USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > One hundred years of Trinity Church : Utica, New York > Part 8
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In 1798 the Rev. Philander Chase, afterwards Bishop of Il- linois, was missionary for all this region, and in the course of his travels stopped at the little village of Utica, where the stumps of the original forest trees were still standing in the three streets (if streets they could be called when only two were fenced out), Genesee, Main and Whitesboro. He was courteously received by Colonel Benjamin Walker, who was then living in a small tenement house, previous to building at the eastern end of Broad Street, the house which was for many years the most luxuriously equipped mansion in this vicinity. To his high military honors as a member of General Washing- ton's staff and aid-de-camp to Baron Von Steuben, must now be added the fame of having been the first and most generous patron of Trinity Church. An Englishman by birth, a pew owner and communicant of Trinity Church in New York City, he was strongly attached to the mother Church, and it was owing to his timely aid and encouragement that the Parish under the name of the Rector and Wardens of Trinity Church, Utica, was now organized. But for some years the few Church of England people met, without any clergyman, and read for themselves the familiar petitions and prayers of their Liturgy.
If proof were needed of the deep, earnest feeling which per- vades every line of our incomparable Prayer Book, or the true value of a form of devotion, none more striking could be given than an instance like this, and no better refutation of the charge that its Litanies are merely cold and formal "vain re- petitions." To these English Christians the well known pray- ers kame like a voice from home in a strange land; and the fact that the Church was henceforth to form a part of their new home doubtless served to attract and retain many of our best settlers.
In 1803, the Presbyterians who had shared the use of the building on Sundays with our people decided to call the Rev. Bethuel Dodd from Whitesboro to assume permanent charge
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and hold two services every Sunday. This threw the little con- gregation into temporary difficulties, and it was not until 1803 that definite steps were taken towards building a church of their own. Rutger Bleecker of Albany, one of the four origin- al purchasers of Cosby Manor, which includes the tract where the City of Utica now stands, had promised to give the site for the first church that should be built. On the 24th of May, 1803, a meeting was held, and Col. Walker, Abram Walton and William Inman were appointed a committee to solicit sub- scriptions, and raised over two thousand dollars towards the building of a church whose cost was estimated at four thou- sand dollars, and which was designed by the architect Philip Hooker of Albany, the builder of the old Capitol, the Albany Female Academy, and other stately structures. Certainly this was a generous amount when the small population of Utica at that time is considered. In 1798, Dr. Dwight estimated the number of houses in the village at fifty. In 1801 the popula- tion was two hundred souls. In 1804, Dr. Dwight found one hundred and twenty houses, and a long train of merchant stores and other buildings. In 1793, five years before the founding of the Parish, Jason Parker's stage coach brought six letters to the people in old Fort Schuyler in one day, a fact which could scarcely be credited until vouched for by the vera- cious Dutch postmaster, John Post.
The list of the original subscribers to Trinity Church pre- sents such a remarkable array of the men who were very prominently associated with the history of early Utica, that it has seemed of more value to gather some of the striking events in their lives from the different historical records of City and County, and from the lips of those still living among us, whose memories of the past are still fresh and vivid, than to attempt a cursory glance of the whole century of her existence.
The subscription list embraces the names among others of B. Walker, $250; Abraham M. Walton, $200; William Inman,
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$150; Bryan Johnson, $150; John Smith, $125; Jeremiah Van Renselear, $50; John Post, $50; Samuel Hooker, $50; James A. Bloodgood, $50; John Schwartz, $25; Silas Hamlin, $20; James Hopper, $100; Aylmer Johnson, $100; Mathew Codd, $100; Nathan Williams, $100; John C. Devereux, $100; John Hooker, $50; Hugh White, $50; Peter Smith, $50; Jonas Platt, $25; Thomas R. Gold, $25; Ch. C. Broadhead, $25; William Inman for W. R., $25; Charles L. Pratt, $20; Wm. G. Tracy, $20; A. Johnson for H. O., $10; John Curtis, $12.50; Amos Brenson, $10; David Trowbridge, $10; Frederic White, $10; Amos Eggleston, $10; Marcus Hitchcock, $20; Nathan But- ler, $20; Charles Walton, $20; Hugh White, Jr., $10; Elizur Mosely, $10; Preserved Hickox, $10; P. S. Soillon, $5; Thom- as Jones, $5, the total amount subscribed was $2,067.50. With this amount subscribed and the lot given, Col. Walker, Mr. Inman and Judge Nathan Williams accepted the plans de- signed by Samuel and John Hooker, and in June, 1803, the building was commenced, to proceed until the subscriptions were exhausted, when it was hoped, with the aid of further subscriptions, and gifts from Trinity Church in New York, it might be completed. The lot was 100 feet on Broad Street, and 127 feet deep. The church as originally built stood back in the field or lot, and was entered through what was called Church Lane, now First Street, by taking down the bars of a fence that enclosed the whole lot. Corn was at times planted in the yard, and the approach to the door of the church was through a leafy lane of Indian corn. On a village map in 1806, Trinity Church is represented as standing quite alone in the rear of some houses on Main Street. Broad Street was not laid out until 1808, and this rural church might well have been called Trinity-in-the-fields. Its first Wardens were Abraham Walton and Nathan, afterwards Judge Williams.
The first Vestrymen were William Inman, Charles Walton, John Smith, Benjamin Walker, Samuel Hooker, Aylmer John-
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son, James Hopper, Edward Smith. Their successors were worthy to succeed them. The list includes name after name of men pre-eminent in the various walks of life in the little village, and later in the City of Utica, while some of them be- longed to the history of our country. As the eye rests on the names of Thomas Hubbard, Montgomery Hunt, Samuel Beardsley, Augustus G. Dauby, Ward Hunt, Henry Seymour, and his son Horatio Seymour, Hiram Denio, Charles B. Coventry, Morris S. Miller, and his son Rutger D. Miller, Thomas R. Colling, John E. Hinman, Ziba Lyon, John J. Francis, Hugh Crocker, Selden Collins, Van Vechten Living- ston, Henry Green, John G. Marklove, James M. Weed, Miles C. Comstock and Edmund A. Graham, it will be seen how many active, useful citizens, as well as men of brilliant talents, have been identified with this Church. From its very begin- ning it has been most fortunate in the character and ability of its laymen; who, amid the manifold duties and occupations incident to life in a new settlement, did not neglect the claims of their church. Its first Warden, Abraham Walton, was de- scended from a family prominent in New York City, and was himself a lawyer practicing there in 1791. On coming to Utica he took charge of a tract of land in Schuyler, on the borders of Deerfield, known as Walton's Patent. In 1801 he lived on a farm of nearly one hundred and fifty acres about three quar- ters of a mile east of Deerfield Corners. His brother Charles was associated in business with him, and the two brothers in 1804 purchased for $6,650, the 250 acres at "Salt Point" near Syracuse. Abraham Walton's wife was the beautiful daugh- ter of Samuel Graham of Westchester. He, his wife and child are all buried in a small plot that once formed a part of the estate.
Nathan Williams, the junior Warden of the Parish, was an active, influential man, whose name deserves always to be held in honor in the annals of Utica. Coming here from Troy in
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1797, where he had been; its first Postmaster, he was one of the earliest settlers, and entered heartily into the work of ad- vancing and improving the village in every possible way; he was one of the founders of a well-selected public library, and for a time served as librarian. When Trinity Church was formed he became its active steadfast friend, and at one time of financial difficulty mortgaged his own house on Whitesboro Street to raise money for the church building fund. As an honest lawyer, he had the reputation of advising his clients, whenever possible, to avoid law suits. As counsel for the Oneida Indians he won from them the striking name of "Up- right Friend." His public offices were many. President of the village, President of the Manhattan Bank, District Attorney, Representative in Congress, Member of Assembly, member of the Convention of 1821 for the reform of the Constitution. A few months before his death he was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court, and moved to Geneva, where his life ended September 25, 1835. His handsome house on Whitesboro Street, at the foot of Seneca Street, was the first brick house built in Utica, and was for years the hospitable home of the Bishops and clergy of our Church, when occasion required. Five generations of his descendants lived within the walls of this house. All of his eleven children were true and faithful sons and daughters of the Church.
One of them, James Watson Williams, rendered active effi- cient service as layman and vestryman in Trinity Church, and was one of the zealous promoters of the new Parish of Grace Church at its formation in 1837. Hobart Williams became a useful clergyman, while to mention the names of Mrs. David Wager, Mrs. Rathern, Mrs. Theodore Dimon is to recall gentlewomen who were always zealous in the charities and good work of their mother Church. Thomas Williams was long a member of the choir, when Thomas Hastings drilled the twenty-five or thirty members. Conspicuous among them
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were also Henry Green, Henry Sanger who played the flute, and James Lynch, the violin, and the music was considered excellent. Another subscriber, William Inman, who was elected Warden in 1806, came from England in 1792, and had charge of large estates. He was a native of Somersetshire, England, and in early life had been a clerk of Lord Pultney. On coming to America he was entrusted with the interests of certain Europeans, prominent among whom were Patrick Colquehoun, High Sheriff of London; for whom he purchased in trust the tract called Inman Triangle, including the towns of Leyden and Lewis in Lewis County, N. Y. He removed to New York in 1813, and as a merchant met with heavy reverses; his last home was in Leyden, Lewis County, where he died February 14, 1843, at the age of eighty-one years. His first residence here was in the picturesque cottage under noble over shadowing elms on the north side of the Whitesboro road just beyond the canal bridge, which always attracts the atten- tion of the passerby for its air of cozy comfort. Later on he built the large square brick mansion on the southern side of the Whitesboro road, which still stands at the corner of Champlin Street, as a specimen of a handsome old-fashioned house. Here Mr. Inman, having an ample fortune, led the life of a country gentleman, well-versed in literature, and fond of books. He rode about our village streets and lanes in a heavy English carriage, and wore powdered hair, with short clothes and knee buckles. Of his four sons, three distin- guished themselves in their different callings. William rose to the rank of Commodore in the navy, commanded two of the boats that captured a pirate vessel off the coast of Cuba in 1823, served on the lakes in the war of 1812-15, and was at the head of a squadron on the coast of Africa in 1851. John Inman became editor successively of the "Spirit of the Times," the "New York Mirror," the "Commercial Advertiser," and the "Columbian Gazette," and contributed to other periodicals
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of the day. Henry Inman took a high rank among our Ameri- can artists, and became Vice President of the National Aca- demy of Design. His miniatures were considered excellent, while among his best efforts on portraits were Bishop White, Chief Justice Marshall, and Boyhood of Washington. Samuel Hooker, the son of the architect of the Church, served as Vestryman from 1804 until 1808, when he was elected War- den, a post which he filled until 1826. He has left the reputa- tion of being an honest, industrious, upright man. He came to Utica about 1791 under the auspices of the Holland Land Company to build for them the York House on Whitesboro Street, which was then the largest hotel building this side of New York City; and although far too large for our village, was rendered necessary by the increasing stream of settlers, who began to pour into this rich region of Western New York. Mr. Hooker came here from Albany, where his son Philip was the architect of the original church of St. Peter's in State Street. A photograph of old St. Peter's shows that Trinity Church was designed on very similar lines. Samuel Hooker with his son John conducted a thriving business here for many years, until his death in 1832 at the age of 86. James Cochran, who served as Warden from 1826 to 1827 was the son of Sur- geon General John Cochran of the Revolutionary War. He married his cousin, Gertrude Schuyler, the youngest daugh- ter of Gen. Philip Schuyler of Albany.
Rudolph Snyder, vestryman from 1827 to 1838, was the son of a Hollander who came to New York and became a ship- ping merchant, where in 1778 Rudolph was born. Destined by his father for the ministry, his own preference was for the study of medicine; and the two strong wills of father and son failing to agree, young Snyder was withdrawn from Kings (or Columbia) College before graduating, and went into busi- ness with his father in Albany, where he married Esther Barneveldt Storm of Easton, Pennsylvania. After coming
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to Utica he became a trustee of the village, and was twice its President. He was also a Commissioner of its Schools and President of the Mechanics' Association; his education and tastes led him to spend much time in self-improvement, while his strong sense and practical talents made him a valuable member of the community. His adopted daughter, Mrs. James Madison Weed, was long an active member of this Parish. Third on the list of original subscribers stands the name of Bryan Johnson, who came here as a merchant from England in 1797, and established himself on Whitesboro Street near where Division Street now extends. In 1809 his son Alexander came over, and from that time both father and son were marked people in the streets of the little village. Almost inseparable companions, the father a hale vigorous man with flowing silvery hair leaning on the arm of his son, dressed with the utmost care, and wearing the conspicuous short breeches and silk stockings, they presented a picture never to be for- gotten. The names of both father and son appear among the Wardens and Vestrymen. This coming summer will witness the disappearance from Genesee Street of the familiar house known as the Johnson Place, which is to make way for the new Savings Bank Building. Continuing down the list we find the name of James Van Rensselaer, a member of the firm of Kane and Van Rensselaer, which was identified with the early history of the village. Connected by marriage with the family of the Kents they were associated with the Great Chancellor Kent, and related in more recent times to the arctic explorer, Elisha Kent Kane. Mr. Van Rensselaer's store was on the eastern side of Genesee Street, a little north of Broad Street, and was graced by the sign of the eagle. When Broad Street was laid out in 1808 it became necessary to move the store half way round; which was accomplished by balancing the building on a cannon ball as a pivot, and swinging it half way
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round into place. John Post has the glory of having built the first frame house in Fort Schuyler, and probably in the County. Log houses were much in vogue at this time. His store was on the north-west corner of Genesee and Whitesboro Streets adjoining his house, and was more like an Indian agency than our modern idea of a store. Furs and Ginseng were brought here in large quantities by the Indians, and exchanged for blankets, powder and shot, spirits, beads and other Indian nec- essaries. It was not unusual for thirty or forty Indians to camp around the store at night, or if very cold to sleep close to the blazing fire which roared up the wide mouthed chimney.
James Bloodgood was the son of Alderman Bloodgood of Albany, and established a hardware store directly next to John Post's store on Genesee Street in 1805.
James Hopper was an English sea captain in the service of the merchant marine. In the war with France his ship was captured, and he himself carried a prisoner to France, where he was afterwards exchanged with a brother officer for Ad- miral and Marshall Junot, who was captured in Egypt. Gen. Alexander Hamilton is said to have induced him to come to this part of the State; he purchased large tracts of land in the southern part of the city, where a street is named for him, and lived here until his death in 1816. Mrs. McClure, George Hopper and Thomas Hopper were his children.
Matthew Codd made himself unpleasantly known to fame as a quarrelsome Irishman of large stature, and in addition to this as the husband of Martha Bradstreet, a daughter of John Bradstreet, one of the four original proprietors of Cosby Manor, whose perpetual law suit against the city associated her with such distinguished lawyers as Aaron Burr, John O. Van Ness, David B. Ogden, and our Daniel Webster. Many of these trials were held before Judge Alfred Conkling, Judge John Savage and Judge Sutherland. Mrs. Codd, or Martha Bradstreet, as she preferred calling herself after her separation
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from her belligerent husband, was always present at these trials; having become quite a good lawyer herself, she fre- quently gave advice to her counsel openly in Court, thus caus- ing much amusement.
The name of John C. Devereux upon the subscription list, recalls memories of an upright warm-hearted citizen who, coming to Utica in its early days entered heartily into its so- cial and mercantile life, and left a spotless name for integrity and praiseworthy zeal in promoting all the best interests of the village. He gave liberally to every church as it was started, and gathered the members of his own faith in the parlors of his house, for Mass, when as yet they were too feeble a folk to have a church building of their own. His home was for many years the large cheerful house on the corner of Broad and First Street, afterwards so well known as the Hubbell Homestead. The gift of fifty dollars from John Hooker, the architect, was a generous one, as was also the same amount from Hugh White of Whitestown, and Peter Smith, the Indian agent and interpreter. Hugh White, the head of the little colony of fifteen souls who constituted the first plantation of Puritans oustide of New England in our State, has written his name in fair characters through all this region, and no name is more deserving of honor.
Peter Smith was one of the very earliest settlers in Fort Schuyler, and as Indian trader and interpreter was familiar with all this wild region before any permanent settlement was established. Both he and his son Gerret Smith were at differ- ent times members of the Presbyterian Church, and not at any time identified with Trinity, except as subscribers to its build- ing fund.
Jonas Platt was the pioneer lawyer of the State west of Johnstown. Coming to Whitesboro at the age of 21 he rose to great eminence in the County and State. When Herkimer County was organized in 1790 he was appointed to the office
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of County Clerk, and kept the records for seven years at his office in Whitesboro. When Oneida County was formed in 1798 Mr. Platt became the Clerk of the new County, still keeping the office and records in Whitesboro. He was also the first Congressman who lived in what is now Oneida County, and in 1814 was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, and was a member of the Constitutional convention of 1821.
Thomas R. Gold was another prominent lawyer and State Senator. The firm of Gold & Sill was well known throughout the State. Young lawyers or law students from all parts of the State flocked hither to receive the benefit of their instruc- tions. It is said that at one time no less than thirty students were enrolled on their list, many of whom afterwards became prominent at the bar. The household of Mr. Gold contributed largely to the refined and pleasant hospitality for which Whitestown was famous at that time, and whose echoes linger there still.
Charles C. Broadhead came to old Fort Schuyler in 1797, and was an active engineer and surveyor. His career presents a vivid picture of life on this frontier at that time. Appointed surveyor of the famous Castorland Company, his work took him into the Northern wilderness, where his life was once threatened by the tomahawk of a savage Indian, and saved by the intervention of a friendly one. Mistaking the crossing of the Black River at Lyon's Falls his raft was swept over the high falls. He was carried into the swirl of a foaming eddy, and dragged senseless to the shore by the Indians, while his friend Mondrew Pharoux, one of the principals of the Com- pany, was swept over the falls and drowned. In 1800 Govern- or Jay appointed him Sheriff, and in that capacity he was re- quired to act at the first execution in Oneida County. The criminal was an Indian from Brotherton, convicted of killing his wife; and the execution took place on a hill west of Whites- boro, in the presence of a vast crowd. Dominie Kirkland
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stood close by the criminal, and offered fervent prayers in the Indian language, while hymns were sung by several Indian men in their own tongue. The St. Regis Indians adopted Mr. Broadhead as a member of their own tribe, and gave him a name descriptive of his power in running lines. The most difficult part of the survey of the Erie Canal from Albany to Rome was put into his hands, and although some of his work was disputed, time fully justified the accuracy of his state- ments. The Bleecker heirs employed him to make a map of their property in the limits of the City of Utica; it was care- fully and skillfully done, and no document in the County Clerk's Office is more constantly consulted than this map, filed in 18II. In 1817 he ran the lines of the town of Utica when it was set off from Whitestown, which was his last public work. Previously to this Simeon DeWitt had appointed him Deputy Surveyor of the State. Important surveys, negotiations and treaties with the Indians were conducted by him with rare skill and ability. His long life was full of contrasts. Naturally social in his tastes, he was in younger life a favorite guest around the fireside of many of the pleasant households of old Utica; but with advancing years he grew moody and irritable, and as one friend after another died out of his circle he lived apart in lonely isolation until he died in 1852 a lonely old man of eighty years. He was a member of the Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Churches, and his donation to Trinity Church probably grew out of his personal friendship for some of its members.
William G. Tracey was one of the earliest merchants of Whitesboro, and its second postmaster. His sons Charles and William Tracey became prominent lawyers in both Utica and New York. His house still stands on Main Street in Whites- boro, opposite the street called by his name.
The next subscriber, Frederic White, has left an advertise- ment which presents a vivid picture of the contents of a store
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on the frontier at that time. It reads: "My new hat and gro- cery store has on hand six hundred castor roram hats (what- ever these might have been), and two hundred knapt and felt hats, also liquors, groceries, nails, crockery, and a few dozen of Webster's first and third spellers, all of which will be sold for wheat, pot or pearl ashes, or on approved credit."
Dr. Marcus Hitchcock was a physician who opened a drug store and dispensed catarrhal snuff and various patent medi- cines, some of which he invented himself; his store was at 38 Genesee Street, just above Whitesboro Street, and here he kept the Post Office from about 1804 to 1828. His office may be said to have been the beginning of club life in Utica. As the time for the arrival of the mail approached, it was the gathering place of all the men of the village and the adjacent country. Here all the village oracles and sages exploited their wisdom; here appointments were made, bargains concluded, political candidates proposed and rejected; here strangers made themselves known to the inhabitants, here young men were counselled and encouraged by their seniors and valuable friendships formed. Here Erastus Clark in the full courage of his convictions uttered the bold prophecy, that at some future day, whose date was not fixed, Utica would possess five thou- sand inhabitants. This came to pass in 1825, when the cen- sus gave the population at five thousand and forty souls. In 1813 it was but seventeen hundred.
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