USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 23
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Lawyers who began business about 1840-42 were Charles H. Doo- little and Samuel B. Garvin (to be noticed in the chapter on the Bench and Bar), William Baker, John G. Crocker, Morven M. Jones, Alexan- der Seward, Edward S. Brayton, Jason G. Coye, Huet R. Root, Will- iam L. Walradt, George Langford, jr.
William Baker, who had been a supervisor and was later the first re- corder of the city (1844), made the patent laws a specialty. In that department he was a recognized authority. Courteous in manner and upright in life he commanded general respect. His death occurred November 6, 1871.
John G. Crocker, who lived here from an early age and who was in practice from 1840, did not die until July 8, 1888. He was prominent in legal circles during early and middle life, although for twenty years or more of its latter part his work was mostly in the direction of settling estates and similar office work. He was of a retiring, studious habit, but was a favorite with many, especially of his own profession, by reason of his extensive and varied acquirements, his readiness to impart his in- formation to any who sought it, his sound sense and reliable judgment, and his kindness of heart. He wrote several works of a legal character. He was a Democrat in politics and an intimate friend of Governor Sey- mour, but never asked for office.
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M. M. JONES - E. S. BRAYTON.
Morven M. Jones, a long time justice of the peace of Utica, was born in Lairdsville, Westmoreland, June 20, 1814, and was the son of Hon. Pomeroy Jones, author of the Annals of Oneida County. He was edu- cated in the common schools and the Clinton Academy. At twenty years of age he came to Utica and entered the law office of Seymour & Root, with whom he studied about seven years. He was admitted to the bar and began practice, a practice which was, however, materially interfered with by other duties and engagements. He was an assistant of his father in the preparation of his Annals, which appeared in 1851, the son writing the whole of the chapter on Utica. In 1861 Mr. Jones organized a company of the Second Heavy Artillery, went into the war as first lieutenant, and was promoted afterward to the post of captain. In 1863 he went to Washington in the employ of the New York State agent in the care of wounded soldiers. While there he was arrested and confined five months in the Old Capitol prison on the charge of illegally procur- ing soldiers' votes, was tried by a court-martial, and was acquitted. At the close of the war he was made brevet-major of volunteers. In politics Mr. Jones was a Democrat and earnest in advocacy of the prin- ciples of his party. Early in his career he was overseer of the poor and treasurer of the city. He was justice of the peace nearly thirty-three years. In January, 1868, Governor Fenton appointed him chief clerk in the office of the Secretary of State, which position he held four years, and on his return to Utica he resumed his office of justice. He was a trustee of the Odd Fellows Association and for many years an ardent Free Mason, being at the time of his death chaplain of Utica Lodge, No. 47, and likewise commander of Bacon Post, G. A. R. Major Jones was one of the founders of the Oneida Historical Society and was its corresponding secretary and librarian. In his religion he was a Baptist and a prominent member of the Bleecker street and afterward of the Tabernacle Church. In his private career he was esteemed by a wide circle of friends.
Edward S. Brayton, son of George Brayton, of Western, and brother of Milton Brayton, the Utica merchant of 1824, was born early in 1817, was educated in Utica, at Hamilton, and later at Union College, at which latter place he was graduated in 1836. He pursued the study of law with Kirkland & Bacon and was admitted to the bar in 1840. His mar-
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riage a few years later to Sarah, the only daughter of Judge Morris S. Miller, determined to a great degree the course and occupation of his life. This consisted largely in managing the property in Utica and elsewhere of the numerous non-resident representatives of the Bleecker, Miller, and Dudley families. Besides his occupation by these cares, and by labor among the fruits and flowers of his garden, much of his time was taken up by the various employments of a public nature that were imposed upon him, for he was prompt to respond to every call and in the performance of every duty was self-sacrificing, helpful, and reliable. Mr. Brayton's life was so full and rich, so identified with all that was good and true in the social, municipal, and religious concerns of Utica, that it seemed almost selfish for any corporation to claim a special bereave- ment in his loss. To many of them he gave the benefit of his strong practical sense and great executive ability, and at his death they con- curred in expressions of their appreciation of his services. These serv- ices were rendered to the Second National Bank, both in its organiza- tion and during its subsequent history ; to the Female Academy for twenty-five years of its career, before and after the dark hour of that in- stitution, when fire had destroyed its costly buildings, but when his hopeful predictions of new and better ones and his active effort to supply them gave courage and confidence to all; to the Cemetery Association by the exercise of his wise counsel, his keen appreciation of all that is beautiful in nature, his skill in landscape gardening, and his years of de- votion. By the Reformed Church it was declared that his services were invaluable, his attendance on its ordinances unremitting, his care for its interests watchful and unstinted, and that his name and character for every manly virtue were indelibly impressed upon the hearts of its peo- ple. Mr. Brayton married, secondly, Miss Catharine, daughter of John L. Curtenius, who with three daughters survive him. He died June 2, 1887.
Jason G. Coye was a close office lawyer who by industry, judicious investments of his gains, and economy in their expenditure acquired the means to leave at his death a valuable legacy to the Old Ladies' Home and another to Calvary Church. His death occurred March 9, 1872. Another lawyer of unusual gifts, who now made a beginning, was Huet R. Root, brother of P. Sheldon. This beginning was closed by an early death.
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WILLIAM WALCOTT.
Physicians of 1840-42 were Theodore Dimon, who practiced here for a few years and then removed to Auburn; Daniel James, who had be- fore a long experience in Albany ; and George W. Gardner, of much longer residence.
About 1840 there came to reside in the city a man whose occupa- tion was chiefly outside of it, though with its citizens he had many in- terests in common. This was William Walcott, long associated with his brother Benjamin in the management of the New York Mills. Born in Cumberland, R. I., August 9, 1794, he removed to Whitesboro in 18II and soon afterward engaged in mercantile business, being con- nected with the Oneida Manufacturing Society, principally as agent for the sale of its goods. At that early age he displayed unusual business talent with great activity and industry. He was for a very long period the general agent and superintendent of this factory. He was closely asso- ciated in business with Benjamin S. Walcott in the New York Mills and the two brothers worked hand in hand for over half a century in promoting the industrial and moral interests of that widely known man- ufacturing center. After coming to Utica he superintended the erection of the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills, which were pronounced by competent judges to be one of the best constructed establishments in the United States. He was one of its first Board of Directors. For a few years before his death he was a director of the Chicago and Rock Island Rail- road. Later he was treasurer of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad, and performed the duties of that arduous and respon- sible post with singular industry and fidelity. For more than thirty years he was a director of the Bank of Utica and was also a director of the Savings Bank. For many years he was a member of the Presby- terian Church of Whitesboro; on removing to Utica he united with the Reformed Church and was made one of its elders. A worthy and use- ful citizen and sincere Christian he was greatly respected and beloved. He died November 8, 1859.
Edward H. Broadhead, nephew of Charles C. Broadhead, was a resident engineer on the Erie Canal about four years. He was subse- quently a prosperous and leading citizen of Milwaukee.
Rev. Wesley Bailey, a minister of Fayetteville, came here in 1842 at the instigation of Alvan Stewart and others, and set up the Liberty
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
Press as an organ of the Anti-Slavery party, which succeeded to the Friend of Man, its previous organ. This paper Mr. Bailey edited until 1848. He afterward united with the Barnburner Democrats in the or- ganization of the Republican party. Finding that there was less reason for the continued advocacy of anti-slavery doctrine he changed the char - acter of his paper, making it a supporter of temperance and calling it the Teetotaller. As such he conducted it until about 1860, with the excep- tion only of the year 1857, when he served as State prison inspector, having been elected by the Republicans. In 1860 he removed to Ohio, where he had charge of another paper until near his death. He died in February, 1891. He had two sons, of whom one, E. P. Bailey, is now editor of the Utica Observer.
Among the merchants was George C. Tallman, who was born at Ta- berg in this county, where his father's family were temporarily resident, though their prior and subsequent home was in Brooklyn upon a farm which, from the natural growth of that city, became very valuable. At an early age he entered a dry goods store in New York and soon be- came head of the firm. Settling afterward in Oneida County he located first in Whitestown and then in Utica. Here he began the wholesale dry goods trade, but was soon dealing in real estate. In this latter his operations were successful and conducted on a large scale. At one time he owned 50,000 acres of land in Iroquois County, Ill., and had property in sixty counties of Western States. In Utica also he owned land, especially a valuable tract in the eastern part. He lived here about twenty years and in 1866 returned to Brooklyn, continuing a like pursuit until his death May 4, 1880. He was a shrewd business man and acquired a large property. One only of his large family, Edward A. Tallman, is left in Utica.
Other merchants were Alfred A. and Richard H. Wells (successors of Thomas G. Perkins), Doolittle & Norris, Peter Wellbon, Owen and Michael Gaffney, Kellogg & Rockwell, all in the dry goods trade ; Charles C. Backus and Horace H. Hawley, booksellers and publishers ; George Dickinson, druggist; Adrian Kissam, Nathan B. Wilcox, for- warders ; William H. Scranton, grocer and afterward clothing mer- chant ; Horace Whitman, David Donaldson, Paul Keiser, grocers, the latter being the founder of the German paper, the Oneida Demokrat.
Robert Inicialton
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MECHANICS OF 1842.
Among the mechanics beginning now to live in Utica was Joel C. Bailey, the son of an early settler of Whitestown. After working in blast furnaces in various places in this State and conducting one of his own at Schenectady he came in 1842 to Utica and purchased the Eagle Furnace on Columbia near Cornelia street. There alone and with his son - in-law, Russel Wheeler, he carried on the manufacture of stoves until his retirement in 1856. The woolen-mill known as the Globe Woolen- Mill had failed not long after it had started. Mr. Bailey purchased and re-organized it and became its president, continuing as such until, on his resignation by reason of the arduousness of other cares, he was suc- ceeded by Mr. Faxton, when he was made vice-president. He was likewise interested in the Steam Woolen and the Steam Cotton-Mills. Long a deacon and influential in the Bleeker Street Baptist Church he left behind him a reputation above reproach and an example worthy of imitation. He died February 23, 1882, when upwards of ninety years of age. A notice of Abijah J. Williams will be found in the Biograph- ical Department.
From among the mechanics entering on business about this date and who are now deceased it may be permitted to select one or two to briefly characterize. William Brady was a master mason to whom was due the construction of the stone and brickwork of several public and private buildings of the city, and Azel J. Lathrop was a master builder who had as important a part in the woodwork of these structures. Mr. Lathrop had been bred a carpenter and he continued his shop and his work, but while thus engaged he studied the science of architecture and spared no pains and no expense in perfecting himself in that pro- fession. The buildings erected by him were put up in a substantial and workmanlike manner. His architectural success is best attested by the many handsome buildings of his design, not only in Utica, but in surrounding places. Among those now standing in this city may be mentioned the Marble block, the county clerk's office, the Butterfield House, the Utica Savings Bank, the Gardner block, the Globe Woolen- Mills, the Faxton Hospital, Faxton Hall, the Old Ladies' Home, and several private residences. His long residence here and the amount of work done by him made him the best known architect in this part of the State. Accurate and precise in his plans he omitted nothing in
32
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
his specifications. His death, which was sudden, occurred March 16, 1880. His wife was Margaret Arthur and he was the father of eight children.
Another mechanic conspicuous for the public positions he held was Hugh Crocker. Born in New York in 1808 he came to Utica in 1819 and grew with its growth. His original vocation was that of a butcher and this he prosecuted for many years. He was afterward engaged in more miscellaneous business. In 1861 he was chosen sheriff of the county on the Democratic ticket, and ten years later he was elected to the same office on the Union ticket. He returned to the Democratic party and was active and influential in it. About 1866 he became superintend- ent of the Utica and Black River Railroad and it was in the faithful prosecution of the duties of this office that he lost his life. This was the result of a landslide that occurred in the spring of 1869, a few miles north of Lyons Falls. Having started on a locomotive in advance of the train to inspect the road, then in a dangerous condition, he with his engine was overtaken and crushed. The incidents of his last hours are eloquent in eulogy of his care for the road and his forgetfulness of self.
Other mechanics, since deceased, were John F. Kittle, printer and publisher of the Observer; Lemuel Pittman, carpenter ; A. J. Bice, John W. Porter, shoemakers ; Gordon & Pond, saddlers (Theron T. Pond being the inventor of Pond's extract); Marvin H. Lines, saddler; Joseph Har- ter, tanner ; George Ralph, brewer; William Ralph, tinsmith; David Hull, tinner ; Isaac Tapping, maker of regalia ; Edward Broadwell, paper hanger ; R. N. Loucks, leather dealer ; Henry Roberts, butcher.
Several of the inhabitants of Utica who entered on business about 1840-42 are still alive. As the history advances the number of living ones will steadily increase. These, it is evident, cannot all be discoursed upon ; lack of space forbids it. To select a few of them only might seem invidious, and therefore I must deny myself even the mention of their names. Names to many would be but " non-conductors and void of interest."
1843 -Officers for the year 1843 were as follows : Mayor, Frederick Hollister; aldermen, Hiram Greenman, Jared E. Warner, Joseph B. Hoyt, N. N. Weaver, William Baker, Ezra S. Barnum, Abraham Hig-
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1843.
ham, Charles Tracy, John Butterfield, Chauncey Palmer, Gerry Sanger, C. B. Coventry ; treasurer, George J. Hopper ; attorney, William Allen ; clerk, Richard U. Sherman ; surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor ; street com- missioner, L. M. Taylor ; school commissioners, Spencer Kellogg, Robert T. Hallock, Rudolph Snyder, Hiram Denio, Francis Kernan, James Watson Williams.
During the year 1842-44 the financial indebtedness of the city oc- cupied much of the attention of the council and the people. The Daily Gazette in February, 1842, discoursed as follows : "Our city affairs are now in a peculiar condition. Deeply in debt, with a revenue entirely inadequate to allow of a hope that it can ever be met from ordinary means, we need all the ingenuity and financial knowledge that can be possessed by one Board of Aldermen to devise some means of relief." The same journal calls for the election of a new Board of Aldermen with the exception of two. The city debt at that time was less than $5,000, outside of bonds. The following statement was published of the city debt for the ten years succeeding its incorporation : 1833, $1,366.17 ; 1834, $2,316.54; 1835, $2,500 ; 1836, $2,292.05; 1837, $3,492.86 ; 1838, $3,500 ; . 1839, $3,600 ; 1840, $3,590 ; 1841, $1,592 .- 64; 1842, $3,246.87 ; 1843, $4,458.24.
The council in February resolved that application be made to the legislature to amend the charter so as to authorize the council to raise either an annual tax of $10,000 or by special tax a sum sufficient to extinguish the present indebtedness. On the 23d of the same month a public meeting was held at which it was resolved to submit the mat- ter to a committee of citizens who should report at a subsequent meet- ing. This committee was composed of E. A. Wetmore, Spencer Kel- logg, Hiram Denio, Robert T. Hallock, Thomas Colling, Martin Hart, and Horatio Seymour. The report of the committee recommended application to the legislature for authority to borrow on bonds of the city $3,500 for three years for the payment of liabilities exclusively, and an equal amount of which one-third should be raised in each of the next three years by special tax. (The latter clause of the report was left out upon its final adoption.) The same committee also recom- mended that future work on roads, streets, and bridges, and the street lighting be let on contract to the lowest bidder ; that the number of the
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
city watch be reduced ; and that no future appropriation be made ex- cept as authorized by the charter. This report was adopted on the 11th of March and the necessary steps were taken to give it effect. In the treasurer's report for the year ending February, 1843, the entire ex- penses of the city from the ordinary fund are given as $11,734.96. The fund raised each year had been for several years $8,000.
November 24, 1843, it was announced in the council that application would be made to the legislature for charter amendments authorizing the division of the Third and Fourth wards, the establishment of a Re- corder's Court, and the election of one supervisor from each ward. The Recorder's Court was inaugurated in the following year. On the ap- plication of the school commissioners the council ordered the raising by tax of the sum of $1,618.50 for the alteration, repairing, and improving of the school- houses, for purchasing apparatus, and for fuel and contin - gent expenses of the schools.
In September Nicholas Devereux offered to build a hall for city pur- poses and give to the corporation a perpetual lease of it free of charge on condition that he be allowed to occupy that part of Hotel street be- tween Franklin Square and the canal for part of his building. This proposal met with much opposition from many citizens who desired a park at that point. Very few public improvements were made by the council. It was an era of retrenchment, with much talk of hard times. In July there was held the first large military encampment here. The four Utica companies and others from Rochester, Schenectady, New Haven, and New York took part. General Wool was present to review the troops and $50 was appropriated by the council to the military companies to aid in defraying expenses. The encampment occupied the ground enclosed between the Chenango Canal and Court and Var- ick streets, there being only a few houses along the line of these two streets.
The Gazette of December 7th began an editorial as follows : " Pros- pects of our City .- Every one conversant with the different portions of Utica must have been struck with surprise at the great amount of build - ing which has been going on during the last year or two." The editor then proceeded to show how this was being greatly overdone ; that money left in the hands of real estate owners by the general interruption
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1844.
of business was being used by them to put up stores and blocks for which there was not and could not soon be a demand. In April of this year the two railroads began running two trains daily each way. The packet boats were still continuing an active opposition, and Captain Greenman put on two new boats this year. In July the number of daily railroad trains was increased to three.
1844 .- The charter election of 1844 was an exciting one. The Hol - lister administration had given satisfaction by its economy and prudence and he was renominated for mayor, but through a coalition of Hunkers, Barnburners, and Abolitionists there was a defeat of the Whigs. The following officers were chosen : Mayor, Ward Hunt; aldermen, B. B. Lansing, Charles H. Doolittle, Abraham Higham, Stephen Comstock, Jared E. Warner, George Tracy, Joseph B. Hoyt, Charles Tracy, George Curtiss, Francis Kernan, Charles S. Wilson, Jere Mather ; treasurer, Jar- vis M. Hatch; attorney, Huet H. Root; clerk, Joseph B. Cushman ; surveyor, Francis F. Curry ; street commissioner, Thomas McIncrow.
In April a petition came into the council for the location of a public square between the canal and Genesee and Hotel streets, which was merely referred, and to Mr. Devereux was given a portion of that space for his block as already alluded to. After this matter was settled the local press began agitating the subject of a public square at the head of Washington street. Application was made to the council in August for the necessary action to divide the Fourth ward into two election districts-a measure that was adopted at a later date. Public improve- ments were limited : an appropriation of $100 was made for the repair of the starch factory road, a sewer was laid in Hopper street, and Mo- hawk street was graded.
This was the year of the Henry Clay campaign and politics absorbed a large share of public attention. Mass meetings were held, clubs formed, and excitement ran high in Utica as well as elsewhere. ' The Recorder's Court was instituted by act of legislature. Its jurisdiction covered both civil and criminal cases, civil cases being tried by the recorder alone and criminal cases by him in association with two aldermen. Terms began on the fourth Mondays of January, March, May, August, and November. The first session of this court was held on the 27th of May, 1844, and a little later it was given two rooms in
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
Washington Hall. William Baker was the first recorder and Dex- ter Gillmore the first clerk of the court.
1845 .- Officers elected in March were : Mayor, E. A. Wetmore ; aldermen, Alfred Churchill, Stephen Comstock, Thomas Hopper, Jo- seph B. Hoyt, Otis Manchester, M. T. Meeker, David E. Morris, Or. ville Olcott, Gerry Sanger, William Walcott, Charles S. Wilson, Charles H. Doolittle ; treasurer, George J. Hopper; attorney, Erastus Clark ; clerk, Alexander Coburn; surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor; street com- missioner, Charles Downer.
At a special meeting of the council of 1844, held January 21st, a communication was received from E. H. Broadhead asking the council to aid him in a petition to the legislature for an act incorporating a company to supply the city with water. The petition was ordered for- warded to Albany and on the 21st of March a resolution was adopted urging the passage of the water bill. At a special meeting February 4, 1844, a resolution was adopted that application be made to the next legislature for authority to collect a tax, with the next general tax, of $1,200 for a culvert over Nail Creek. The treasurer's report for the preceding fiscal year gave total receipts as $12,576.38 and expenses as $12,921.70. On the 16th of May a petition was presented to the council which led a little later to the formation of Oneida Square.
There were many fires during the summer, but no very destructive one ; they were believed in many cases to have been of incendiary or- igin and the mayor offered $150 reward for the apprehension of the culprits. It was supposed by many that the fires, or some of them at least, were started by rivals in the fire companies, which had been proven the case in some other cities. Sidewalks were laid on Kemble, Genesee, Varick, South, Union, and Lansing streets ; drains on Colum- bia and West streets ; and parts of Columbia and Jay streets were paved.
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