USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 16
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As an evidence of the rapidity with which the canal was brought into use and of the very great change which it made in the mode of trans- portation from those before employed it may be stated that the num- ber of canal boats which arrived at Albany during the season of 1823 was 1,329, during that of 1824 2,687, during that of 1825 3,336, and up to September 6th of the year 1826 4,380, which number it was presumed would, by the close of navigation, be increased to 7,000. The
J71
SPENCER KELLOGG.
rate for transportation on the turnpike in 1826 was one and one half cents per mile ; the rate by the Erie Canal was five mills. The impetus it gave to the city of New York is shown in part by the fact that its proximate completion caused the erection there in 1824 of 3,000 new houses.
Lawyers who entered on practice in 1825 and who held a prominent position in the affairs of Utica were William J. Bacon and Charles A. Mann. A notice of Judge Bacon will be found in the chapter on the Bench and Bar and of Mr. Mann in the biographical portion of this volume.
Spencer Kellogg, a leading merchant, was born at Williamstown, Mass., the son of a Revolutionary sire ; he became early in life a resident of Otsego County, N. Y., embarked in business, and was prominent in civil, military, and religious circles. In 1824 he removed to Utica and conducted a large dry goods trade with remarkable energy and success. His first partner was S. H. Reynolds; later he was associated with his son, Palmer V. Kellogg, and afterward with others. He took an active part in public affairs and filled various public offices, among others that of mayor. He was largely instrumental in inaugurating steam manufact- ures, and thus contributing to secure the city from the decline to which it was tending and turning it to the thrift it has since been pursuing. With a few associates he afterward started the Black River Railroad and was one of the directors. An invaluable member, elder, and trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, taking part also in its Sunday school and Bible class as long as his age and health permitted, he signally illustrated Christian public spirit, seeking earnestly the correction of pre- vailing evils and the redress of wrongs. His humanity committed him particularly to the abolition of slavery, and while deploring the intem- perance with which it was advocated he gave it his best powers. Mr. Kellogg's strength of mind, boldness, indomitability, and power of exe- cution presented him to strangers chiefly as the embodiment of force. His friends recognized him as personifying delicacy of sensibility. He was a child in his affections, more tender of heart than irresistible of hand. During the epidemic of cholera in 1832 he devoted his time, energy, and sympathies to the suffering and dying and to the comfort of their afflicted families. In one instance he took bereaved daughters
I72
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
and sisters to his own house; in another, where one of two maiden sisters in humble life was taken away by the fell disease and the grief of the survivor was intensified at the thought of her hasty and unat- tended burial, Mr. Kellogg procured suitable conveyance for the coffin and sent his own carriage that she might accompany the remains to their final resting place, his own aged father volunteering and serving as the driver.
Andrew S. Pond at this time became associated with Ephraim Hart in the casting of iron. Subsequently he carried on the same business with Robert Higham at the Vulcan works in West Utica, and was also a maker of steam engines.
J. B. (Jean Baptiste) Marchisi had a youthful experience that was unique and a subsequent one that for its duration as a resident of Utica was as much so. Born in Piedmont, Italy, August 6, 1789, he was conscripted at the age of eighteen and served in some of the cam- paigns of Napoleon, not as a bearer of arms, but in the departments of adjutant and quartermaster. Taken prisoner by the English he was sent to Gibraltar and thence to Canada, where he was three years in their service. He married and in 1815 came to Utica. For ten years an assistant of Dr. Amos G. Hull he began in 1825 the selling of drugs. This pursuit he followed in various locations almost to the time of his death, February 1, 1888, at the age of ninety-five. Quiet, trustworthy, and a faithful keeper of his business it kept him and a large family and won for him the public regard. His Catholicon, patented many years since, has still a large sale.
Dr. Meacham had as a partner Dr. Jonathan Day, who a little later held an honorable position among the profession of Syracuse and died there when the cholera visited that place in 1832.
Stephen Mather, tinsmith, was for many years an elder in the First Presbyterian Church and the head of a large family, of which one son, William L., became a minister.
Others whose names are now first met with, though they may per- chance have gained an earlier foothold in the place, were Dr. Edward Aiken, student and for a short time partner of Dr. Theodore Pomeroy; A. & S. Lightbody, leather dealers; Hastings & Company, wholesale grocers, the company being at this time Theodore S. Gold, but ex-
173
THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER.
changed in the following year for Milton D. Parker, son of Jason Parker ; Matthew Codd, proprietor of the Utica brewery ; S. A. Sibley, tinsmith and stove dealer; James Ingols, dealer in fancy articles ; N. F. & J. Vedder and Peter McDougal, leather dealers.
Nicholas F. Vedder, born in Schenectady in January, 1804, for some years carried on the shoe trade with two of his brothers. He was energetic and ambitious and attained a prominent position in business circles ; was a stockholder in the telegraph company and the Oneida Bank, a director in the Gas and the Water Works Companies and in the Utica and Black River Railroad. He died May I, 1873, leaving one daughter.
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CHAPTER V.
THE THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER CONTINUED.
Village Proceedings and incoming Residents to the Year 1832 - A Period of large Expectations - Application for a City Charter.
T HE history of the village during the few years succeeding the opening of the canal shows that a spirit of enterprise and hopeful- ness was abroad in the community, and from this time forward for sev- eral years and until the financial panic of 1837 progress was rapid and encouraging. The following are the officers of the village for the year 1826: President, Ezra S. Cozier; trustees, John E. Hinman, Riley Rogers, Abraham Culver, Amos Gay, Nicholas Smith, John R. Lud- low; assessors, Benjamin Ballou, John Bradish, David P. Hoyt; treas- urer, Thomas Walker; constables, Robert Jones, Nathan Christian ; police constable, Henry W. Osburn; surveyor, William Jones (first term of this office) ; superintendent, Nicholas Smith; clerk, John H. Ostrom.
For the first time the clerk was voted a salary to the amount of $50. The proceedings of the year consisted of the paving of Liberty street from Hotel to Broadway ; of Hotel, Seneca, and Washington from Lib-
174
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
erty to the canal ; of Elizabeth from Genesee to Charlotte ; of Char- lotte from Elizabeth to Bleecker; of First between Broad and Main ; the putting in shape with graveled sidewalks of Carnahan, Union, and Blandina streets and the extension of Broadway to Genesee street; the appointment of a hook and ladder company and eighteen fire wardens; and in the latter part of the year the leveling and improvement of Chancellor Square. The sum of $125 was appropriated to clean the streets. A change was made in the ordinances providing that no build - ing should be erected till " the range of said building with the street shall have been laid down by the surveyor." For this work the builder was to pay $1.
The labor of keeping the village orderly occupied considerable atten- tion, and the place was probably more difficult to govern according to its size than the city is now. The number of watchmen employed would seem to indicate this; from six to eighteen constituted the force for a number of years. Early in the year it was resolved by the board that the watch should be continued, " provided they would receive orders on the treasurer payable when there are funds." It is little wonder they objected. The force was discharged at the next meeting of the board in March.
On the 20th of February a resolution was adopted that the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors be respectfully invited to hold its next term in Utica. A special meeting of the United States District Court was held here in the court-house in the same month. The Utica Aqueduct Company was chartered this year to supply the village with wholesome water for household purposes. Seven years later we learn from a directory that no exertion had been made to carry the improvement into effect. There was also chartered the Utica Horticultural Society, of which Nathan Williams was the first president and Thomas Colling secretary. It accomplished something more than the preceding, though its existence was brief. The company purchased and filled with plants four and one-half acres of ground on the east side of Garden street (doubtless so called therefrom) not far from Bristol street. It was cared for by Richard Despard, but was ad- vertised to be sold at auction in January, 1829.
The Utica Lyceum, formed in 1823, was at this time incorporated.
175
DR. PECKHAM- TRUSTEES OF 1827.
Its chief object was declared to be "to encourage the study of natural history and other useful sciences by means of public discussions, lect- ures, and essays." It was in fact a debating society sustained by the intelligent men of the town, and was a profitable and entertaining place of weekly resort for the more cultivated of both sexes, lasting until its place was taken by the Young Men's Association.
Among the new comers of 1826 were the subsequently eminent legist, Hiram Denio, and the busy practitioner of medicine, Dr. Peleg B. Peckham. The former will come under notice hereafter in the chap ter on the Bench and Bar. Before coming to Utica Dr. Peckham had already made a beginning of practice in Otsego County. Here he was for many years a leading physician. He did little surgery, but was ex- clusively a family physician, enjoying the full confidence of many of the best families of the place as their much trusted adviser and friend. He was constant in attendance, cheerful and kind in manner, intelligently observant of the sick, minute and positive in directions, and insistent on the observance of them. Relying strongly on his own judgment he was little given to seek the aid of others, though ready to have it in severe cases or when urged by his patrons. He had less esprit de corps than some others of his contemporaries, had no desire for medical or other public office, and cherished few interests alien to his legitimate duties. He was prompt as a collector, shrewd in business transactions, and successful in acquiring property. In his church he was warmly in- ยท terested and was one of the foremost in the organization of Grace Church. He removed from the city about 1853.
The following officers were elected for 1827 : Trustees, John H. Os- trom, Augustine G. Dauby, Abraham Culver, Thomas Colling, Amos Gay, Chester Griswold, Augustus Hurlburt, Nicholas Devereux ; asses - sors, Benjamin Ballou, Apollos Cooper, Joshua M. Church, Comfort Butler ; constables, Nathan Christian, A. C. Ellenwood, Birdseye Clark ; clerk and surveyor, William Jones; treasurer, Thomas Walker ; police constable, Henry W. Osburn. The president, receiving his appoint- ment from the governor of the State, was E. Z. Cozier.
A village attorney was for the first time created, the incumbent of the office being Robert Van Rensselaer, a temporary resident. The union of the offices of clerk and surveyor, now first occurring, was con-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
tinued for several years, and in April action was taken which resulted in dividing the village into four wards, regulating the elections, and empowering the trustees to raise $3,000, and $1,000 in each of the suc- ceeding five years for a market. This question of establishing a market occupied a good deal of public attention for some time. The action above noticed followed upon the circulation of a petition which T. S. Mitchell was authorized to circulate in the village relative to raising money for the market; the petition was signed by about two-thirds of the freeholders. A committee consisting of E. Z. Cozier, A. Culver, A. Hurlburt, Chester Griswold, and J. H. Ostrom were appointed to ascertain where and on what terms a suitable piece of ground could be obtained. A lot was selected and bought of John R. Bleecker on the corner of Bleecker and Back streets at a cost of $1,000. On the 26th of September the committee was directed to proceed with the erection of a building, and on the 25th of January of the next year it was re- solved that the market committee be instructed to receive proposals for building a market according to the plans, and also for a building two stories high and one of one story. On February 16th a special meet- ing was held and it was resolved to adopt the plans of Mr. Colling for the market, and on the 20th of that month the committee was author- ized to build at a cost of $40,000.
Steuben Square was ordered named, laid out, leveled, and otherwise improved with fences, trees, and walks. Rutger street was opened to First street and South street extended from West to Steuben. Other streets improved were Lafayette, Washington, Genesee, Seneca, First, John, and Jay, parts of which were paved and sidewalks laid.
An ordinance was passed defining the fire limits, which were as fol- lows: Beginning at the east line of First street at the corner of Water street and running thence southerly along the easterly line of First street to the southerly line of Elizabeth street; thence westerly along the southerly line of Elizabeth street to Genesee street; thence south- erly along the easterly line of Genesee street to a point opposite the westerly line of Washington street, where the same intersects Gene- see street ; thence northerly from said point of intersection along the westerly line of Washington street to the northerly line of Whitesboro street ; thence easterly along the northerly line of Whitesboro street to
177
EVENTS OF 1827.
Division street; thence northerly along the westerly line of Division street to Water street ; thence easterly along the southerly line of Water street to the easterly line of First street ; and including both sides of First, Elizabeth, Genesee, Washington, Whitesboro, and Division streets and the southerly side of Water street. In August the ordinances were changed, making more stringent regulations for caring for the streets, to suppress gambling, preventing cattle from running at large, prevent. ing bathing in the canal, and other matters. A public meeting was held February 28th at which a committee of five was appointed to co oper- ate with the authorities in raising $2,000 for the purchase of a fire engine and hose, and for no other purpose. Two large fires which destroyed Shumway's coach factory and Harden's brewery, and which occurred within a few days previously, were mentioned as the cause for this action by the people. The want of hose was much felt. Another public meeting was called to express sympathy with the Greeks then suffering from their Turkish oppressors and to render them financial aid, for which purpose a committee was appointed to solicit funds.
Nicholas Devereux, who had become the owner of the Jeremiah Van Rensselaer property, intersected it with streets and laid it out in lots. Lots sold on some of the streets, seventy-five by twenty feet in dimen - sions, for $1,200 to $1, 500 each. Another lot on Genesee street just above the canal, having a frontage of eighteen feet, was disposed of at this time for $166 per foot. This was spoken of as evidence of great advance in the value of real estate. Considerable stir was made in the early part of the year toward removing the State capital from Albany to Utica. A pub - lic meeting was held in January at which resolutions favoring the scheme were adopted, and it was assumed that the inhabitants would subscribe liberally toward a new building. A committee of fifteen leading citi- zens were deputed to endeavor to secure the object.
Among the minor occurrences of the time was the observance of Inde - pendence day by the Sunday schools of the village, a procession of 700 or 800 scholars marching to the First Presbyterian Church, and after listening to an address by Rev. Mr. Aiken proceeding to the warehouse of James Platt, on Bleecker slip, where they partook of a collation pre- pared for them. The Methodist chapel on Bleecker street was this year dedicated. A theatrical company is announced as having returned to
23.
178
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
give entertainments, as a circus had already been doing for a year or more in the rear of the Canal Coffee House. The artist, Samuel F. B. Morse, was in town and advertises that he would devote a week or two professionally. Fifty cadets from the military school of Captain Part- ridge, of Middletown, Conn., marched in from the East in September, among whom was Horatio Seymour, as much admired then as he was throughout his later career. In sympathy not only with the growing pride of its people, but as a proof also, drawn from without, that the town was in fact experiencing a decided impetus from the increasing traffic through the canal, I introduce the following notice of Utica copied into one of the papers from the Hartford Times :
" The business of the place at the present time surpasses all expectation. In walk- ing through Genesee street a person might well think himself in one of our largest cities. The rich variety of goods displayed and the numerous country merchants who come here to supply their own stores would tell you that Utica is a place of business and wealth. In passing around this village we find the appearance of permanent pros- perity rarely to be witnessed in a new country. The public buildings have an impos- ing aspect. A Roman Catholic, an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Methodist, and two Presbyterian Churches are beautifully located and built according to the most approved style of architecture. There are also many private dwellings which exhibit fine taste in their design and execution." 1
A lawyer who began his professional career at this time was John G. Floyd. He was the son of Col. Nicoll Floyd, of Mastic, L. I., and grand- son of Gen. William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was born at Mastic, February 5, 1806, was graduated at Hamilton College in 1824, and pursued his legal studies with Joseph Kirkland, of Utica. He was clerk and attorney of the village from 1829 to 1833. He represented this district in Congress in 1839-41 and 1841-43. His profession he practiced at first in company with Rutger B. Miller, next with William Tracy, then alone until 1840, when he became associ- ated with Charles H. Doolittle and continued thus associated during the remainder of his stay in Utica. About 1842 he returned to Mastic and to the family estate. There he was as prominent in public affairs as he had been here. He was State senator from Suffolk County in 1848-49 and subsequently was elected to Congress from the First
1 It is worthy of notice that at the time under consideration there was a strong rivalry between the villages of Utica and Rochester, while not a word appears as to the prospects of Syracuse; at the present time the latter city has far outstripped Utica and has become in some sense a rival of Rochester.
J79
DAVID WAGER- RUTGER B. MILLER.
Congressional District, serving from December, 1851, to March, 1853. He was a Democrat until the formation of the Republican party, when he joined that party and acted with it during the rest of his life. His death occurred October 6, 1881. His wife was a daughter of Gen. Joseph Kirkland. He left a family of three sons and two daughters.
Those who remember David Wager in his prime recall a stalwart figure, impelled by a vigorous brain, quick and decided in action, and exerting a marked power over men. Much withdrawn for many years by reason of impaired sight from free participation in public affairs he had stood at one time in the front rank in Central New York for ability and influence. He was a son of Henry Wager, of Western, and was born there March 17, 1804. He was educated at Fairfield Academy when that institution was hardly less than a college in the facilities it afforded. He read law in the office of the newly associated partners, Samuel Beardsley and Greene C. Bronson, and at their feet he learned the political gospel of which he became an enthusiastic disciple. He entered on practice with Charles A. Mann, who had been his schoolfellow at Fairfield. Subsequently he had J. Watson Williams as a partner. He stood well as a lawyer, although his practice was confined to a com- paratively few years. It was as a public man that he was chiefly con - spicuous, for he was a striving and prevailing power among the Utica members of the Albany Regency at a time when that regency was uppermost in the political control of the State. In the Assembly of 1833-35 and in the Senate of 1836-40 Mr. Wager occupied a leading
position. He was a director in the Utica and Syracuse Railroad and for a time its treasurer, and after the consolidation a director in the Central. He was a man of strong convictions, usually taking the extreme posi- tions of his party and maintaining them with rugged persistence. His counsels were highly regarded by representative Democrats here and elsewhere. He had been for some years in poor health and lived toward the close of his life in the Colonel Walker mansion on the eastern border of the city. His wife was a daughter of Judge Nathan Williams, who, with an only daughter, Mrs. A. T. Goodwin, still survives.
Rutger B. Miller at about this time began his career as a prominent and active citizen. He was the eldest son of Judge Morris S. Miller, was born in Lowville, July 28, 1805, and was brought here while yet
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
an infant. His education was obtained in part at Montreal and in part at Yale College at New Haven. He was trained for the bar at the law school at Litchfield and in the office of Hiram Denio. His first associ- ate in practice was John G. Floyd and a little later it was Chester Hay- den. In 1832 he served a term as member of the State Assembly and in 1833-34 was clerk of the United States District Court. In the latter year he was elected to Congress in place of Samuel Beardsley, resigned. The pursuit of the law did not accord with his tastes nor with the cares required of him in the management of the estate of his father and other relations. About 1830 he erected, on the site of the ground where his father ere his death had been preparing to build, the first and central building of the Rutger Place, now occupied by Mrs. Roscoe Conkling ; also the block of brick buildings on the east side of Genesee street next south of Blandina street. The block which forms the northern angle of Whitesboro and Genesee streets was also put up by him. He was active in the construction of the canal basin known by his name and built a large block of three-story brick houses on Bridge street near Broad, a large warehouse on the basin, a grist-mill opposite, and a dry dock at its head. He was active in pushing the construction of railroads, espe- cially the Utica and Schenectady. Other projects, whether of a public or a private nature, occupied his time and thought, the success of some of which did not always accord with the promise of his too sanguine expectations. His later years were passed in part upon his farm in Boonville and in part in quiet reading and study at home. His wife was the eldest daughter of Henry Seymour and sister of Horatio, and his domestic life was engaging. He died November 12, 1877, leaving two sons and four daughters, one son having died.
A new coming hotel-keeper was Alfred Churchill. He was born at Chatham, Conn., August 29, 1790, and brought when a child with his father's family to Richfield, Otsego County, N. Y. Early in life he en- gaged in mercantile business at Monroe, Mich. He had had few advan- tages of education and at the age of twenty-five he entered Hartwick Academy, supporting himself there for some years by his own unas- sisted efforts. He came to Utica in 1827, at first as an assistant, but soon as a partner, of Moses Bagg in the hotel then and since known by his name. He remained in that connection until the year 1836 (except-
18I
ALFRED CHURCHILL.
ing one year spent as proprietor of the North American (located on Genesee street nearly opposite Broad), when the hotel was bought of Mr. Bagg by a stock company, of which Mr. Churchill was one. This he continued to carry on until his death January 10, 1865, having at intervals purchased the interests of his associates as well as the Bleecker House adjoining on the north and uniting the latter with his own. By his fellow citizens Mr. Churchill was known as a man of unsullied integ- rity, kind and considerate to those in his employ, and tender and affec- tionate in his family relations. In politics he was identified with the Democratic party, yet was not in any sense a politician, looking as well to the candidate as to the principle involved in casting the vote. Through the suffrage of his townsmen he held the office of alderman for several terms, and was moreover liberal in the discharge of the claims of society. Some years before his death he bought a large tract of land near Daven- port, Iowa, much of which he disposed of in parcels, and which by its gradual rise in value realized for him a very considerable fortune. He was long a faithful and attentive director of the Utica City Bank. His wife was Emma Darbyshire, of Otsego County, and sister of the wife of Mr. Bagg. His eldest son was lost at sea; another, G. Clarence, is still a resident.
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