USA > New York > Oneida County > Rome > Our city and its people : a descriptive work on the city of Rome, New York > Part 10
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JAMES STREET NORTHI OF THIE CANAL.
and sold to F A. Thomas, who resided there and later sold to William Townsend, who occupied the house. The east part was occupied by Rev. S. Hayes and afterwards for many years by James Farquharson ; afterwards O. Wheeler owned and occupied the house. It later passed to Dr. Kingsley.
The next house east was erected by Merrick Matteson not far from fifty years ago. The next two story house east with eaves to the street was erected by Dr. Blair not far from 1832 on the Parkhurst place, the doctor then owning and occupying the premises. Some forty-five years ago the building was removed to its later location.
The next house, occupied twenty-five years ago by James Elwell, was erected by Oscar M. Morton ; it was greatly improved by Mr. Elwell. The brick house on the corner of Spring street was erected by John Stryker some forty years ago and was occupied by Bishop Whipple a number of years. E. P. Waite afterwards became its owner and occu- pant. It is now owned by Dr. J. S. Kingsley.
Crossing over to the opposite side of Liberty street we find that prior to 1835 that part of the old fort was a distressed looking place. There was a mound and there were ditches and trenches, and the grounds were used to deposit dead dogs, hogs, cats, horses and all the rubbish of the town. About 1835 Mr. Stryker cleared and leveled the north- east corner of the fort and erected his residence. A. W. Cole a few years after built a brick' dwelling which became the property of Dr. Kingsley. D. B. Prince built a frame dwelling which stood next west, but which was purchased by Dr. Kingsley and removed across the street to the rear of the lot there. The small house in the yard of Stephen Ward was erected by A. H. Brainard on the rear of the lot and afterwards removed to its later location. The house owned and occupied by Mr. Ward was built about 1841 by E. W. Wight. The next house was erected by Joshua Dickinson, jr., about 1839, and was occupied in later years by Mr. Rathbun. A portion of the
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
house that became the residence of S. W. Mudge was erected by Oliver Greenwood about 1815 ; he had a blacksmith shop a little back and west of it. James Dallaba resided there and after him N. P. Stewart; then R. S. Doty and after him Mr. Mudge. The house was enlarged and improved by the last two men. The session room of the Presby- terian church stood east of Mr. Mudge's house, but on those premises. Many years ago it was sold to P. H. Coyle and by him removed to its later location and there it was burned. The residence of Dr. Scudder was erected about 1834 by Gen. Jesse Armstrong and he resided there until his death. About half way between that house and the residence of Mrs. E. Huntington, but nearer the street stood the Grosvenor school house before noticed. After being changed into a barn it was burned in the fire that destroyed Elm Row. The vine-covered cottage so long occupied by Zelotus Lord, as before mentioned, was removed about 1846 to make room for the residence of Mr. Huntington.
On the site of B. N. Huntington's residence, being the lot between the residence of Mrs. E. Huntington and Washington street, Gurdon Huntington about 1810 erected a story and a half frame dwelling which he occupied to his death about 1843; afterwards C. Comstock owned and occupied the premises and enlarged the house. About 1855 it was removed to the southwest corner of Washington and Bloomfield streets where it was owned and occupied by Dr. Cowles. It is now standing.
On the west end of the lot where Col. E. B. Armstrong lived, stood two small houses fifty years ago, both of them old. In the one nearest the tin shop Josiah Dickerson's son resided and the next one west was occupied by Sylvester Wilcox, who carried on the tin shop as hereto- fore mentioned. They were old tenant houses and in one of them Miss Dickerson died of cholera in 1832.
Where the residence of N. B. Foot (now D. P. McHarg's) was a small yellow wooden dwelling house seventy-five years ago. It was occupied about 1820 by Widow Alden, mother of Harriet Alden, who
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JAMES STREET NORTH OF THE CANAL.
taught school in the Parker Halleck honse. After that Mr. Vander- heyden, grandfather of N. B Judd, resided there. After that in about 1831 Eber P. Moon, publisher of the Rome Telegraph, lived there, and still later it was occupied by S. B. Stevens, D. Petrie, and Benjamin Whitemore. N. H. Leffingwell purchased the premises and the build- ing was removed to the Turin road on the Lampman place and is now occupied by J. P. Olney. Mr. Leffingwell erected the present brick building about 1855.
Where the Parkhurst or Leonard house stands, now the residence of Wheeler Armstrong, there was erected a frame dwelling prior to 1820. Dr Blair built the wing which was afterwards removed to near Mr. Elwell's, as previously stated. The premises were afterwards owned by Horace Adams, and there Comstock Baker lived and died. Adam Van Patten lived there awhile. The main part of the building was moved to the corner of Steuben and Church streets, where William Williams occupied it. Not far from 1847 Benjamin Leonard erected the present building there, where he lived until his death. William S. Parkhurst next owned and occupied the premises until his death. Wheeler Arm- strong now resides there.
The house where John S. Baker resides was built by Cornelius Hol- lister about 1828.
The Universalist church on the corner was built about 1823 for a Masonic Hall by Roman Lodge F. & A. M. and Rome Chapter R. A. M., the upper part being used for that purpose and the lower part as an Episcopal chapel. (See history of churches in later pages). The house on the opposite corner of Liberty street was erected about 1818 by Francis Bicknell.
Prior to 1830 Liberty street west of Washington was unopened ; there was not a solitary building in that part of Rome through which Liberty street has been extended ; in fact that part of the town then composed a part of the farm of Dominick Lynch, as has been stated.
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
In the year last above named Alanson Bennett, Charles Brown, Moses G. Watson, and Miss Olive Robbins went on to that unoccupied space between Washington and George streets and erected a frame house in that year.
Mr. Bennett built a house on the lot where St. Mary's church now is. Mr. Watson erected a house that was afterwards occupied by C. M. Dennison and prior to that by Elon Comstock, and prior to that by Ambrose Coan, to whom the house was sold by Mr. Watson. Mr. Brown built the house afterwards occupied by L. E. Elmer, and Miss Robbins erected the house where she resided until her death.
The next house on that part of Liberty street was erected by Allen Briggs about 1832 where W. N. Caswell resided, and where Israel S. Parker lived a number of years, and after him Matthew Huntington and James H. Carroll.
In 1828 Mr. Watson leased of Mr. Lynch for a period of thirty years, by paying annual interest on $250, that strip of ground between Mr. Parker's house and the alley, which lease Mr. Watson sold to Mr. Parker who occupied it. Mr. Caswell erected on the lot next to the alley the dwelling house now there.
In 1832 Jeptha Matteson erected the house where he resided until his death on the north side of Liberty street. Cyrus Hayden erected for his father, Henry Hayden, the house on the site where the residence of William Atkinson now is; that was about 1836. It was subse- quently removed to George street and became the residence of Cyrus Hayden, and is now occupied by C. T. Hayden.
About 1834 William McPhee erected the house next to and just west of the Universalist church. He lived there a number of years and sold to G. W. Taft. Afterward M. K Johnson owned and occupied the building. The house now owned and occupied by Mr. Atkinson was erected about 1848.
About 1840 Isaac M. Pinckney and W. Mormon built the double
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JAMES STREET NORTH OF THE CANAL.
house standing between the site of the Miss Robbins house and the one owned by Mr. Dennison. S. B. Stevens formerly owned it and resided there many years.
Not far from 1834 John M. Root built a bake shop on the lot after- wards occupied by John Hook on Dominick street, now Hook Block, and carried on quite an extensive business there until about 1843, hav- ing then moved into the Draper store near the Tremont House. L. E. Elmer bought and removed that building upon the lot of Mr. Elmer on Liberty street and Mr. Root resided there a number of years, and up to the time of his removal to Saratoga county.
On the site occupied twenty-five years ago by Rev. H. L. M. Clarke, Samuel Hungerford erected a small frame dwelling afterward owned by E. W. Wight. It was occupied by R. Keeney, H. G. Giles, and S. Lawrence. It was removed to the south side of Dominick street next east of the arsenal property. The dwelling of Rev. Mr. Clarke was erected by S W. Morton some forty five years ago. About 1840 S. Hungerford erected the house on the southeast corner of Liberty street, where he afterwards lived. About 1842 the house afterwards occupied by Miss White on the north side of Liberty street, on the corner of the alley, and a short distance from George street, was removed from the site of the Armstrong block to its later location. Samuel N. Sheldon resided there many years.
The frame part in the rear of the brick house of N. P. Rudd was erected about 1832 for Mrs. Graves, mother of Asa W. She resided there until her death. After that John Tibbits resided there. The house on the corner of Liberty and George streets, where Dr. West for- merly resided, was erected about 1845 by Henry Savery, of Western.
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
CHAPTER XI.
A FEW OF THE EARLY PROMINENT ROMANS.
The first Rome merchant located at Fort Stanwix early in the spring of 1793 and displayed his slender stock of goods in a room in the tav- ern kept by John Barnard, a little northeasterly of the site of the pres- ent court house. This merchant was George Huntington, a native of Connecticut, twenty-three years old. He had served a year as clerk at Whitestown and had visited the Fort prospecting, and concluded that the outlook for trade was good. He accordingly joined with his brother Henry and began business as above stated. In 1794 Mr. Huntington built a frame store and a frame dwelling on Dominick street near the corner where the Merrill block was erected. Some of the account books of that old mercantile firm are in existence, and it is of interest to know that seventy or eighty years ago charges were made for rum and brandy against customers about as frequently as for any other mer- chandise ; this would be equally true with reference to any other mer- chant of those days, and a list of such customers included deacons, elders and members of churches as well as others. When Rome was organized as a town in 1796 Mr. Huntington was supervisor, and when the county was formed three years later he was appointed one of the side judges of the Common Pleas, and was twice reappointed. He was elected supervisor of Rome in 1804, 1814 and 1817. In 1810 he was elected to the Assembly, and in 1813 was elected lieutenant-governor on the " War Ticket." In 1815 he ran for the State Senate in opposi- tion to Henry Seymour, father of Governor Seymour, but was defeated. He was elected to the Assembly in 1818-19-20-21. Under the new Constitution of 1822 he ran again for senator, but was defeated. He
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E. J. LAWTON, M. D.
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EARLY PROMINENT ROMANS.
was trustee of Rome village in 1820-21-22-26-27. He and his brother Henry retired from mercantile business about 1816 and devoted their attention to their other interests in the State. George Huntington died in Rome in September, 1841.
Henry Huntington was elected as assessor and school commissioner in Rome in 1800, and 1803-7 was chosen supervisor. In 1804 he was elected to the State Senate, the first one in Rome. In 1806 he was a member of the Council of Appointment, and 1808 and 1812 was presi- dential elector. In 1816-17 he was elected to the Assembly,'and in June, 1821, was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention. He ran twice for lieutenant-governor, 1822 and 1826, but was defeated on both occasions. The Bank of Utica was started in 1812 and in the following year Mr. Huntington was elected as its second president and held the position until a short time before his death, a period of thirty- two years. He died in Rome in October, 1846.
Alva Mudge was the son of Nathaniel, and the latter was the sixth generation from Jarvis Mudge, the first of the name to come to America from England in 1638. Nathaniel Mudge settled in Rome not far from 1800 and lived in a small frame house just west of the site of the Will- ett House. He afterwards lived in other places, and had a grocery on the corner of James and Whitesboro streets, on a part of the site of Stanwix Hall. He died in February, 1821. Alva Mudge was the fourth of his ten children and the elder son. In 1826 he began busi- ness as a grocer in the old Checkered building. In 1837 he and his brother-in-law, Roland S. Doty, purchased the premises on Dominick street in some part of which he was long in business, either alone or. with Mr. Doty. During his long life in Rome he was prominently identified with the growth of the place, and as trustee of the village, of the Presbyterian church, a director in the banks and various other en- terprises, he gained the confidence and respect of the community.
Lebbeus E. Elmer, son of Theodorus Elmer, was born in Montgom- 16
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
ery county October 21, 1791. He worked at farming until he was twenty years old, and in June, 1831, settled in Rome. The first work he did was to aid Nathaniel Mudge in digging a well on the lot where Stanwix Hall stands. Later he began the grocery trade. He married a sister of Alva Mudge and was all the remainder of his life a leading citizen. He held the offices of assistant U. S. assessor of internal reve- nue, U. S. deputy collector, deputy sheriff, and other positions of honor.
John B. Jervis came with his parents to Rome, from Long Island, in the same year Oneida county was formed. In 1817, when the con- struction of the Erie Canal commenced, Benjamin Wright, the engineer, was in need of an axman, and young Jervis was temporarily engaged. He was ready with an ax and apt in learning, and soon after he was promoted to the position of rodman in the survey, for twelve dollars per month. He then turned his attention to the study and practice of surveying and engineering, and made such proficiency under Mr. Wright that in two years he was made resident engineer, at one dollar and a quarter a day, on seventeen miles of the canal, extending from Madison into Onondaga county. After remaining there two years he was made resident engineer for two years more, on a more difficult and important division near Amsterdam. In 1823 he was made superintendent of the work for fifty miles of the canal, employing and discharging all the subordinates. When the canal was completed in 1825, having been seven years on that work, he resigned to engage in higher duties, and he received from Henry Seymour, canal commissioner and the father of Governor Seymour, a kind and very commendatory letter. He re- ceived from Benjamin Wright, then chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, the appointment of assistant engineer, and upon Mr. Jervis devolved the main duties. He examined the route, and on his recommendation the use of the river, for part of the way, as was first intended, was abandoned. He was engaged as engineer on a great
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EARLY PROMINENT ROMANS.
many other works of internal improvement, among which may be men- tioned the railroad between Albany and Schenectady, the Schenectady and Saratoga Railroad, the Chenango Canal, the eastern division of the Erie Canal on its enlargement in 1836, the Croton Water Works, sup- plying New York city with water, and which was considered the great- est piece of engineering skill in the world, and the success of which gave Mr. Jervis a world wide reputation. He was consulting engineer to supply Boston with water, and chief engineer of the Hudson River Railroad, etc. The water works of Port Jervis (a place on the Erie Railroad named after him) were constructed under his approval and the Rome water works plan was submitted to him and received his sanction. He was during most of his long life a consistent and active member of the First church in Rome, which he joined in 1816.
Lynden Abell, who died June 28, 1884, was a native of New Hamp- shire, and settled in Rome in 1826. He was a baker and confectioner, and later a prominent contractor on public works, particularly on the canals. He was one of the founders of the First M. E. church, and an honorable and useful citizen.
Marquis D. Hollister died November 23, 1891. He was born in the town of Chatham, Conn., in June, 1811, and after learning the harness- making trade, settled in Rome in the winter of 1836-7, leasing a hotel the property of his uncle, Jeremiah Brainerd, on the south side of the canal, for $150 a year. Four years later he engaged in the stage and livery business with Giles Hawley and M. L. Kenyon. In 1846 he leased the Stanwix Hall hotel and kept it two years, afterwards re-en- gaging in the livery business which he followed until 1885. He was a Whig politician of some prominence.
Jesse Walworth was born in the town of Rome, July 26, 1806, and died March 9, 1892. His father was also named Jesse, and was one of the pioneers. Mr. Walworth was employed nearly the whole of his active life in building operations for Benjamin and Edward Huntington.
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
He was a Whig and Republican in politics, but held no office except village trustee.
William T. Pratt, born in Lyme, Conn., October 29, 1800, was a son of Daniel Pratt, and died in Rome, April 1, 1893. The family settled in Rome in 1816. Mr. Pratt was a carpenter by trade and was en- gaged in building operations up to within a short time of his death. He was upright in business and an industrious and useful citizen.
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BUSINESS INTERESTS IN 1848.
CHAPTER XII.
BUSINESS INTERESTS OF ROME IN 1818.
The following is a record of the major part of the business interests in Rome in 1848 :
It should be borne in mind that the great fire in January, 1846, which originated in the shoeshop (up stairs) of John McCarrick, in a building then situated where the store of R. Keeney afterwards was, swept away all of the buildings on the northerly side of Dominick street from and including the American corner to a point a little west of the site of the Willett House. In that year and the next the burned dis- trict was mainly rebuilt, except that most of the buildings east of where Rufus Keeney & Son's hat store was were not ready for occupancy until late in the year 1847 and some not until 1848. The Willett House was finished in the last named year and E. R Lewis became its first landlord, and a capital landlord and a prince of good fellows he was. He subsequently removed to Chittenango and kept the Spring House there, and not far from 1857 was chief clerk in the National Hotel at Washington.
In 1846 William Atkinson was in the clothing business in what be- came a shoe store next to the Willett House. Mr. Atkinson had clerked in Kingsley's clothing store in Utica for four years prior to 1847 and in September of that year he came to Rome to start in business. Next east of Mr. Atkinson, Peck & Keeler were in the notion and dry goods trade. Subsequently Mr. Keeler went across the street and the firm of Keeler & Stokes was there established. About 1868-70 Mr. Keeler went to New York. Next east of Peck & Keeler J. Stalker was in the clothing business. He came from New York city in the spring of 1847
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
and subsequently located on the opposite side of Dominick street. In the store afterwards occupied by Mr. Atkinson, H. A. Wilcox and S. W. Mudge were in the dry goods and crockery trade. Farther east Elmer Brothers carried on a grocery and bakery. Where Wardwell Brothers are, Harmon Emerson was in the hardware business and over this store Dr. J. A. Cowles had his dental rooms.
In 1847 Daniel Cady had come up from the Armstrong block and located in Jeptha Matteson's building where J. S. Dyett afterwards carried on business. It was considered in that year quite out of town, as it was the last dry goods store west on that side of the street. Mr. Cady kept dry goods and dealt extensively in merchant iron. H. D. Spencer, H. K. White, and Eugene Vogell were his clerks. Mr. Spen- cer came to Rome as his clerk in 1845 and Mr. White in the spring of 1846 and a few years later went into business for themselves. The firm of Spencer & White has ever since been in existence and is the oldest in that line in Rome.
On that side of the street T. J. Hyde and A. H. Edgerton were in the grocery business. Francis Bicknell was in jewelry trade near there and also J. S. Hovey. S. B. Stevens was in the boot and shoe business in the store afterwards occupied by M. M. Davis; he came to Rome in 1826. Robert Walker and Morris Chappell were merchant tailors in the store afterwards occupied by Robert T. Walker. Near by, Levi Scofil and Richard Dunning were together in the grocery and pro- vision business. Jeptha Matteson was engaged in the cabinet and fur- niture business. He came to Rome in 1820 and started in the business in 1824. C. F. Williams and Jabez Wight were partners in the hat, cap, and fur business in the store long occupied by N. P. Rudd, and Rufus Keeney was then in their employ. J. A. Dudley and H. S. Hill were in the drug business where F. J. Hager & Co. now are. Henry Veazie was a merchant tailor just east of Dudley & Hill. Dr. J. M. Sturdevant had come from Lewis county that year and had his office in
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BUSINESS INTERESTS IN 1848.
the Empire block, the same building where a quarter of a century ยท later he was found dead in a chair in his office.
The American was kept by A. Rowe, whose rotund form and genial face will be remembered by some of the older Romans. Just around the corner on James street Frank Edwards was estab- lished in the boot and shoe trade ; some years later he removed to the southerly side of Dominick street opposite the Willett House. Next to Mr. Edwards, R. G. Savery was in trade. James Merrill, sr., who built the Merrill block in 1844, was in the harness and saddlery business there in 1848, and Gordonier Freer was at work in the same building. Mr. Freer came to Rome in April, 1831, on the first canal packet that left Utica in that year. In 1848 Dr. J. V. Cobb had his dwelling and office on or near the site of the Sink opera house. On the grounds occupied by the Hill block and the Fort Stanwix Bank building, there stood the Northern Hotel then kept by Horace Putnam, father of P. R. and B. H. Putnam. Mr. Putnam was a genial and companionable landlord and had a large patronage from the surrounding country. Stanwix Hall was then kept by M. D. Hlol- lister.
In the Armstrong block J. & E. B. Armstrong were in trade. Col. E. B. Armstrong became a Roman in 1826 and no man was more actively engaged in business or made a deeper impress on the material interests of the place than he. The law firm of Foster, Bennett & Boardman was in the same block, and H. W. Johnson was a law student in the office. He was subsequently deputy secretary of state. In the same block Henry Hayden and S. P. Lewis were in trade and Thomas Ball had just started a drug store there. In the upper story of that block the Rome Sentinel was published by C. Comstock and A. J. Rowley. Opposite that block and in the white store house on the canal, W. O. McClure was in the book and periodical trade, and I. S. Parker was in the forwarding business.
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
In the building where was erected the Dyett block, H. M. Lawton and R. S. Doty were in the grocery business and also were partners with Mudge, Langford & Co. in dry goods and hardware trade further up the street and around the corner on Dominick street. Mr. Lawton first came to Rome in 1842. Glen Petrie was in the meat business in the Dyett block on the canal. He came to Rome in 1832 and learned the trade of butcher with James Farquharson, then in that business on the old canal. William McPhee was a merchant tailor in the same building, and J. B. McHarg was in business up stairs. Alva Mudge, P. B. Langford, and Frank De Ryther were of the firmn of Mudge, Lang- ford & Co. Mr. Mudge was for many years a conspicuous figure in the business interests of Rome.
Fort Stanwix Bank was started in 1848 and was located on the cor- ner where Lawton & Co.'s store was. David Utley was its first presi- dent ; W. N. Nellis, cashier, and H. G. Utley, teller. On the second floor overhead Comstock & Beach were together as attorneys and their only law student was David E. Wager. On the third floor of that block the Roman Citizen was published by Alfred Sandford and George Scott. J. P. Fitch was editor. Judge G. H. Lynch was admitted to the bar a year or so before and he and John Stryker were law partners and had their office near that of Comstock & Beach. Where the First National Bank is now located, Nathaniel Mudge had a dry goods store in 1848. O. D. & C. P. Grosvenor had a bookstore where is now the Arinstrong store.
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