USA > New York > Oneida County > Rome > Our city and its people : a descriptive work on the city of Rome, New York > Part 15
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NEWSPAPERS.
of 1854 A. Sandford became sole proprietor of the Citizen and Mr. Griswold continued for a number of years to act as editor. On De- cember 1, 1855, the establishment was destroyed by fire ; but the ener . getic proprietor took up new quarters in the Merrill block, gathered to- gether some old type and issued his next regular edition. Within thirty days he had new presses, type, and all necessary materials for a new establishment. The office has never since left that building, though it has made local changes in its quarters.
On June 1, 1826, Egbert E. Carr purchased an interest in the Citi- zen establishment, and the firm of Sandford & Carr existed until Feb. uary, 1884, when the veteran Mr. Sandford sold his interest to Ernest E. Byam, the firm becoming Carr & Byam. In June, 1887, Mr. Carr sold out to Clark Briggs, the firm name becoming Byam & Briggs. On January 1, 1896, Mr. Briggs purchased the interest of his partner and is now sole proprietor. In June, 1888, the semi-weekly Citizen was started, and is still continued. As a Republican organ of high character, the columns of which have always exhibited able edi - torial talent, the Citizen has during its long career found a large and friendly constituency.
The Rome Republican was founded in 1881, as a weekly Republican newspaper by J. J. Guernsey, a practical printer of long experience and a newspaper writer of ability. The Republican soon gained a large circulation and in 1895 a tri-weekly issue was established in connection with the original paper. E. M. Pavey acted as editor of the paper in association with Mr. Guernsey until April, 1896, when he was suc- ceeded by J. M. Burke. Mr. Guernsey has made his journal attractive in appearance and given it an editorial tone that has made it a welcome guest wherever it has become known.
The Harness Gazette .- This successful trade journal was founded in its present form on January 1, 1886, by T. J. Mowry and H. B. Max- well, though it had existed in newspaper form a few years prior to that
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
date. On January I 1889, the Harness Gazette Company was incor- porated, the same persons controlling the business. In July, 1889, Mr. Mowry purchased all of the stock and has since been sole proprietor and editor of the publication. Its name indicates the character of the Gazette and under Mr. Mowry's energetic and efficient management it has reached a remarkable degree of success
There have been a few ephemerial publications in Rome which did not meet with the success anticipated by their friends and passed away early. Among them was a Welsh paper Y. Arweinyyd, a semi- monthly paper started in January, 1858, with R. R. Meredith and Thomas T. Evans editors It was discontinued in 1860.
The Parlor Journal and Literary News Letter, a monthly, was started in 1843 by Graham & Co It did not long survive.
The Primitive Christian was published in 1845 by Rev. H. Matteson.
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POST-OFFICE AND MAILS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
POST-OFFICE AND MAILS.
Matthew Brown, jr., was postmaster of Rome in 1800 and kept the office in his store on the site now occupied by F. A. Brockett, formerly J. D. Ely. Mr. Brown was doubtless the first postmaster of Rome. . Joshua Hathaway was appointed about 1808 and held the office until his death in 1836. He was succeeded by his son Jay who remained in the office until 1849, when he was succeeded by R. G. Savery and the latter by A. J. Rowley. In 1857 D. E Wager succeeded Mr. Rowley and in 1861 E. H. Shelley was appointed. In the fall of 1867 S. P. Lewis was appointed to succeed Mr. Shelley, but in the spring of the next year Mr. Shelley was reinstated, and was succeeded in 1870 by B. Whitman Williams, who was succeeded in 1881 by G. M. Palmer. J. D. Corcoran was appointed by President Cleveland in 1885, and was followed by Judge Scripture in 1889. Judge Scripture resigned in 1893, and the present postmaster C. H. Dunning was given the place.
In 1820 and previously the mails were brought from Utica to Rome sometimes on horseback and some of the time in a one horse convey- ance, Bildad Merrill, of Utica, having the contract and his son being the post rider. This was a semi weekly mail seventy years ago. About the same time George Washington Frederick Steuben Parkhurst, of Whitesboro, carried a weekly mail from Utica north via Rome to Sackett's Harbor. In 1824, or thereabouts, Mr. Nichols, son-in law of James Thompson, who then kept the American Hotel in Rome, ran a line of stages and carried the mail between Utica and Oswego via Rome. A man in Jefferson county succeeded Mr. Parkhurst in this
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
contract. Not far from 1830 Col. Elisha Backus, of Trenton, and Sam- uel Buckley, of Watertown, succeeded the Jefferson county contractor. The sons of Mr. Thompson also carried mails north from Rome about that time. M. L. Kenyon, stage driver under Backus, bought out the latter and after that he, M. D. Hollister and Giles Hawley were suc- cessively interested in these stage lines and in carrying mails. It is related that while Joshua Hathaway was postmaster he would permit no talking, wearing of hats, or standing up in the post office while the mail was being distributed. As soon as the mail was brought in he would remark in a stern voice to those present, "Gentlemen, the United States mail has come ; be seated and take off your hats, and no talking while the United States mail is being opened and distributed." The order was obeyed with as much deference as is the similar order at court to keep silence under pain of imprisonment, while a judge delivers a charge to a grand jury.
After Jay Hathaway's incumbency in the post-office, the office was about 1840 removed to the southwest corner of James and Dominick streets, and about 1845 to the Arcade. Soon after the cars began run- ning west from Utica in 1839, the mails were brought here thereon, and as Kenyon & Co. had the carrying of the mails north of here, the post-office department insisted that it belonged to those contractors to carry the mails between the depot and the post-office. The mails were so carried by them for a number of years, but at last they gave it up and the postmaster had to see to it himself for a time. The first regular mail carrier between the depot and the post-office was Warren Raymond ; he received $80 a year compensation. After him Charles Yorkey was carrier at the same pay. In May, 1849, Mr. Will- iams commenced in the position and continued twenty to thirty years. When he began he carried the mail on his arm in a small leather bag, the bag being about as large as himself. In a year or two the mail in- creased and he had to use a wheelbarrow and still later a hand-cart.
JAMES H. SEARLES.
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In 1852 he was compelled to use a horse and wagon. When A. J. Rowley was appointed postmaster he removed the office to Elm Row. Sunday, July 29, 1866, Elm Row was burned and the post-office was temporarily removed to the court house. When the block was built on the site of Elm Row the office was removed thither in February, 1867.
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
CHAPTER XIX.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
When the need of banking facilities in Rome became urgent the following memorial was addressed to the Legislature :
The memorial of the undersigned, a Committee of the Inhabitants of the town of ROME, in the County of Oneida, Respectfully represents:
That the citizens of that town and its vicinity, are desirous of obtaining a Charter for a Bank, to be located in the village of Rome, with a capital of $100,000, with the privilege of increasing the same to $150,000, to be called the Bank of Rome. The undersigned, in discharge of the duty assigned them, proceed to state some of the reasons for the application.
'The result of the last census shows that the County of Oneida is one of the most populous in the State, and second only to the city and county of New York. Its present number of inhabitants is nearly 72,000, and its limits embrace a highly rich and fertile territory, abundant in resources, containing some large and many flourishing villages, and the largest manufacturing district in the State. From its local situation much trade from the north and south, centres within it. From these and other causes, a large amount of Bank Capital is required for the convenient and advantageous transaction of business. The undersigned are aware that a consider- able and indeed, all the bank capital of the county is now located at Utica; but they are led to the irresistible conclusion that the amount already invested there is wholly insufficient to meet the wants of the persons who resort to that place for accommo- dations; without regard to the northern part of the county and the counties adjoin- ing. This conclusion is based upon the fact, that your honorable body, at many of its previous sessions, and also at its present session, has been applied to for the in- corporation of the Oneida Bank, with a capital of $500,000; and in addition, the Bank of Utica has also applied for liberty to increase its capital $400,000. Besides, two of the banking institutions at present located there are of uncertain duration and may be withdrawn at any moment: the Ontario Bank, to the original location . of the parent institution, and the United States Branch may discontinue its opera- tions, whenever the Directors of the mother bank may from a refusal to renew its charter or any other cause, be induced to do so. The amount of permanent capital
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FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
at that place is then only about half a million of dollars, while in the city of New York, with a population only two-thirds larger than that of this county, there is more than sixteen millions and in the city and county of Albany, with a population about 18,000 less than our own, more than one and a half million.
The undersigned, therefore, confidently believe, that an equal extent of the coun- try, embracing as large a population, cannot be found in the State, with a less amount of bank capital than the county of Oneida.
The village of Rome, in which the proposed institution is desired to be located, is situated nearly in the geographical center of the county, contains 1,400 inhabitants and 21 stores, in which merchandise to the value of more than two hundred thous- and dollars is annually sold. In the town is an extensive cotton factory, a woolen factory, fourteen sawmills, three gristmills and four tanneries. It contains also, a canal toll office, at which was received nearly 30,000 dollars for tolls upon property during the last season; being three-fourths of the amount received at Utica for the same period. Utica is situated upon the county line, fifteen miles east of Rome and nearly forty from the northern and western extremities of the county. To Utica the collector must transmit his monies for deposit, and there, the inhabitants of the north ern and western sections of the county must resort for bank accommodations. Those residing in the towns of Florence, Camden, Vienna, Annsville, Lee and Western generally pass through Rome to Utica, and those residing in Boonville, Steuben, Remsen, Trenton, Floyd, Verona, Vernon, and part of Westmoreland, Deerfield and Whitestown, would find Rome more convenient to their residences, than Utica. In addition, portions of the counties of Madison, Oswego and Lewis, on a route to the great market towns of the State are nearer to Rome than any other place where a bank is already located, and the facilities for traveling are greater. But inde- pendent of other counties, at least one-half of the citizens of this county would be far better accommodated by a bank at Rome than at Utica.
The undersigned therefore, confidently assert, that if local advantages, the quan- tity of business, the wants of the community, and the proper distribution of institu- tions depending upon legislative enactment, be taken into consideration, the village of Rome presents claims equal, if not superior, to a great variety of places in which banks have been located before, as well as since the adoption of the safety fund sys- tem. That system, at once highly creditable to the State, and affording ample se- curity to its citizens, has so well established the confidence of the public in the sta- bility and permanency of our banking institutions, that every facility consistent with the public good should, in the opinion of the undersigned, be granted for the diffusion of their benefits among all classes, and in sections of the country which have. hitherto, in a great measure, been deprived of them.
The undersigned, relying upon the merits of their application, and believing that
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your Honorable body will not fail to appreciate them, respectfully request, that the prayer of your memorialists be granted.
Dated at Rome, January, 1832.
JAY HATHAWAY, A. BENNETT, J. ARMSTRONG, B. P. JOHNSON, W. C. NOYES,
Committee.
The foregoing memorial is a fair statement of the situation at that time ; it, moreover, gives pertinent hints of the feeling of rivalry exist- ing between the village and Utica. That Rome deserved a bank is clear enough, and doubtless the Legislature appreciated that fact, for the charter was granted. Rome was then the center of an extensive section embracing many villages and hamlets and a rich farming area which poured a considerable flood of business hither. The numerous tradesmen in those villages had a large part of their goods shipped from eastern markets by canal and most of them came to Rome, whence they were taken to their destination by farmers' teams and others who made a business of it. It was this fortunate situation as much as any- thing that enabled the place to pass through the panics of 1836-7 and 1857 with less disaster than befell many other similar communities. While Rome has suffered, and that severely, through unfortunate fail- ure of banks, it is true on the other hand that those now in existence are prudently and liberally managed and give to the city the financial accommodation and facilities needed for the successful transaction of the large mercantile and manufacturing interests.
The oldest banking institution now doing business in Rome is the First National. This bank was organized February 19, 1851, as the Rome Exchange Bank, with a capital of $100,000, which has never been changed. The first president was Robert B. Doxtater ; Alva Mudge, vice-president ; these with Edward Huntington, Gordon N. . Bissell, Calvert Comstock, David Utley. John B. Jervis, and Roland S.
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FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
Doty were the first directors In June, 1853, Edward Huntington was elected president, and held the office until 1882 when Gordon N. Bissell was elected. He was succeeded in 1887 by F. H. Thomas; and he by Thomas G. Nock in 1889. On May 28, 1890, J. G. Bissell was elected president to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Nock, and still holds the office. Gordon N. Bissell held the office of vice- president from 1858 to 1882, when he was succeeded by Thomas G. Nock, and he by J. G. Bissell in 1889. When Mr. Bissell was ad- vanced to the presidency, William R. Huntington was elected to the office of vice president. The bank has always occupied its present site, on which its building was burned in February, 1881, and the present structure erected The present (1896) board of directors consists of the following : J. G. Bissell, W. R. Huntington, Thomas G. Nock, George W. Davis, Henry G. Wright, Thomas M. Flandrau, Calvin Petrie, John B. Higgins, Edward Barnard. The last statement of this bank shows resources of $456,666.60 with a surplus fund of $20,000 and undivided profits of $10,236.97.
The Oneida County Savings Bank was organized May 1, 1869, with the following officers: Trustees, Samuel B. Stevens (who was chosen president), Alfred Ethridge (vice-president), John J. Perry, Henry Hager, John F. Mix, Henry Johnson, James Walker, Alfred Sandford, Charles E. Frazer, Harold H. Pope, Henry R. Hill, Thomas D. Roberts, Salmon Tuttle, and G. Harrison Lynch who was chosen sec- retary and treasurer. The bank began business in the Central National Bank rooms, and continued there until April 1, 1895. when it was re- moved to 158 West Dominick streel. The number of depositors is now about 1,800. Owen E. Owens is president ; T. D. Roberts, first vice- president ; F. L .. Roth. second vice-president ; John R. Edwards, sec- retary and treasurer.
The Rome Savings Bank was organized in 1851, with Hervey Bra- ton, president ; Andrew C. Bettis, vice- president ; B. J. Beach, secre-
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
tary. The business of the bank has been, until very recently, conducted in the building of the Fort Stanwix Bank. Edward Huntington was the second president of the institution and resigned in 1878, to be suc- ceeded by Gordon N. Bissell. He filled the office until his death, Feb- ruary 18, 1891. Since that time Harvey D. Spencer has been presi- dent. Wheeler Armstrong is first vice-president ; A. P. Tuller, second vice-president ; C. F. Barnard, secretary and treasurer. The trustees are as follows : John G. Bissell, Wheeler Armstrong, J. H. Searles, J. S. Dyett, Samuel Wardwell, Harvey D. Spencer, William R. Hunt- ington, Henry Barnard, Ackley P. Tuller, Harmon G. Utley, Henry G. Wright. The report of this bank for January, 1886, shows assets of $1,986,765.61, with a surplus (stocks at market value) of $303, 123.02.
The Bank of Rome was organized under the State law in 1875 with a capital of $100,000 which remains the same. In 1879 the name was changed to the Farmers' National Bank, and has so continued. W. J. P. Kingsley was elected the first president and still holds the office. R. M. Bingham was the first vice-president and was succeeded by Ed- ward Comstock. Samuel Wardwell is cashier, Charles E. Wardwell teller, and the following are the directors in 1896: W. J. P. Kingsley, Burt Olney, E. L. Stevens, A. P. Tuller, John D. Oxner, Edward Comstock, W. W. Wardwell, Louis Glesman, John R. Edwards, Charles Rathbun, T. E. Roberts, Samuel Wardwell, Charles E. Ward- well, H. J. Hitchcock, John Wylie. The bank statement of May, 1896, shows resources of $697,070.98 with surplus and undivided profits of $20,905 80.
Of the banks which had an existence in Rome and have become ex- tinct, the old Bank of Rome, the organization of which has been noticed in earlier pages of this volume, was the first and had a fairly prosperous existence down to 1863, when it went into liquidation and wound up its affairs. John. Stryker was long president of that institution, and George R. Thomas, subsequently connected with the Utica banks, acted as cashier many years.
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The Central National Bank was organized in 1854 as the Oneida Central Bank. It was changed to a national bank in 1865, with $100,- 000 capital. For forty years it carried on business, having among its officials some of the leading men of the city. It failed in December, 1894, going into the hands of Jim Stevens as receiver, and its affairs are in progress of settlement while this work is in press.
The Fort Stanwix National Bank was organized as a State bank in 1847 and began business in February, 1848, with David Utley, presi- dent ; W. W. Nellis, cashier ; H. G. Utley, teller. In 1865 the bank became national in charter, with a capital of $150,000. From that time onward until the present year (1896) it was considered one of the strongest financial institutions in Central New York, and had the confi- dence of every citizen of Oneida county. The late George Barnard had been its trusted cashier many years. On January 30, 1896, just as the State bank examiner was about to make his regular examination of the bank, Mr. Barnard hung himself in an upper room of the bank build- ing. The succeeding examination revealed a shortage of about $400,- 000. The affairs of the institution are being closed and all available assets paid to depositors.
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OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
CHAPTER XX.
THE BAR OF ROME.
Many of the early lawyers and judges of Oneida county have been noticed in Chapter XXII of Volume I of this work. Some of them and others to be noticed here were conspicuous at the bar and on the bench in years long past No attempt is made here to arrange these sketches in the order of the prominence of their subjects, but rather to follow a chronological arrangement.
James Lynch graduated at Columbia College in 1799, read law with Joshua Hathaway, and in 1804, was admitted to practice. He opened a law office in Rome, and had charge of his father's lands in this locality. The two main streets in Rome bear the Christian names of father and son-the father when Rome was organized as a town, own- ing some 2,500 acres of land, which included Fort Stanwix and the site of the whole business portion of Rome. He succeeded from Rome George Huntington in the Assembly, and was elected on the Federal ticket in the years 1813, 1814 and 1815, all through the hardest part of the war. He moved to Utica in 1818, opened a law office there, and about 1820 he became what was called. a "high- minded Federalist," repudiated De Witt Clinton, and went in for D. D. Tompkins, and in 1822 was elected to the Assembly. It was the year John E. Hinman was elected sheriff over S. Newton Dexter, and E. Dorchester, of the Oneida Observer, county clerk over Julius Pond. In 1825 Mr. Lynch moved to New York city, became judge of the Marine Court, and held that position until his death in 1853, at the age of sixty-seven years.
Wheeler Barnes was born in Massachusetts, but he came from Ver-
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ار الحجر
J. ARTHUR SMITH.
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THE BAR.
mont to Rome about 1806, being at that time admitted to practice law. He was elected supervisor of Rome in 1815, and again in 1816, and in the latter year was elected to the Assembly on the Federal ticket. He was a member of that Legislature which abolished slavery, and which authorized the commencement of the construction of the Erie Canal. In 1822 Mr Barnes ran again for the Assembly, but that was the first year after the new constitution of 1821 had gone into effect, and it was not a good year for any politician who still held to his Federal notions. Mr. Barnes did quite an extensive law practice for those times, and was for a time law partner of William Curtis Noyes. He was trustee of Rome village in 1822, 1823, 1824, and 1825. Not far from 1837 he resided in Oswego, but in a few years he moved back to Rome, and died here in July, 1858, at the age of seventy-six years, and as the inscription upon his tombstone in the old burying ground reads, "having been a resident of Rome for fifty years."
In 1806 another native of Massachusetts made Rome his permanent home. James Sherman, the newcomer, was a graduate of Williams College, and when he came to Rome was twenty-six years of age, and was an admitted attorney. For a year or so, and about 1807, he was a law partner of Joshua Hathaway, and was himself a candidate for the office of surrogate, and had obtained the necessary recom- mendations to secure his appointment; but, on request, gave way to his partner, who was appointed. Mr. Sherman was justice of the peace for a number of years, and held other town offices, but did not mix much in county or State politics. He died in Rome in 1823, at the age of forty-three. He was father-in-law of Judge Henry A. Foster. Two years before Rome was organized into a town, Seth B. Roberts, then a boy of four years old, came with his parents from Middletown, Conn., to Whitestown, and there resided until about 1809, when he made Rome his residence, He read law with James Lynch ; was ad- 25
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mitted to the bar in 1816, and opened a law office in Rome. Mr. Lynch, who had acted as the agent for his father in the leasing of lands and collection of rents in Rome, moved to Utica in 1818, and Mr. Roberts was appointed in his place, which delicate and responsible trust he held for fifty-three years, through the various titles and suc- cessive changes of ownership of that landed property. The duties con- nected with that trust occupied the main portion of his time, so that he gave but little attention to law business, nor did he ever become much known, either as a lawyer or as a politician. He was firm and decided in his political convictions, yet he always sympathized and most generally acted with the party that most strongly favored the temperance cause and anti-slavery movement, or had for its object the bettering of the condition and the elevation of the human race. In the strong Democratic town of Rome, he was not infrequently elected to town offices, although he was always on the other side in politics. In 1840 he was appointed one of the judges of the Oneida Common Pleas and for five years held that office. For sixty years of his life he was a resident of Rome, and the oldest inhabitant can not, through the whole of that period, recall a single instance where he was seen to be angry, or manifested the least irritation of temper. He who possesses, or can maintain, such an equanimity for such a period of time is en- titled to a place in any history, the recent one of Oneida county not excepted. Without guile in his heart, and with malice toward none and charity for all, he had not while living an enemy in the world, and no one even uttered an unkind word concerning him. He died in October, 1870, in the eighty-first year of his age.
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