USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 55
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Syracuse Courier, and at the close of the legislative session came to Syracuse to assume editorial control of that paper.
Mr. Northrup's connection with the Courier, which began May 1, 1870, has continued till now. In 1879 he assumed, in addition to editorial control, the business management of the establishment, which he still hohls. The winters of 1875-76 and 1876-77 he spent at Washington as clerk to the House Committee on Banking and Currency, by invitation of his valued friend, the late "Sunset" Cox, who was chairman of the committee. It was during this Congress-the 44th-that the Tilden- Ilayes controversy arose. Both houses of Congress appointed special committees to devise, if pos- sible, a peaceable settlement of the dispute which was throwing the country into convulsions. The chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Ilenry B. Payne, of Ohio, ( since Senator,) asked Mr. Northrup to act as clerk to his committee, which he did. Hon. S. S. Cox. in his volume " Three Decades of Federal Legislation," thus refers to Mr. Northrup's part in that work :
" The clerk of the Banking and Currency Committee was Mr. Milton H. Northrup, of Syracuse, N. Y. He had been appointed by the writer. ITis trustworthiness led Mr. Payne to appoint him as clerk to the House Committee upon the electoral count. He was and still is the custodian of the archives of that remarkable star chamber. Whether he has since divulged them to anyone the authen- ticity of this relation should divulge to the logical mind. But from neither the chairman, Mr. Payne, nor his clerk. Mr. Northrup, could the writer, at that time, by any torture of inquisition, obtain the least hint of the proceedings. The secrets of that prison house were so well kept that not even the acutely-scenting press correspondents had been able to learn that such a bill [creating an Electoral Commission ] was being considered. The first intimation the writer or anyone outside the committee hud of its propositions was from the bill itsell, after it had received its consummation of bud and bloom, and been printed by order of the committees."
The committees which jointly reported the electoral commission scheme included such men as Senators Edmunds, Morton, Conkling, Bayard, and Thurman, and Representatives Payne, Hewitt, Iloar, and Springer. Mr. Northrup has still in his possession notes of the historical meetings of the joint committee to which Mr. Cox above alludes. Ile was the Democratic candidate for State Sena- tor against Dennis McCarthy in the fall of r$83, and although he had but a week's canvass he cut Mr. McCarthy's majority (which had before been nearly 6,000) down to 1,600 in the district, and to less than 1, ovo in the county-in the city " tying " his competitor outside of Mr. McCarthy's own ward. Mr. Northrup in the spring of ISS8 was appointed by President Cleveland as Postmaster of Syracuse, entering upon his duties April 1, 1888. ITis administration was signaled by the removal of the postoffice from its old quarters in the Hastahle Block into the new Federal Building. Change of party administration at Washington was followed a few months later by his retirement in favor of a Republican. Ile has held but one city office, that of Excise Commissioner, by appointment of Mayor Wallace, from 1373 to 1576.
Mr. Northrup married, October 25, 187t, Miss Elizabeth McCammon, of Albany, and is the father of tive children -two sons and three daughters.
LION. FRANK HISCOCK, Senator of the United States, was born at Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, September 6, 1834. Senator Hiscock's ancestors, in whose veins there was a blending of the English and Scotch blood, were engaged for many generations in agricultural pursuits. The name of his grandfather, Kichard Iliscock, appears upon the pension rolls of the Revolutionary war as one of those who served his country in the ranks of the patriot army through- out the entire struggle for independence. This ancestor, soon after the close of the war, moved from his native State of Massachusetts to' Pompey, then an almost unbroken wilderness. With the hardy pioneer spirit of those days he, however, quickly cleared for himself a home and permanently located there his family. Here in 1798 was born Richard Hiscock, lather of the Senator, a man of vigorous physical and mental qualities, who in early manhood married Cynthia Harris, a lady whose family has long been prominent in the State. Mr. Hiscock's early life was for the most part the ordinary one of a-prosperous farmer's son. He displayed an inclination to avoid the somewhat monotonous rontine of agricultural tasks for the more congenial pursuits of study and literature, and
0
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
was a close and persistent applicant in these latter fields. lle graduated at a youthful age from the Pompey lill Academy, an institution then in high repute for the attainments of its instructors, and long since rendered famous by the eminence of many of its graduates. Among the students of his own immediate time were several who have since risen to distinguished prominence in State and National affairs.
Upon graduation from the academy at Pompey young Hiscock, following his inclination toward professional life, entered as a student the law office of his older brother, L. Ilarris Hiscock, at Tully, Onondaga county, with whom, after his admission to the Bar in 1855, he formed a law partnership, which was in 1858 moved to and permanently located in Syracuse. Following the exam- ple of his brother he first joined the Democratic party, and with him in 1856 participated in the or- ganization of the Democratic "Free Soil" element at Syracuse in support of General Fremont, which greatly contributed to the Republican majority of nearly 7,000 in the county of Onondaga in the ensuing Presidential election. From this time forth Mr. Iliscock acted with the Republican party, thus becoming identified with its formation and practically beginning his political life in its ranks. In 1860 he was elected District Attorney of Onondaga county, and served in that office until the close of 1863. In 1867 he was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and was active in committee work and prominent in the debates of that body. In common with many other prominent Republicans Mr. Hiscork supportel the nomination of Ilorace Greeley for the Presidency in 1872, and in the same year was himself nominated for Congress by the Liberal Republicans and Democrats of the XXIIId Congressional District, comprising the counties of Cortland and Onondaga. This district, more recently known as the XXVth, was a stronghold of the Republicans, but in this election so many of that party joined the Liberal movement, which was endorsed by the Democrats, that the local vote was pretty evenly balanced. In supporting the Lib- eral party in 1872 Mr. Hiscock doubtless was largely influenced by his personal friendship and re- spect for Mr. Greeley, and sympathy with his views ; and without intention of becoming a member of the Democratic party he co-operated in his support. At the close of that canvass he resumed his place in the Republican party. In 1876 he was elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and, without solicitation on his part, unanimously chosen as the Republican candidate to represent his Congressional District in the National House of Representatives, being elected by a majority of 4.590. Ilis early services in the House were as a member of the Committee on Elec- tions and of the "Proctor Investigating Committee." In both these relations he gained large credit for the ability displayed in conducting investigations and presenting results. His speeches in the House were direct and forcible, securing an attentive hearing from members of both parties and ex- ercising a large influence upon National legislation. Mr. Hiscock was elected to the XI.Vth, XLVIth, XLVIIth, XLVIIIth, XLINth, and Lth Congresses, in each election receiving the cordial support of his party. In the XLVIth Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Appro- priations, and in the XLVIIIth and XLIXth Congresses he was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. Twice he was very favorably considered for the Speakership of the Ilouse of Representatives. As Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations Mr. Hiscock was practically the leader of the Ilouse of Representatives, and his National reputation was firmly established for a complete knowledge of the requirements of the various departments, a wisdom in the expenditure of the public money and revenue legislation. By his arduous and useful public service Mr. ITiscock became firmly entrenched in the respect and esteem, not only of his immediate constituents, but also of the people of his State and the Nation, and by his breadth of views, wise conservatism, and prac- tical action the high opinion early formed of him was constantly strengthened. lle was recognized as a Republican leader attentive to his duties, careful of the public interests, conservative in public crises, and always safe, honorable, and reliable, Before entering Congress Mr. Iliscock had risen to high eminence at the Bar of the State of New York. In January, 1887, while still a member of the House of Representatives, and chosen for his sixth term, Mr. Hiscock was brought forward in the Republican canvass in the State Legislature at Albany for the office of United States Senator. Having received the caucus nomination he was duly elected, and March 4, 1837, took his seat in the Senate for the regular term of six years. Mr. Iliscock is a member of the Senate Committees on Finance, Inter-State Commerce, Coast Defences, Patents, and of the Special Committee on the Re-
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
ports of the Pacific Railroad Commissioners, and the President's Message thereon. Ile was associ- ated with Senators Allison, AAldrich, and Jones of Nevada in preparing the Senate substitute for the revenue or tariff blil from the House of Representatives in the first session of the Lth Congress, which had become a Democratic party measure. On October S, ISS3, the Senate substitute was re- ported to that body, considered, and became a Republican party measure. Upon these two bills was joined the main issue between the two political parties in the canvass resulting in General Harri- son's election to the Presidency. In a speech in the Senate, October 9, 1888, Mr. Hiscock defined the position of the two parties on the question of protection, and his views commanded very general attention and, especially in the State of New York, exerted a powerful influence upon the election. Mr. Hiscock had favored the maturing and adoption of the Senate Tariff Bill previous to the elec- tion, as essential to the formulation of the Republican party's attitude. This policy was acquiesced in, and thus was presented an affirmative measure antagonistic to the bill passed by the Democratic majority in the House, and the result fully justified him and his political associates upon the Senate Finance Committee in their acting. Mr. Iliscock's name was widely considered in connection with the l'residential nomination of 1888, but withont favor or encouragement from him. Ile was chosen a Delegate-at-Large from the State of New York to the Republican National Convention, and there gave his influence in behalf of the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew as the choice of his State. Through- out the deliberations of the Convention his voice was potential in the harmonious action of the dele- gation from New York, which exercised so large an influence in determining the results of the Con- vention. Preceding the convening of the Republican National Convention the North American Reviews published a series of able articles discussing "Possible P'residents," in which the name of Mr. Hiscock had a prominent place. Following is that portion of the Review's article upon Mr. Hiscock which relates especially to his pubhe career, the influence he has had upon the course of National legislation, and his standing as statesman and legislator before the country :
"Born and reared in New York, admitted to the Bar in 1855, District Attorney, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867, Representative for ten years, and Senator in Congress-this is the brief record of extended service from which Frank lliscock's status and stature are to be de- termined. To sensible persons the matter of physical perfection is unimportant, if only one be raised above the abyssmal depth of personal ugliness which a Yale professor once described as incom- patible. lle did not say with what it was incompatible, choosing rather to leave a wide field to the imagination. But without so much as a reference to bis exterior advantages, there is no impropriety in the statement that Senator Hiscock possesses an outward distinction corresponding more nearly than fate often permits to the qualities within. The repose which denotes a greater force than it ex- hibits is one of his attributes, and shallow erities have sometimes imagined what no one who has ever measured wits with him has had the fortune to discover that his repose partakes of the nature of lethargy. No such suspicion exists among the lawyers who have encountered the knowledge, the logic, and the resource which for thirty years have been his recognized weapons in legal controversy; nor among the statesmen who have too often had the misery of regretting upon the floor of Congress that their equipment was not equal to his own; nor among the leaders of his party in this State who have more than once been forced to a knowledge that his skill was not inferior to his magnanimity. Mr. Iliscock entered the field of National polities in the XLVth Congress, and at once attracted the attention of the country by his discussion of certain contested election cases which were precipitated upon the House. The prominence thus early achieved made him, with the general approval of his Republican colleagues, one of the minority of the Investigating Committee, whose purpose it was sup- ยท posed at the time to be to dispute the title of President Hayes, and whose labors were unexpectedly diversified by the translation of the historical cipher dispatches. In that investigation he took a prominent if not pre eminent part from first to last. In the XI.VIth Congress he was a member of the committee which then originated all the general appropriations of the government except those for rivers and harbors. After the election of Garfield the Speakership was conceded to Mr. Ilis- eock on both sides of the House; but Garfield's death and the consequent accession of a President from New York, to which State both the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster-General were also apportioned in the geographical distribution of great offices, defeated him, and he was assigned to the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropriations. In the XI.VIIIth Congress lie was appointed to the Committee on Ways and Means, where he continued until the close of his serv- ice in the House. This summary of legislative assignments is a useful indication of the scope of his activities as a Representative. In the fundamental but unobserved labors of the committee- room Mr. Hiscock is easily among the first of useful public servants. Speakers upon the floor of Congress may be divided into three classes: those who do not feel that they are filling the eyes of the country, and consequently might as well be silent, when they are not engaged in delivering elab- orate political essays; those whose natural proclivities or the suggestion of vanity dispose them to a
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
pyrotechnical display of their readiness in badinage and repartee; and those whom inclination, obedient to the sense of duty, impels to the more practical work of securing the passage of good measures and the defeat of bad ones by the methodical and cogent presentation of facts conscien- tiously collected. It is to the last class that Mr. Hiscock belongs. It is his custom to apply his talents in debate to measures pending at the time of his speaking and about to be voted on. The record will show with what diligence and success he has pursued this useful policy. As an example, however, of his resources when he has found a suitable opportunity for the comprehensive treatment of a general principle, I may be allowed to cite his speech of April 29, 1884, upon the relation of a protective tariff to agriculture, which attracted the immediate attention of the country, confirmed the highest estimate of his powers, and has become a part of the common fund of economic fact and argument. I wish, moreover, before closing this summary of Mr. Hiscock's legislative services, which is meant to be suggestive merely, to recall attention to his speech in the XLIXth Congress in opposition to the free coinage of silver, in which, if not absolutely the first to expound the principle that low prices are not the result of a contraction of the currency, but are due rather to the decrease in the labor cost of productions and the increased produet per man power, he so arranged the facts and forced home their signit cance as to carry conviction where others had scarcely obtained a hear- ing; and to his plea in the same year for the extension of our commerce, with special reference to the great South American market, in which he incidentally laid low the 'subsidy' spectre that dema- gogues have long employed to frighten timid souls; and to his strenuous defense of American dairies; to his dissection of the Morrison resolution on Treasury balances; and during this, his first session in the Senate, to his speeches on the undervaluation of imports and the insidious pretences of the pleuro-pneumonia bill, and to his earnest appeal in behalf of international copyright. Mr. Hiscock is a statesman and politician of the sort that flourished in the earlier days of the Kepublic, when sobriety of judgment, a quiet fidelity to present duties, adaptation to the higher planes of con- troversy, talent for command when the time came, and a disinclination to anticipate the obligation, were among the qualitics required of public men."
EZRA PIERCE DOWNER, who has been a resident of this city for more than half a century, was born in the town of North East, Erie county, Pa., January 7, 1816. At the age of fourteen years he left home and made his way to this State, where he found employment with his uncle, the late L. C. Russell, of Port Gibson. Soon after Mr. Downer came to Syracuse and entered the service of the late Col. John Holland Johnson, who was then one of the owners of the New York and Oswego line of canal boats. In 1336 he was given charge of a boat, and for several years he continued in this business, spending the winter seasons with Colonel Johnson on his farm of 400 acres, situated in what is now the Fifth ward of the city. In 1842 he was made agent for Charles M. Reed's line of steamboats on the great lakes, serving also as boat inspector for four years. In :353 he became the general ticket agent for the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroads, now known as the Michigan Southern and Lake Shore road. His circuit covered the New England States, New York, and Montreal. Winters he went South in the interests of the company.
In 1839 Mr. Downer was married to Miss Katy Killmore, daughter of Luke Killmore, one of the pioneer settlers of the city. For several years they resided in West Onondaga street, then known as the Cinder Road. He afterwards bought a house in South Salina street, opposite the old Larned place, now occupied by the Florence Flats, and removed there. In 1855 he bought the property on the corner of West Fayette and Clinton streets, which he has since owned, and in 1864 he took up his residence there.
In politics Mr. Downer formerly belonged to the old Whig party. At the time of its dissolution he identified himself with the Democratic party, and has since been an active and zealous advocate of its principles, taking a prominent part for many years in local politics. With the exception of two terms as Canal Collector, in 1875 and '76, he has never held office.
INDEX.
A BBOTT, Wm. E., biography of, Part II., 60. portrait of, Gos. Academy of Christian Science, 514. Ackerman, Herman, 245.
Adamant Manufacturing Company, 663.
Adams, Rev. Dr. John W., 484.
Adath Israel, 527.
Adath Jeshurun, 526,
Adath Yeshurun, 528.
Adventist, the, 555.
Aix-In-Chapelle, treaty of, 30.
Aldrich, Bruce S., biography of, Part II., 63. portrait of, 216. Alexander Iron Works, 622.
Alexander, William II., 197.
Allis, Augustus G S., 441.
Allis, James A., 441.
Allotment of the lands, 35. Alphadelphia Lodge, No. 14, 585. Altmann, Anton V., 639.
Alvord, A. E., 679. Alvord, Dioclesian, 77.
Alvord, Earl B., 165, 235. biography of, Part II., 35. portrait of. 408.
Alvord, Elisha, 77.
American Bleach and Chemical Company, 665. American Citoyen, the, 557. American Express Co., 615. American Medical and Surgical Journal, the, 556. American Organ, the. 556.
American Wesleyan, the, 553.
Amos. Jacob, 674. Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, 582. Andrews, Charles W., 411. Anderson, William C., 411. Andrews, Hon. Charles, biography of, Part HI., I. portrait of, 152. Andrews, Witham S .. 441. Annexation of Geddes and Danforth, 237. Annual taxation, recapitulation of, 157. Appropriation for a postotlice building secured, 238. Arbeiter Liedertafel, 345. Archimedian, the. 556. Assessed valuation in 1854, 177. of the eity in 1830, 616. Association of Oakwood. 574. Atherton, Edward D., 659.
Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, 408. Auer & Co., 628. Avery, B. Austin, biography of, Part II., 34. portrait of, GS0.
Avery, Benjamin, 91. Ayling, Charles F., 441.
B ABCOCK, Dea. Stanton P., 85. Bacon, Hiram H., 441. Bagg, James L., biography of, Part II., 14.
Bailey, Bingham N., 441. Baker, Charles A., biography of, l'art II., 40. portrait of, Part II., 40.
Baker & Bowman, 636.
Bakers and confectioners, 673.
Baldwin, Charles G., 441.
Baldwin, Harvey, 107.
Baldwin, Henry, 441.
Baldwinsville Centrifugal Pump Works, 672.
Ball, Thaddeus, 80. Bank of Salina, 306. Bank of Syracuse, 366, 373.
Barbecue by John Greenway, 207.
Barker. Oliver, 90.
"Barnburners" and " Ilunkers," 268. Barnes, George, biography of, l'art Il., I. portrait of, 160.
Barnes, Lnvien, biography of, Part II., 32. Barton, Joseph, 257. Basket industry, the, 659.
Bates, Roger, 84. Banm, Dr. A. C., 254.
Baumer, Francis, 654. Baumgras, William, 213. Beach, Jonathan R., 81. Beach, William A., biography of, Part II., 63. portrait of, 712.
Becker Manufacturing Company, 667. Becker & Myer, 363.
Belden, llon. J. J., biography of. Part II., 83. honnnated and elected Mayor, 224-225. re-elected, 226. Bench and Bar_ 412. Bennett Brothers' store burned, 212. Bentz, Henry Philip, 337-338. Bingloan, Ryal, 80. Biography of, Part II. : Abbott, William E., 60. Aldrich, Bruce S., 69.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE.
Biography of, Part II. : Alvord, Earl B., 35. Andrews, Ilon. Charles, 1. - Avery, B. Austin, 31. Bagg, James L., 11. Baker, Charles A .. 40. Barnes, George, 1. Barnes, Lucien, 32.
Beach, William _1., 63.
Belden, Hon. James J., 83.
Brooks, James B., 36.
Bruce, Dwight II., 93.
Burdiek, Hamilton, 104. Burns, Hon. Peter. St.
Clark, Charles P., 9.
Clark, Hon. Elizar, 15.
Cobb, Nathan, 28.
Cogswell, William B., 12.
Comstock, Hon. George F., 79.
Cowie, Hon. William, 6S.
Cowles, George De Witt, 67.
Crouse, George N., 41.
Dana, George E., 51.
Denison, Dr. Henry D., 98.
Des, Robert, 65.
Didama, Dr. Henry D., 10.
Donohue, Dr. Florince O., 71.
Downer, Ezra P., 116. Duguid, Ilenry L., 44.
Duncan, William A., Ph. D., 89.
Dunn, John, jr., 66.
Fitch, Thomas B., 76.
Gere, Robert, 76. Gleason, Lucius, 7. Goodelle, William P., 16.
Graves, Ilon. Nathan F., 3.
Hancock, Theodore E., 62.
Hawley, Dr. William A., 46.
Hayden, Sely C., 52.
Hazard, Frederick W., 58. Iliggins, Alfred, 56.
Iliscock, Hon. Frank, 113.
Howlett, Alfred A .. 84. Jenkins, Arthur, 110. Judson, Ilon. Edward B., S1.
Kinne, Arthur B., M. D., 62.
Kirkpatrick, Willuun, 25.
Leavenworth, Gen. E. W., 18.
Jagliton, Hon. John, 49.
Longstreet, Cornelius T., 30.
Loomis, Henry H., 87. Lynch, Patrick, Gl. Mason, Amos L., 54.
McChesney. George IL .. ICO.
McLennan, Peter B., 51.
Mowry. Ilenry J., 72. Northrup, Milton II., 112.
Pierce, Sylvester P., 58.
Powers, Dr. Nelson C., 68.
Redfield, Lewis H., 23. Redfield, Mrs. L. HI .. 94. Ruger, Williamt C., 24.
Biography of. Part II. : Inssell, Archimedes, 48. Sawyer, George C., 92. Sedgwick, Hon. Charles B., 109. Sheldon, Dr. James W .. 61. Smith, Hon. Carroll E., 107. Smith, William Brown, 5. Smith, William IT. H., 97. Sniper, Gen. Gustavus, 53.
Snow, Charles W., 57. Stearns, Edward C., 74.
Teall, Oliver, 78. Vann, Judge Irving G., 29.
White, Hamilton, II. White, Horace, 13. White, Hon. Howard G., 111. Wieting, Dr. John M., 20.
.Wilkinson, John, 75. Wood, Thaddeus MI., 37. Wood, Ilon. Daniel P., 101. Wynkoop, Jonathan G., 55. Wynkoop, Robert G., 45. Bliss Box Company, the, 643.
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