Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II, Part 31

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1094

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JOHN EDSON SWEET.

THE ancestry of the family of which John Edson Sweet is a member is clearly traced back to John and Mary Sweet, who settled in Salem, Mass., in 1631. Horace

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

Sweet was the youngest son of Timothy and Eunice (Woodworth) Sweet, and was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born April 1, 1796, and married, November 20, 1817, Candace, daughter of Punderson Avery; he died August 4, 1858. in Pompey, Onondaga county, N. Y., where he was an early settler. He passed his life as a farmer, and, while neither more nor less successful than many others of his class, was a man of intelligence and respected in the community where he lived. His wife came from a family that is well known in many parts of the country, particularly in the field of mechanics. several of its members having been eminent in that line. The children of Horace and Candace (Avery) Sweet were Clarence H., a merchant in Rochester, who died January 10, 1883; Helen L. (Mrs. E. A. Fink), who died in Weedsport, N. Y., April 19, 1842; Anson Avery, a manu- facturer in Syracuse, who died June 6, 1894; Homer D. L., a prominent civil engi- neer and surveyor, who died in Syracuse on November 16, 1893; Wheaton B., a farmer on the homestead in Pompey; William A., the well known manufacturer of Syracuse ; John Edson, the subject; and Ann E. (Mrs. Charles C. Bates), of Syra- cuse, who died in 1878.

John Edson Sweet was born in Pompey October 21, 1832, and passed his early years on his father's farm. His opportunities for acquiring an education were lim- ited to the local schools, which he attended between the ages of seven and fifteen years, but without developing more than ordinary love for study or aptitude for gaining the knowledge imparted in books. He, however, inherited mechanical genius of a high order, which began to manifest itself very early in his life. Possess- ing also a natural love for music, and finding no other way to gratify it at that time, he constructed a small violin when he was twelve years old, with which he was sent to a distant relative to learn to play. His term of instruction continued about two weeks and he came home able to play half a dozen of the olden tunes. The making of his violin simply because he wanted to learn to play it, was typical of one of the traits that has distinguished him in later years. Whatever he may have desired that he could not obtain elsewhere, he has never lacked self-reliance to undertake to pro- vide by his own unaided skill; and he has usually succeeded.

It was clear enough in his early life that Mr. Sweet would be a mechanic, if he was anything, and he was accordingly apprenticed, in 1850, to the carpenter and joiner trade, fortunately with a man of ability and a noble heart-John Pinkerton, now of Saginaw, Mich.,-who faithfully fulfilled his obligation to teach the young man "the art and mystery of his craft." Among the tools bought with his first earnings was the second set of socket firmer chisels ever made, one of which he still retains as a memento. In the winter of 1850-51 he obtained, through the efforts of a former neighbor, a position in the first, and at that time the only, architect's office in Syra- cuse, that of Elijah T. Hayden, another man of noble nature. Here making fires and sweeping the office floor alternated with opportunity to see the making of draw- ings and to assist in such capacities as untrained fingers could be made useful. Here, in paying his board from his earnings, not for an education, but for an oppor- tunity, he has often said lay the best investment he ever made. For ten years his life was devoted to carpenter and joiner work, building, and what was then called architecture, but what was in fact the making of construction drawings for buildings. In this work his designs or plans all bear the stamp of original arrangement and correct construction, again exhibiting another of his later most marked character- istics.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

A second winter as office boy with C. O. Holyoke, a natural artist and a believer in Ruskin, directed the young man's thoughts to the channel of sound construction, and the principle of adapting the construction to the use. He was convinced that. however much he might admire art and wish to be an artist, if nature had given him any faculty worth cultivating, it was not in that direction, but in mechanics. Build- ing at that time and within his field of operation was mechanical and not artistic. It was not long after the time under consideration that he built the most unique and best farm barn in the country, which still stands on the old farm in Pompey. The plans for this barn received the first premium in a national competition held by the then leading agricultural journal in the country, the Rural New Yorker. They were repeatedly published in that paper and were followed by a series of articles from his pen on architecture, extending through a dozen years.

At the breaking out of the war he was in Selma, Ala., as architect and superin- tendent of what was intended should be the second best hotel in the South. Discre- tion prompted him to leave one rainy day, and work on the hotel soon ceased. Ilis services as architect being in little demand during those troubled times, he spent some time as patternmaker and draughtsman in the railroad shops in Syracuse. In the summer of 1862 he went to the London Exhibition, spending some months on the Continent and the remainder of that year as a draughtsman in the international patent office of Hazeltine, Lake & Co. An account of his travels was published in a series of letters to the Syracuse Standard. Thirty years ago letters on foreign travel were less common than now and were read with much interest. Securing a patent on a nail machine in which the Patent Nut and Bolt Company, of Birmingham, Eng- land, took an interest, he went there and worked for them as draughtsman while superintending the construction of the machines. While there he furnished some short articles to Engineering, a technical journal published in London by Zerah Col- burn.

Returning to Syracuse in 1854, he engaged with Sweet, Barnes & Co. as designer and draughtsman. Here he designed a large number of machines, tools and appli- ances, introducing some of the features that still mark his designs. During these years he invented one of the pioneer machines aiming to supersede the use of mova- ble type, from which the modern linotype machine of Merganthaler is a step in ad- vance. This was to become accomplished through the formation of a continuous matrix by means of steel type and dies. Paper pulp, still universally used as matrices, was adopted by him for that purpose. As a piece of ingenuity and perfection of de- vices to accomplish its end, the machine was a marvel of mechanical genius, though its principles have since been superseded. It was exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1867 and later was presented to the Cornell University.

Returning to Syracuse from the Exposition he again connected himself with Sweet, Barnes & Co., and for three years had charge of their works. In November, 1870, he was married to Caroline V. Hawthorne, who died on May 12, 1887.

From 1871 to 1873 he was chiefly employed in bridge building for Howard Soule, of Syracuse, and during leisure in the fall and winter of 1872 he made the plans and patterns and did most of the work on the first straiglit-line steam engine. During the same time he contributed a series of articles to Engineering under the title, " Mechanical Refinements," and over the signature, "An English Engineer in America," both title and signature being selected by the editors.

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

From 1873 to 1879 was the period of his connection with Cornell University. The mechanical work done in that institution was of a pioneer character. While the Whitworth surface plates and straight-edges were known to a few in this country, their manufacture and introduction to the public date from the Cornell shop. The first standard measuring machine made in this country was made and is now stored there. This machine may almost be called a mechanical classic. It is, without a doubt, equal to any that have followed it, and no less an authority than John Rich- ards has testified that its method of correcting the error of the screw is the only one known that is commercially practicable. The equally important problem of neutral- izing the effect of wear was solved in an equally successful way, though one that has not been adopted to the same extent. This measuring machine was to have been the foundation of a system of standard gages whose manufacture the Professor hoped to establishi in connection with the college shop. This, again, was pioneer work, nothing of the kind being commenced elsewhere until some years later. Other principles which have since come into use-some universally and others partially- were embodied in some amateur lathes and a grinding machine. The first Gramme dynamo produced in this country was built there, and the second straight-line en- gine. These, with other products of the shop, were exhibited at the Centennial Ex- position. This straight-line engine, now so well known throughout the world, em- bodied what was then the novel combination-a balanced valve, a shifting eccentric, and a shaft governor. This has become the accepted type of high-speed engine, and the Centennial engine is fairly entitled to be considered the father of that nu- merous family. It should be added that all this work was produced by student labor, no other being employed in the shop.

The Professor's chief work, however, at Cornell was not the fashioning of iron, but the molding of brains. The Sibley College of that day as a college department was felt to be an anomaly by the powers that were. The professors, bred in the scholastic atmosphere of languages, mathematics, or pure science, gave it little sym- pathy and less support. This feeling was, no doubt, strengthened by the fact that the "theoretical" side of the department, with which they might have had some sympathy, was at a low ebb. In equipment, apparatus, etc., the department was, compared with itself of to-day, a kindergarten, and of its merits as a school the same comparison would hold. True education, however, consists of the training of the faculties and the formation of correct methods of thought and work rather than of the accumulation of information, and these it is the province of the true teacher to impart, largely independent of material aids and resources. Those who came as students under Professor Sweet's influence feel that in this respect they enjoyed a priceless privilege. As a teacher he was one of the few and rare, whose pupils be- come disciples. A compliment of the highest character, and one of which he feels justly proud is the following, by John Richards, editor of "Industry," in a lecture before the students of Leland Stanford University. Speaking of Professor Sweet, he styles him, "one of the most successful teachers of constructive engineering that this or any other country can boast."

Seeing no prospect of co-operation or support in doing what he felt was possible at Cornell, and what has since been done, he resigned his position and returned to Syracuse. Experimenting with the original straight-line engine and obtaining what appeared to be the maximum of simplicity and perfection of action in the governor,

BIOGRAPHICAL.

he commenced building the engine in a very modest way. The Straight-Line En- gine Company was soon organized, with him as president and general manager, which position he still holds. This engine has gradually made its own market in all countries. While it has not been the policy of the manager to endeavor to build all the engines that could be sold, at a possible sacrifice of perfection, it is a fact that the business has greatly and steadily increased, rendering necessary the building of new works, which were completed in 1890 from Professor Sweet's own plans.

Within the last few years he has found time to design a succession of improve- ments in the engine itself, many of which are extensively used by other builders, and an improved system of steam distribution universally acknowledged by the profes- sion. He has also designed various new machines, one of which, a traversing ma- chine, has become a standard tool, besides innumerable special devices for adding to the convenience of construction in the engine and to insure more perfect results. Besides this his opinion has been sought by about every inventor in, and many out of the city, and many patented inventions secured by others owe much to him, and many an industry has profited by his generous advice,

Professor Sweet has never aspired to do a large business only. He has preferred to "live upon a small rocky island of his own, with a lake and a stream in it, pure and good," to uphold ideals of his own, far in advance of commercial appreciation. He has never undertaken any task solely for the money that might be made by it, but rather to accomplish the feat or solve the mechanical problem, and of the hun- dreds of patentable inventions he has made, he has asked protection for very few. In design he is unique-novelty is found everywhere in his work, though always much more than novelty. As a well known engineer once remarked on examining the straight-line engine for the first time, " I would not have believed it possible to introduce so many novelties and have them good." The influence of his early artistic studies is apparent in every line, not manifested in superfluous ornament, but in that higher, and in engineering structures, only true beauty-the beauty of perfect fitness. A very expressive remark was once passed on the lines of a machine made up partly from some older work of Professor Sweet's and partly from new designs by others, to the effect that "it was easy to see where the master's hand left off and the cobbler's began in the machine." He has been a prolific writer for the press, usually along mechanical lines, and his peculiar terse, easily-comprehended, yet most expressive style, is readily discovered and warmly welcomed, whatever the appended signature. He exercises the broadest liberality toward the theories, be- liefs and works of others, believing that the field of invention and discovery is too broad and its possibilities too great to make it safe for any one person to belittle the efforts of another. Over the door of the straight-line engine works, cut in the stone arch, stands the legend, "Visitors Always Welcome:" there is a good deal of the superintendent's character hidden in the order that placed those words in that place.

In 1889 Professor Sweet was married to Irene A. Clark, a woman peculiarly fitted to enjoy the honors that have fallen to her husband and to aid him in obtaining others.

Professor Sweet has seen too much of the world and of the work of other peoples and has a too cosmopolitan judgment to feel any sympathy with that spread-eagleism which vaunts our own work in ignorance of others. More than this, he believes it

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

to be in as bad taste for a nation to boast as for an individual to do so. He consid- ers it a misfortune that our mechanics should slight instead of study the works of the Old World.

With no desire for popularity, yet exceedingly popular; of unswerving faithfulness to the highest mechanical ideas, yet successful in the business built upon them ; with no gift of eloquence, yet never failing to capture and hold his audience; modest to a fault, yet with his merit universally recognized, Prof. Sweet is a reassurance to those who sometimes feel driven to the conclusion that after all brass is better than brains, and that in this world modest merit is the one thing that escapes its just reward.

ELIZUR CLARK.

HON. ELIZUR CLARK, whose ancestors were noted for their longevity, was a de- scendant of John Clark, who came to America and first settled in Rhode Island about 1644. His father, Beamont Clark, was born in Saybrook, Conn., July 25, 1767. and died at the age of ninety years, in Michigan, in 1857; he came to Cicero, Onondaga county, in the summer of 1823, and followed farming until 1837, when he moved West. His mother, Nabbe Spencer, was born January 14, 1770, and died in Michigan, aged sev- enty-three.

Elizur Clark was born in Saybrook, Middlesex county, Conn., October 5, 1807, being next to the youngest in a fam- ily of eight sons and three daughters, and came to Cicero, Onondaga county, with his father in 1823. His advantages for obtaining an education were limited, yet he applied himself so assiduously to busi- ness pursuits and whatever came in his way that he ac- quired a large fund of practi- cal knowledge. He followed various occupations until 1834, when he leased of Henry Sey- ELIZUR CLARK. mour the Salina mill property and carried on the lumber business till Mr. Seymour's death in 1837. He then purchased a half interest in the estate, the other half being owned by ex-Gov. Horatio Seymour, and continued until 1846, when he became sole owner. Hon. Thomas G. Alvord then became his partner

BIOGRAPHICAL.

and together they carried on a successful business till 1863, when Mr. Clark retired from the firm and (with the exception of an agency connected with a party to whom he leased the mill property, continuing until 1870) from active life. In 1846 he also interested himself in the salt industry, both fine and coarse, and subsequently became an extensive manufacturer. Ile was one of the originators and long one of the heavi- est stockholders of the Salina Coarse Salt Company. From 1868 until his removal from Syracuse he was a director in the Salt Springs Bank, and also for some time a trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank.

In politics Mr. Clark was an unswerving Jacksonian Democrat, casting his first vote for General Jackson as president. In this respect he differed from his father and grandfather, who were closely allied to the Federal and later to the Whig par- ties. He was not an active politician, and regarded principles above party interests. lle was one of the first aldermen after the incorporation of Syracuse, representing the First ward, which he also served as supervisor in 1856. In 1863 he represented his district in the State Legislature. In all these capacities as well as in business and social relations he enjoyed the full confidence and respect of citizens of all classes. He was for many years prominently identified with the history of Salina and Syracuse, and bore a conspicuous part in developing their commercial resources.

November 13, 1825, Mr. Clark married Miss Jerusha N. Spencer, of Onondaga county, and of their ten children Harriet E. (Mrs. Augustus Avery) and John Sey- mour Clark, of Syracuse, and Mary D., widow of Edward Manning, of Lyme, Conn., are living. Mrs. Clark died in 1865, and in November, 1869, Mr. Clark married Miss Augusta M., daughter of Charles L. Peck, a native Lyme, Conn., and a de- scendant of Dea. William Peck who was born in England in 1601, came to America in 1638, and settled in New Haven, Conn. She survives him. In 1878 Mr. Clark removed to Lyme, Conn., where he died December 27, 1895.

THE MCINTYRE FAMILY.

THE ancestry of this family was Scotch on the Mcintyre side and English through other lines. The family have documentary proof showing beyond reasonable doubt their line of descent from the historical clan of that name which for a thousand years occupied Gleno, Scotland, and was a power in that country. Their English ancestry in one line descends through Sir John Brockett (now usually called Brackett), who had a son John, born in 1610, who came to America and settled in New Haven. Conn. To him there was born Samuel Brockett on January 14, 1652. He had a son John, born in 1685, who married Huldah Ells. A son of this John was born in 1718 and named Christopher, sr., whose son Christopher, jr., was father of Jemima Brackett, who married into the McIntyre family, as noted further on.

Taking up another line of the McIntyre ancestry, it is found that William Tothill (as then spelled), of Devonshire, England, is recorded as bailiff in 1528 and again in 1548; as high sheriff of Devon in 1549, and Lord Mayor of Exeter in 1552. His son Richard married Joan Grafton, daughter of Richard Grafton, author of the "Chron- icles of England," and a direct descendant from King Henry the I. This William was the great-great-grandfather of another William Tuttle (as the name is now spelled)

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

who came over in the ship "Planter," Nicholas Travice, master, in April, 1635. The passenger list of that vessel contained twenty-five names, seventeen of whom were Tuttles (or Tuttels) and represented three distinct families. The one in which we are here interested is known as the Devon branch, and the researches of George F. Tuttle, published in the family genealogy (1883) show a direct line of ancestors back through Richard Tuttle PER ARDUA and Joan Grafton to William the Conqueror, and in the fam- ily record are the names of many of England's nobility. William Tuttle, the great- grandson of Richard Tuttle and Joan Grafton, came over in the Planter, at which time he was twenty-six years old, was one of the founders of New Haven, Conn., in 1639. He is named on the passenger list a "husbandman," which indicated that he owned his land as well astilled it. Other records show that he was also a merchant and that during the succeeding twenty-five years he purchased various properties, laid out roads, was prominent in founding churches and schools, and appears altogether to have been a leading spirit in the community. He was born in ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF MACINTYRE OF GLENO.1 1609 and died in 1673. His wife's name was Elizabeth, born 1612, and died December 30, 1684, aged seventy-two years.

The fourth child of William and Elizabeth Tuttle was Jonathan, whose baptism is recorded as taking place in Charlestown, Mass., July 8, 1637; he married Rebecca Bell, daughter of Lieut. Francis Bell, one of the prominent men of Stamford, Conn. Jonathan Tuttle settled at North Haven, and became a leading citizen. He built a bridge over the Quinnipiac River at that place, which was long known as " Tuttle's bridge," and by court decree was permitted to charge two pence in money or three pence in barter for every traveler (horse and man) passing over it. His death took place in 1705, leaving six children.

1 Quarterly 1st and 4th Or, an Eagle displayed Gules, Armed langued and Membred Sable; 2d, Argent, a Ship with one Mast, the sails furled Sable, and flags displayed Gules. 3d, A sinister hand couched in Fesse Gules, holding a Cross Crosslet filched Azure. Crest, A dexter hand issu- ing from the wreatlı, holding a Dagger erect, both proper; the last hilted and pomelled Or. Motto, Per Ardua .- [Verbatim as extracted from the Lyon Office, Edinburgh.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Jonathan's son, Nathaniel, was born February 25, 1676, married Esther Blakeslee and had seven children. He died in 1728, aged fifty-two years. His seventh child was Capt. Ezra Tuttle, born in 1720, and married Hannah Todd, daughter of Gershom ; she died in October, 1760, and he married second, Susanna, daughter of George and Susanna (Abenethy) Merriman. Ezra Tuttle died June 11, 1793, aged seventy-three years, leaving his widow. He was the father of eleven children, three of whom died before their father. The third child was a daughter named Elizabeth, who mar- ried, in 1769, Christopher Brackett, jr., whose daughter Jemima married Abraham

McIntyre, as noted in the first paragraph. Elizabeth Tuttle's ancestry on the female side is traced back to Governor Newman, of Connecticut, through Sarah Newman and Samuel Tuttle. Christopher Brackett, jr., was one of the very early settlers in the town of Elbridge, where he located previous to 1807. He was the first merchant in the village, and his account books prior to 1810 are still in possession of the Mclutyre family, showing fine penmanship, the methodical work of a careful and intelligent man of business, as well as many very quaint entries. He was one of the foremost in founding the Baptist church in 1813, and was perhaps the most prominent citizen of early times. Ezra Brackett, brother of Jemima, was one of the early Elbridge merchants and a man of character and respectability.

Of the McIntyre family of which this is a brief chronicle, Joseph McIntyre, great- great-grandfather of Edward M. Mclntyre, now of Syracuse, was an early settler in Western Vermont, where he was a land owner, and served in the old French and Indian war and in the war of the Revolution. Two of his nephews served in the war of 1812. He died at the age of eighty-seven years, closing a long life of pioneer toil and respected citizenship.

Joseph MeIntyre's son, Abram (or Abraham), was born August 12, 1766, and early in his life removed from near Mt. McIntyre, in Essex county, N. Y., whither the family had removed, to Onondaga county, settling in the town of Elbridge, some- time before 1816. Previous to this time and in the year 1806, he had met and mar- ried Jemima Brackett, daughter of Christopher, jr., before mentioned. By a prior marriage he had three children, namely: Harriet, born January 8, 1797, died August 18, 1825; Hiram, born April 5, 1800, died about 1848; Charles, born June 4, 1803, died in 1893 .. By the second marriage with Jemima Brackett the children were Calvin, sr., born February 12, 1808, died September 5, 1870; William, born July 20, 1810, died in 1858. After a long life of usefulness Abram Mcintyre died at his home in Elbridge June 4, 1842. The homestead has always remained iu possession of the family and is now occupied by John C. Mclntyre and his sister Harriet.

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Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II, Part 31

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston History Company Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1094