USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 32
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The May report before alluded to was at this time made public by the mayor. It provided in brief that the department be continued with a chief at a salary of $850, one assistant at $150, one at $100, a fore- man at $150, an assistant at $100, an engineer at $400, and a fire- man at $150, with eight hosemen at $60 each. Speakers who were present when this report was read in October discussed the project on all sides. Friends of a paid department argued that the figures above given did not cover a tithe of the cost of a department, and gave esti- mates running as high as $30,000, while others thought a good depart- ment might be operated for $7,000. With the reading of this old report were offered two resolutions, the first of which favored re-organiz- ing the department and giving back to the companies the election of their chief. This resolution was adopted ; but the second one, detailing how the department should be re-organized, was not adopted, leaving matters still unsettled. On the 2d of December the harrassing subject again came to the surface in an estimate offered by Mr. Sayre giving the cost of a good paid department as $11,650. But the consummation of the plan was still further delayed.
The building of the new county clerk's office was commenced this year by the Board of Supervisors of the county. In 1867 a petition of the judges, county officers, and leading lawyers had been presented to the board, stating the necessity of a safer and more commodious build - ing, and recommending a site adjoining the court-house on the corner of Bleecker and John streets, then obtainable for $6,000, having streets on two sides and open public grounds promised on the other two, thus securing safety from fire and ample light. The proposition did not find favor with the board. In 1869 the county clerk reported that his office
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COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE- NEW COMERS.
was actually tumbling down and the supervisors were compelled to do something. Rome offered gratis a site in its public square and there was a lively competition from Utica real estate holders. Between them and timidity lest the sale of the old site on Genesee street might not quite cover the cost of the new, now doubled, the proposition of 1867 fell to the ground and the old site was retained to the detriment of the eyes and patience of all those compelled to use the office and the increased cost of a fireproof building. The cost of the building exclusive of fur- nishing was $42,000. At the same time all the indices of deeds and mortgages were copied, under authority of an act of the State legis- lature, at nearly the same cost without request or murmur from any quarter.
Among those who began living in Utica during the period covered by the years 1864-70 were the following : Alexander S. Johnson will be found sketched in the chapter on the Bench and Bar. T. Scott Lord, of Geneseo, who had been county judge of Livingston, came to Utica to engage in practice in 1871, and formed a partnership with Roscoe Conkling and Alfred Coxe. He was elected to Congress in 1874 and served a single term, but was defeated in running for the second term. Not long afterward he removed to New York city, where he filled a highly creditable position. He showed great aptitude and diligence at the bar, was of courtly and dignified manner, and gracious and winning speech. His tastes were scholarly and his habits refined, and his read- ing and attainments outside of his profession were broad. He died Sep- tember 13, 1885. His wife died a few years before him. They had two sons and two daughters.
Enoch B. Talcott lived only two years in Utica and died June 21, 1868. He had already been a successful lawyer at Oswego, had been a State senator, and while sitting in the Court of Appeals had read opin . ions that were deemed equal to those of any of his colleagues, and had been collector of customs at Oswego. His widow, a sister of Hon. Charles H. Doolittle, a son, and two daughters are still living.
Hiram T. Jenkins was the son of Timothy Jenkins, of Oneida Castle, well known in the annals of the county as district attorney and member of Congress. On the death of his father he succeeded him as district attorney, and so well did he perform the duties of the office that he was
43
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
re-elected almost by acclamation. He was a graduate of Hamilton College of more than ordinary scholarly attainments and decided legal ability. He died July 29, 1868, at the early age of thirty-four. His wife was a daughter of Augustine G. Dauby.
Joel Willard, a native of Schuyler, after a few years of residence in Utica was in 1866 elected county judge. He achieved fair distinction as an able and impartial jurist. Failing health prevented his seeking a renomination. He died January 12, 1880.
A surgeon foremost in the ranks of his profession was Dr. Edwin Hutchinson. He was born in Utica in 1840 and was the son of Holmes Hutchinson. After graduating at the Free Academy he entered the Yale Scientific School and was graduated in 1860. He studied medi- cine with Dr. John McCall and at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in New York. In August, 1861, he was commissioned medical . cadet of the regular army and afterward joined the Fourteenth Regi- ment of Volunteers. In September, 1862, he was commissioned assist- ant surgeon of the Third Regiment of Maryland Volunteers and went to the front. In the next year he was assigned as surgeon of the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh New York Volunteers and remained on duty to the close of the war. He next resumed his college studies and received his degree. Beginning in Utica he soon had a large practice. It consisted mostly of general surgery, becoming more and more exclusively such, and in the end was still more narrowed by his special devotion to the treatment of the diseases of the eye and ear. He was active in the establishment of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, took charge of the medical department, and kept it until his last sickness. He took a deep interest in his profession and was a member of various medical societies, county, State, and national. Here his voice was always heard with pleasure, and the Opthalmological Society regarded him as one of its best specialists. He was the author of a valuable treatise on hos- pital construction. In 1872 he was breveted colonel by Governor Hoff- man for his distinguished service to the State, and shortly afterward was appointed surgeon of the Twenty-sixth Brigade of the National Guard of the State of New York. He died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Octo- ber 19, 1887.
George R. Thomas was the son of Daniel Thomas, of Utica, and was
339
STEPHEN SICARD- F. C. DEVEREUX.
born January 8, 1822. Receiving a good education he took to banking and was employed in two or three banks in different parts of the State, the longest in the Rome Bank, where he was teller and cashier until the expiration of its charter. In 1864 he came to Utica and with E. S. Brayton and others he organized the Second National Bank, and was its cashier until his death. By reason of the confidence reposed in him for his fidelity and self-denying care he held many positions of financial trust. He was treasurer of St. Luke's Home and Hospital and of Grace Church. Few men were more intelligent, sincere, and practical in re- ligious belief. Mr. Thomas died July 25, 1887. His wife, who was a daughter of Hervey Brayton, brother of E. S. Brayton, and four daugh- ters are still residents.
Stephen Sicard had had a long experience in banking, and was the grandson of Montgomery Hunt, Utica's earliest banker. Born in New York in 1835 he was reared in Utica, and was educated at New Hart. ford and at Mr. Turner's French school in Utica. From 1854 to 1865 he was employed in the Oneida Bank, first as clerk and then as teller. In the latter year he became a member of the firm of H. H. Hurd & Co., in the wholesale grain business, and this was his position at the time of his death. He was secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Fe- male Academy, was a member and at one time captain of the Citizens Corps, and for many years was a director of the Oneida Bank. Mr. Sicard was of a warm, impulsive nature and was frank and open in his dealings. He died suddenly on November 5, 1890. His wife was a daughter of Judge Philo Gridley. Besides his widow he left three sons and a daughter.
. About 1868 there returned to take up his residence in the city John C. Devereux, son of Nicholas Devereux, who had spent a large part of his life in the management of an extensive landed estate acquired by his father in Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties. Again in his natal home he was for some years secretary and treasurer of the Rem- ington Agricultural Works. Ere long his time and his sympathies were fully engrossed with the responsible duties of the State Board of Health, of which he was a valued commissioner. He was also a director of the Utica Savings Bank. His death occurred December 24, 1884, his wife having died a few years before him. They left nine children.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
William B. Jackson, a native of Westport, Conn., began business life in New York city and later was concerned in banking in Newburg. Ill health led him to settle in 1852 in Forestport, where he was in the lumber trade and looked after the estate of his father-in law, Anson Blake, in that place. About 1864 he removed to Utica and became a partner with Theodore Pomeroy in the manufacture and sale of oil- cloths. Soon after the death of his wife, in 1874, he retired from active business, though continuing to serve in some important public trusts, such as the directorship of the Second National Bank, trusteeship of the Episcopal fund of the diocese of Central New York, and of St. Luke's and of Faxton Hospital, being also vestryman and warden of Grace Church. He died December 28, 1890. His second wife, Cornelia F. Mumford, still survives, as do also two sons and three daughters. His oldest son, a young man of deserved esteem, was drowned near Min- neapolis, whither he had removed, leaving a wife and young family.
In 1869 there was started by James Eaton a factory for the manufact- ure of matches. Its founder had previously managed factories of the same kind in one or two other places in the State, including one near Richfield Springs, which was the second of the kind in the United States. The one established here was in the gulf, and was carried on by him and his son until 1881, when it was sold to the Diamond Match Factory Company, which monopolized the match business of the coun . try. Mr. Eaton remained here until his death, November 18, 1890. He was intelligent and possessed of strong inventive power, independent and firm in principle, kind, and charitable.
David P. White was born in Edmeston, Otsego County, April 9, 1822. Beginning the printer's trade at an early age he followed it in other places as well as a long time in Utica, working here on the Lib- erty Press, the Gazette, and elsewhere. He next commenced job print- ing, at first with H. H. Curtiss and from 1869 with T. H. Floyd, which latter connection lasted until his death. Public spirited and popular he was active as a fireman, a Mason, and an Odd Fellow, but was especially conspicuous in the affairs of the city and was among the foremost in working for its improvement. Long an alderman he was for eighteen years a commissioner of public schools, and was secretary and treasurer of that board, evincing in his various offices faithfulness to the duties
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1871.
which pertained to them. His death took place June 19, 1881. He left a wife and six children.
1871 .- The officers chosen at the election in March of this year were as follows: Mayor, Miles C. Comstock ; clerk, Thomas S. McIncrow ; treasurer, Charles K. Grannis ; attorney, Harvey D. Talcott ; aldermen, William A. Everts, Thomas R. Thomas, James H. Williams, William R. Holden, J. Johnson, Charles Faas, William Metcalf, Philip Edmunds, Henry Lux ; street commissioner, E. Lee ; surveyor, J. R. Baxter.
It was decided that the election in the Fifth ward was a tie on the vote for alderman and a special election was held on the 15th of April, resulting in the choice of John Johnson. April 8th the charter was amended so as to give the mayor the veto power. August 12th permis- sion was granted to the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad to lay tracks through the city. The great Chicago fire occurred this year and on the 10th of October a special meeting was held by the council, when a city bond was ordered for $1,000, which was never sent, being illegal, but liberal private subscriptions were sent on to the sufferers. The Utica Opera House was opened on the 17th of October and the Globe Woolen- Mills were destroyed by fire September 6th ; total loss $335,000. The Young Men's Christian Association rooms were formally opened on the 2Ist of March on the third floor of the Manning block.
CHAPTER X.
THE CITY'S HISTORY : 1872-1880.
Important charter Amendment - Enlargement of the city boundary on the West - Formation of the Utica Manufacturing and Mercantile Association.
IN January, 1872, a bill was proposed for legislative action providing - for opening a boulevard around the city. This was the last that was heard of it. There was also considerable discussion over the project of building a public market. A bill passed. both Houses in Albany in Jan- uary raising the salary of the recorder to $2,500, but it awaited the sig-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
nature of the governor. A resolution was adopted by the council fav- oring the act and it was signed. In council February 23d a resolution was adopted urging the speedy erection of a swing bridge on Hotel street : the first step to the lift-bridge.
The question of better water supply was discussed at a public meet- ing held February 24th. Mr. Faxton presided. Three propositions were submitted by the company, by one of which the city was to pay the company $100,000 as it might be needed for their expenditure, and the company would then build a new reservoir which would be ample for the need of the city and reduce the existing charge for water from $10,000 annually to $5,000. This proposition was accepted by the city, and Francis Kernan, Ward Hunt, and E. Chamberlain were made a com- mittee to draw a statute to carry out the proposition.
The officers chosen in 1872 were as follows : Mayor, Theodore F. Butterfield ; aldermen, H. C. Case, Frank Sang, John W. Hirt, D. Don- aldson, C. D. Faulkner (to fill vacancy), M. W. Quinn, N. A. White, A. H. Sheldon, W. Wilsey, Peter Clogher, D. P. White, and F. B. Mc- Call (Tenth ward) ; clerk, Thomas S. McIncrow ; treasurer, Thomas F. Clarke; attorney, S. M. Lindsley ; street commissioner, John Adrian ; surveyor, W. H. Christian. The new council appointed a new police force, retaining many of the old officers, and made A. Charles Luce, chief; Robert McIlwaine, assistant. Before the year ended the chief was removed for cause and Mr. McIlwaine appointed. In his inaugural the new mayor recommended a paid fire department and economy in city management. It was the first time in several years that a Repub- lican mayor had been elected. The committee appointed to investigate the floating debt next year found nothing to warrant eulogy. On the 24th of May Daniel Batchelor was appointed superintendent of public parks without pay.
On January 15th the Midland Railroad Company took control of the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton and the Rome and Clinton roads, and the completion of the road to Norwich was celebrated by a free trip to that place and dinner. The Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg road was also opened to connect with Watertown, over which there was pub- lic rejoicing. On the 30th of July President Grant and members of his family visited the city as the guests of Senator Conkling. He had a
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1873.
public reception at the opera house and was welcomed in a short address by the mayor. Events and acts of some note that occurred during the year were the renumbering of the streets; the first steps toward the location of the government building here; the paving of Rutger street with the Ballard wooden pavement; the burning of the Reynolds shoe manufactory on the 23d of November, causing a loss of $120,000; the failure of the People's Savings Bank and its branch at Syracuse in Octo- ber, and of Burke's Savings Bank about the same time; the disband- ment of the Monitor Hose Company and the Active Company on account of insubordination and insulting language to aldermen and the mayor at the Reynolds fire.
1873 .- On the 26th of January a lot was purchased by the city, 136 feet front on Elizabeth street, for $18,000, for a city library. February 28th a law was passed providing for six commissioners of charity to per- form the duties before delegated to the overseer of the poor, the latter office being abolished, by which a saving of about one-half of the yearly expense was effected. A report made by the surveyor in February shows that the city had 224 streets with a total length of 497,700 feet (ninety- four and one-fifth miles) ; also that the cost of pavement laid in 1870 was $370,500 and in 1872 $88,265. The officers of 1873 were : Mayor, Charles K. Grannis; aldermen, I. C. McIntosh, Frank Sang, Thomas R. Thomas, W. W. Long, Victor B. Stewart, John M. Hahn, John Howarth, John J. Cahill, Adam Bach, Francis B. McCall, John John - son ; treasurer, Thomas F. Clarke; attorney, Smith M. Lindsley ; clerk, Thomas S. McIncrow; surveyor, W. H. Christian.
The council passed the usual ordinance at the beginning of the winter prohibiting the street railroad companies from piling snow beside their tracks, and this year the ordinance was enforced. This resulted in the company placing upon their cars standing idle in Bagg's Square pla- cards reading " stopped by order of the mayor," while they ran only one sleigh to the toll- gate and to Whitestown. The Mohawk Street Rail- road Company carried their passengers on runners An act was passed April 19, 1873, authorizing the borrowing of $32,000 on city bonds to pay the city debt, if the taxpayers voted it, which they refused to do on May 7th. A meeting of citizens to consider the matter was held May 2Ist and a committee was appointed to investigate and report through
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
the papers, which was done June 2Ist, and the matter dropped for the year.
In May the site of the U. S. government building for postoffice, U. S. Court, etc., was selected on Broad street, where it was afterward erected. On the 13th of June the council turned the City Hospital over to the Board of Public Charities. A new county jail was provided for in the latter part of the year, subsequently erected on Bleecker street, and the supervisors added $500,000 to the assessed valuation of the city. Febru- ary 5th a citizens' meeting was held which resolved that elevated bridges were necessary on John and Seneca streets and a committee of seven was appointed to urge the matter. A bill was introduced in the legis- lature incorporating Faxton Hospital. Mr. Faxton built the hospital at a cost of $50,000 and endowed the institution with $25,000 by his will. September 30th the Clayton branch of the Utica and Black River Rail- road was opened and a large excursion went to Clayton, where they were warmly welcomed.
1874 .- A public meeting was held January 19th and a resolution adopted that application be made to the legislature for authority to bor - row on bonds of the city such sum as might be necessary to pay the floating debt, not to exceed $30,000, to be paid in three annual install- ments, and raised by ordinary city tax. At the council meeting Jan- uary 27th a remarkable measure was adopted to coerce the taxpayers into paying the debts for which the aldermen contracting them were liable by law. After approving the election of Wesley Dimblebee as chief engineer a resolution was adopted that at its next meeting " this council will discharge all persons in the employ of the city, including firemen and policemen, unless strong assurances be given or means pro- vided for the proper running of the city government. Two days later, January 29th, a special session of the council was held to consider the resolution of the previous week relative to the payment of the floating debt, that measure having become a law. The act provided for the submission of the matter to the taxpayers, as last year's special election was held February 9th, when the measure, having been approved by a number of distinguished and clever judges and lawyers, was adopted, and $24,000 fixed as the sum to be raised. The majority in favor of bonding the city was 461.
Eng Ivy F. G.Kernan, N.Y.
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1874.
Chief Engineer Dimblebee was removed from office in February, whereupon four of the fire companies refused to serve longer. This ac- tion resulted in the disbandment on March 16th of Rescue, Tiger, Friendship, Neptune, Washington, Franklin, and Rough and Ready Fire Companies, which made another farewell parade. New companies reported for organization, but the council took up the consideration of establishing a paid department, and on the 28th of March the res- ignations of the above named companies were officially accepted and new companies organized for temporary service. On the 7th of May the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners met and re-appointed Wes- ley Dimblebee as chief engineer, and on the 28th of May a paid depart- ment was organized which has continued in existence to the present. (See history of the fire department.)
Officers for the ensuing year were : Mayor, Theodore S. Sayre; clerk, Thomas S. McIncrow ; aldermen, Jonathan D. Moshier, William N. Weaver, William Ralph, Robert S. Williams, M. W. Quinn, Benjamin A. Clark, Robert B. Poole, Patrick J. Coakley, Charles M. Butcher, David P. White ; treasurer, John Kohler ; attorney, Patrick F. Bulger ; surveyor, John R. Baxter.
On April 10th a resolution was adopted that $10,000 be borrowed on bonds of the city to erect a school building on Steuben street and Bagg's Square was ordered paved. On the 2d of June the new police force was organized, and in the same month a new bridge was ordered over the Mohawk at the foot of Park avenue by a joint committee of high- way commissioners of Deerfield and Utica; the cost was $5,550. Bleecker street was planked this year at an expense of $6,954. A public meeting of citizens in favor of the unconditional repeal of the U. S. bankrupt law was called for January 7th, the call being signed by more than 500 citizens. On the night of the 5th of January the entire roof of the new Arcade building, then unfinished, fell in, causing a loss of $10,000 February 15th a meeting of citizens was held to discuss pro- posed amendments to the charter. On September 3d a great charity carnival was held at Utica Park. The city bell was rung for half an hour in the morning, dinner was served to the orphans, and 6,000 people were present, despite a rain storm. The proceeds were di- vided between the orphan asylums and St. Luke's and St. Elizabeth's Hospitals ; profits, $2,000. 44
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
October 9th the Central New York Fair began and continued nine days with great success. Governor Dix was present on the fourth day. In this month the mayor announced that as there was no money in the treasury no more business would be transacted, and adjourned the council for four weeks.
1875 .- January 8th a resolution was adopted in council that a peti- tion be sent to the legislature to repeal the act establishing the Boards of Fire and Police Commissioners. If the petition was sent it failed of its purpose.
As a sequel to this action the council prepared a bill for the legislat - ure in the latter part of January by the provisions of which the whole control of the fire and police departments was given to the coun- cil. This bill was submitted to a public meeting of taxpayers Febru- ary 3d. The mayor and clerk did not give notice of this meeting and it was meagerly attended by a few prominent citizens and non-taxpay- ers, who voted to approve the bill, striking out a clause which authorized the council to raise $10,000 if necessary to pay the expense of the paid fire department.
Resolved, also, that the clerk report monthly to the council the number of marriages, births, and deaths.
This was probably the beginning of the registry of vital statistics.
Officers of 1875 were as follows: Mayor, Charles W. Hutchinson ; aldermen, Henry C. Case, Joseph J. Illingworth, Edward D. Bucking- ham, John Johnson, Paul Keiser, jr., Michael Bannigan, Andrew Hoover, William E. Henry, William B. Monroe, David P. White ; treasurer, Thomas S. Geary ; attorney, O. Arthur White ; surveyor, John R. Bax- ter ; clerk, Thomas S. McIncrow. At the charter election the proposal to enlarge the advanced school building was voted on and approved, and the work was consummated in the summer. The old school build- ing on Steuben street was sold, it being unoccupied. The annual re- port of the chief of police shows the number of arrests to have been 1,333 for the year.
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