National capital of the Express, and in that capacity he was a witness to, and described, the exciting scenes incident to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in the spring of 135s. In the summer of that year Mr. Northrup visited Europe, spending several months in travel, and re- turning in time to accept the Albany agency of the New York Associated Press for the legislative session of 1869, succeeding in that capacity llon. Daniel Manning of the Argus. At the close of the session he accepted the position of night agent of the New York State Associated Press in New York. Returning to Albany with the Legislature of 1570 he accepted the clerkship of the Committee of Ways and Means, besides furnishing legislative correspondence to various journals. Meanwhile Mr. Northrup, having determined to adopt journalism as a profession, became part proprietor of the
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