USA > New York > Madison County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York > Part 50
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
elected; W. Emmett Coe of Smithfield, 1891, and re-elected; Paul S. Main, 1897.
It will be borne in mind by the reader that at this time there were only five towns in Madison county-Brookfield, Cazenovia, De Ruyter, Hamilton and Sullivan. In this connection it is worth while to leave on record the following list of the first justices of the peace chosen in 1806 in each of the five towns named. They are as follows: Oliver Brown, Daniel Maine, Henry Clark, jr., Jonathan Morgan, Samuel Marsh and Edward Green, Brookfield; David Tuthill, Samuel S. Breese, Phineas Southwell, Perry G. Childs, Elisha Williams, Daniel Petrie, William Powers and Joshua Hamlin, Cazenovia; Eli Gage, Hubbard Smith and Eleazer Hunt, De Ruyter; Joseph Morse, Simeon Gillett, Benjamin Pierce, Erastus Cleveland, Elisha Payne, Amos Maynard, Russell Barker, George Crane, Windsor Coman, Hamilton; Gilbert Caswell, Samuel Foster, Walter Beecher, Joseph Frost, Sylvanus Smal- ley, Peter Smith, David Cook, William Hallock, James Campbell and Joseph Yaw, Sullivan.
There was an active struggle in the year 1807 between the two great political parties of Federalists and Republicans (or Democrats); the strife in Madison county was particularly earnest, as it was believed the election would establish the future political complexion of the county. Sylvanus Smalley, Democrat, and John W. Bulkley, Federal- ist, were elected to the Assembly, leaving the actual results of the struggle in doubt. Peter Smith was appointed first judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Oliver Babcock was appointed judge in the place of David Cook of Sullivan. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown were de- cided Federalists. For the year 1807 the following were appointed justices of the peace :
Henry Clark, jr., Brookfield; Elisha Williams, Cazenovia; Robert Avery, Eaton; John Hall, Hamilton; John W. Bulkley, Lebanon; Amos W. Fuller and Stephen F. Blackstone, Madison; John Dorrance, Asa Dana and Sanford G. Calvin, Smithfield; and Jacob Patrick, Sul- livan.
Previous to the erection of Chenango county in 1796 its northern tier of towns and all of Madison county were included in Herkimer county; the remainder of Chenango county was included in Tioga county. The courts of Herkimer county were held at the meeting house in Herkimer village until 1793, when one term was directed to be held at Whites- town, Col. Henry Staring was appointed first judge February 17, 1791.
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The first court at Whitestown, mentioned above, was held in 1793, in Jedediah Sanger's barn, Judge Staring presiding, assisted by Judge White. The late Judge Jonas Pratt was then clerk of Herkimer county and Col. William Colbraith sheriff, both of whom were appointed in 1791. The subsequent courts of Herkimer county down to 1798 were held at Whitestown. The jail at Whitesboro at that time was used for the confinement of prisoners from Chenango county until 1808 and from Madison county until 1812. When Chenango county was erected Hamilton (now in Madison county) and Oxford were each constituted half-shire towns and so continued until the formation of Madison coun- ty, in 1806, when North Norwich and Oxford were made the shire towns for Chenango county and Hamilton and Sullivan for Madison county. .
The law erecting Chenango county provided that the first Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace should be held at the log school house hear the house of Elisha Payne, in the town of Ham- ilton, in June, 1798. It was so held and the first business transacted was the admission to practice of eight attorneys, none of whom was from the territory of Madison county. The second term was held at Oxford in October of the same year. Subsequently court was held alternately at these two places three times each year. The judges had authority to open the court on Tuesday, to adjourn it at any time, but not to continue it beyond Saturday of the same week. Under the act the first Circuit Court was held July 10, 1798, at the Academy in Ox- ford with Justice (afterwards Chancellor) James Kent presiding. The second term was held in Hamilton in July, 1799, Justice Jacob Radcliff presiding. No business was transacted at either of these terms. Of the subsequent terms held down to the year 1809 the third was held in the school house at Hamilton, June 30, 1800, Morgan Lewis presiding ; the fourth June 29, 1801, Judge John Lansing, jr., presiding; the fifth in June, 1803, Judge Kent presiding; the eighth at Hamilton in May, 1805, Daniel D. Tompkins presiding; the ninth at Hamilton in May, 1806, Brockholst Livingston presiding. The other terms held previous to that year were in either Oxford or North Norwich.
After the erection of Madison county in 1806 the courts were held alternately in the school house in Hamilton village and the school house near David Barnard's in Sullivan (now Lenox) until 1812. Hamilton and Sullivan were the half-shire towns of the county. In 1807, in pur- suance of an act of the Legislature, the county was divided into two
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
jury districts by the judges and assistant judges " as nearly equal as may be convenient."
By an act of the Legislature passed April 2, 1810, Cazenovia was made the county seat and Col. John Lincklaen and Capt. Eliphalet Jackson were appointed to superintend the erection of a court house.
In pursuance of this act a brick building was erected for a court house in which the first court was held in January, 1812. This building sub- sequently became the eastern central part of Cazenovia Seminary, as at present. The selection of Cazenovia as a county seat, situated as it is near the western boundary, created a good deal of dissatisfaction in other parts of the county on account of its inaccessibility to the distant residents. This feeling finally culminated in 1817 in the removal of the county seat to the more central location of Morrisville. The old court house was sold for $1,810, in 1818, to the Methodist society by whom it was used for a time for church purposes and was subsequently incor- porated in the Seminary as above stated. The commissioners appointed to superintend the erection of a new court house in Morrisville were Joseph Morse, Capt. Eliphalet Jackson and Elisha Carrington. The building was soon completed and the first court was held there October 7, 1817. This court house was occupied until 1847, when a new one was erected under the superintendence of Ellis Morse, Samuel White and Oliver Pool. This building was burned during the session of the court in October, 1865, and was superseded by the two story wooden structure in the following year, which is still occupied. An addition was made to the building in 1877 to accommodate the increase of county business.
The county clerk's office, in use at the present time, is a brick struc- ture built in 1824 by Andrew P. Lord, at a cost of $674.00. The first jail for the county was built of wood, in 1817 at a cost of $4,523.51. This old building became historic by the confinement within its walls of the famous Abram Antoine, whose trial is noticed a little further on. The old jail was occupied until 1872 when the present handsome brick jail and residence was erected at a cost of about $10,000. These public buildings are pleasantly situated on the main street of Morrisville, fronting on a small public park.
The first court of record held in Madison county was a Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace, of which the follow- ing is a record :
" Holden at the School House near David Barnard's in Sullivan, on Tuesday the
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3rd day of June, 1806. Present-The Honorable Sylvanus Smalley, Peter Smith, Edward Green, Elisha Payne and David Cook, Esquires and Judges.
"Grand Jurors :- Lemuel Kingsbury, gentleman, foreman; Samuel Thomas, Elisha Carey, Oreb Montague, Joshua Herrington, Rufus Pierson, John Needham, William Whitman, Joel Doolittle, George Ballou, Ebenezer Johnson, Abner Badger, Aaron Putney, Samuel Griggs, Phineas Dodge, David Barnard, Jacob Patrick, Elisha Starr, David Woodworth.
" John Matteson and Daniel Barber, constables to wait on the Grand Jury.
"The Grand Jury, after retiring and finding no presentments, returned and were discharged by the Court.
" The Court adjourned without day. A. B. Sizer, Clerk."
The October term of this court for the same year was held "at the School House near the house of Elisha Payne in Hamilton." Present- The Honorable Peter Smith, Elisha Payne, Edward Green and David Cook, Esquires and Justices of the Peace. William Hatch was ap- pointed crier of the court. It was " Ordered that this court adjourn to the meeting house and convened forthwith."
The grand jurors of this term were as follows: Stephen F. Black- stone, foreman; John Hoxie, Stephen Crumb, Daniel H. Coon, Paul Palmer, Seth Holmes, Thomas Leach, David Walters, Edward New- ton, Samuel McClure, Levi Mantor, David Peebles, Ezra Fuller, Rich- ard Butler, Oliver S. Wilcoxon, John Shapley, William McClenathan, Archibald Bates, Isaac Warren, Caleb Allen, Joseph Cooley, Ebenezer Corbin, Samuel Howard and David Barber.
There was no important business before this court other than the approval of the seal which had been procured by the clerk, "with the device of suspended scales, beneath which a scepter lying horizontally, entwined by a serpent, a star in the center of the whole, and the whole encircled with 'Madison county, incorporated 1806.'"
The first term of the Madison county Oyer and Terminer was held July 3, 1807, in the school house in Sullivan, before mentioned. Pres- sent-Honorable William W. Van Ness, judge of the Supreme Court; Peter Smith, judge of Madison county, Elisha Payne and David Cook, assistant justices.
The grand jurors at this term were as follows: Jonathan Morgan, foreman; Timothy Gillett, jr., Isaac Ingersoll, Isaac Morse, Samuel Thomas, Jabez Abel, Elisha Starr, Timothy Brown, Elisha Farnham, Allen Dryer, jr., Elisha Severance, Dennison Palmer, Samuel Marsh, George Dalrymple, Erastus Cleveland, Wright Brigham, Daniel Pe- trie, Abraham Mattoon, Ephraim Bliss, Robert Avery, Barry Carter, James D. Cooledge, John Marble.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
An adjournment of this court was ordered to the barn of Sylvanus Smalley for the trial of the celebrated Hitchcock murder case. Griffin Watkins and John Leet, constables, were fined $2 each for non-attend- ance and Eli F. Hill, juror, was fined a like sum for the same cause. The first indictment was against Daniel R. Baxter, for assault and bat- tery; it was speedily disposed of by the discharge of the prisoner.
There have been several legal cases in Madison county of more than ordinary importance and interest, of which the one above referred to was the earliest. In that case Alpheus Hitchcock was charged with poisoning his wife on the 6th day of April, 1807. It was proven on the trial that on that day the inhabitants had turned out to clear the road of the very heavy fall of snow of a few days previous. Hitchcock lived at "the center " and helped the party to clear the road between that point and Madison village. Before going home, Hitchcock called at the vil- lage drug store and purchased a quantity of arsenic. This in some manner was administered to his wife and at ten o'clock the same night she was a corpse. Hitchcock was a singing school teacher and, having become enamored with one of his pupils, took this means of ridding himself of his wife. Fourteen witnesses were sworn for the people and only three for the prisoner. The evidence of guilt was clear and the verdict was in accordance therewith. Hitchcock was sentenced to be hung on Friday, the 11th of the following September, between one and three o'clock. A gallows was erected in the east part of Cazenovia vil- lage, which was then the county seat, and there the prisoner was pub- licly executed by Jeremiah Whipple, sheriff, in accordance with the sentence. The execution was tragic and sensational, as such proceed- ings, when carried out before the public, have always been. While Hitchcock stood upon the scaffold awaiting the final acts he made a re- quest that the hymn, "Show Pity Lord, O Lord Forgive " be sung in his favorite tune of " Brookfield." This was done, adding intense im- pressiveness to the scene. The noose was adjusted and Hitchcock paid the penalty of his crime.
The second capital case in this county was that of Mary Antone, or Mary Anthony, as the name is given in the record, for the murder of an Indian girl. The trial took place on the 27th day of June, 1814, before Honorable Jonas Platt, justice of the Supreme Court; Peter Smith, first judge of the Court of Common Pleas; William Hopkins and Jonas Fay, assistant judges. Five witnesses were sworn for the people and two for the prisoner. The trial continued less than two days and the prisoner
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was found guilty and sentenced to be hung on the 30th of September at ten o'clock in the forenoon. She was duly executed at Peterboro.
The somewhat celebrated Antone case, before referred to, was one in which Abram Antone was charged with the murder of John Jacobs; he was indicted in 1815. Judge Jonas Platt and Gen. Joseph Kirkland were appointed by the court as counsel for the prisoner, who was ably defended. The plea of not guilty was entered, but the evidence to the contrary was clear and decisive. The defence rested their case wholly upon the theory that the State of New York had no jurisdiction over the Indian tribes within her boundaries. This objection was overruled by the court. This Antone appears to have possessed a revengeful disposi- tion. His father was a Stockbridge Indian and his mother the daughter of an Oneida chief. He was born in the year 1750 and served the cause of the colonists in the Revolution. It was well known that he commit- ted a murder at Chenango Point, killing an Indian in about the year 1798, who, he claimed, had defrauded him out of money distributed to the different Indian tribes by the government. Later, while under the influence of liquor, he returned to his wigwam one evening and found his infant of four or five months crying loudly. Snatching the child from its mother's arms he raked open a bed of hot coals and buried the little one beneath them. The immediate cause of Antone's latest crime was the fact that John Jacobs had given the principal evidence against Mary Antone, who was the daughter of Abram, in the murder trial be- fore described. When Jacobs became aware of Antone's enmity he left that region and did not return until Antone sent him word that he would not molest him. Jacobs came back and while hoeing corn with a num- ber of others, Antone came up, shook hands with each one and while grasping the hand of Jacobs, quickly drew a knife from his sleeve and stabbed him three times in the side. Antone's fleetness of foot and thorough knowledge of the surrounding country enabled him to evade the officers of the law until he was finally betrayed by a man who gained his confidence by professions of friendship. Petitions were sent to the authorities by several of the Indian tribes for Antone's relief, but they were not heeded, and after having been found guilty he was sen- tenced to be executed in Morrisville on the 12th day of September, 1823. The execution was in public and witnessed by a vast crowd of people.
Lewis Wilber was indicted for the murder of Robert Barber on the 30th day of August, 1837. In the prosecution of the case Justin Dwi-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
nelle, district attorney, was assisted by B. Davis Noxon, of Syracuse and Timothy Jenkins. Wilber was convicted of the crime and executed at Morrisville October 3rd, 1839.
In the fall of 1853 John Hadcock was tried for the murder of Mrs. Mary Gregg, was found guilty and sentenced to be hung December 21, 1853. Subsequent efforts were made through the medium of a petition signed by many reputable persons, including the court which sen- tenced him, to have his punishment commuted to imprisonment for life. It was contended that Hadcock was insane or at least not responsible for his acts at the time the crime was committed and the case was car- ried before Governor Seymour, who granted a month's stay for the purpose of investigating the matter. A jury of inquisition was ap- pointed and met on the 13th of February, 1854. After the examination of a number of witnesses the case was submitted to the jury, who failed to agree and were discharged. The governor offered to grant a further respite if the district judge desired to order another jury. This was not done and the sheriff proceeded to carry out the sentence of the court. Hadcock was executed on the 24th day of February, 1854, in the old jail.
One of the most noticeable features of those early capital trials is, perhaps, the brief period required between the indictment of a prisoner and his execution, as compared with similar cases in recent years. The man who committed murder in those times, if arrested for the crime, was given little time by the swiftly moving wheels of justice to prepare for his inevitable doom. In these later days it is too often the case that through the ingenious efforts of the attorneys in procuring various postponements and raising new questions, a prisoner is given years of life after his first conviction and frequently escapes with light punish- ment or none at all.
The bar of Madison county have access to a good law library, as a result of the action of the Board of Supervisors of 1866, who, at their annual meeting adopted a resolution that a special committee consisting of Charles L. Kennedy and Lambert B. Kern be appointed to purchase a law library for the county at a sum not exceeding $1,000, and ap- pointing the county clerk to act as librarian. In the following year about $900 were expended for books, and other additions have since been made.
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PERSONAL NOTES.
Although Madison county is without large municipal corporations and to a great extent is situated away from the great central lines of travel, and has, therefore, failed to attract from elsewhere men of na- tional reputation who nearly always drift towards the populous centers of the country, it has still given to the world a number of men whose names and deeds are familiar over a wide extent of territory. Some of these were born and reared in the county and passed their lives amid its familiar scenes, while others were called by their public services to other homes; none of these ever lost his pride in his birthplace. One town alone in Madison county, and it may almost be said one village- Peterboro in Smithfield-is the birthplace and former home of a num- ber of men who were known throughout the country and who attained very high station before the public eye. Some of these were lawyers and were elevated to the bench or were elected to political office which made them distinguished, and it is fitting that they receive brief notice in this chapter of Madison county history. The bar of the county, past and present, in the high character and attainments of its members, compares favorably with those of other counties of the State. We are able to here preserve some brief personal notes of many who long ago practiced here and filled the measure of good citizenship.
Among the prominent lawyers whose life records constitute a part of the history of Madison county, stood conspicuously John B. Yates, though he won fully as high repute in business affairs as he did in his profession. He was a native of Schenectady and graduated from Union College in 1802, when he was eighteen years of age. He read law with his brother, Hon. Henry Yates, and was admitted to the bar in 1805. He successfully practiced his profession until 1812, when he re- ceived a military commission as captain and raised a company of artil- lery at the head of which he participated in the disastrous winter cam- paign on the northern New York frontier. After his return from the war his time was largely taken up with general business affairs and as a servant of the people in public office. In 1816 he settled in the vil- lage of Chittenango, where he established a mercantile business and engaged in various other undertakings for the development of the place. In 1818 he built a plaster mill, adjoining the grist mill, which he had acquired, and after the discovery of water lime, was largely interested in its manufacture. He was the principal active factor
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in the construction of the lateral canal connecting Chittenango with the Erie Canal, and also ran a line of packets between the village and Utica. He maintained the Polytechnic school a number of years at his own expense, and in many other ways was the special mainspring of progress in the village. He was elected to Congress before leaving Schenectady, serving from 1815 to 1817. In the latter year he was ap- pointed to supervise the State lotteries for the promotion of literature. In 1835 he was elected to the Assembly from Madison county and in 1837 was chosen county judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held until January, 1843. He was holding both of these offices at the time of his death.
This is, perhaps, the proper place to mention another pioneer lawyer of Chittenango, William K. Fuller, who was born in Schenectady, November 24, 1792, and graduated from Union College. He studied law with Henry and John B. Yates, was admitted to the bar in 1814 and thereupon formed a partnership with John B. Yates. With him he went first to Utica in the summer of 1814, and thence to Chittenango in the spring of 1816. He at once opened an office, but in succeeding years his practice was largely given up for other pursuits. He was an able and well-read attorney, and also an excellent surveyor. He was appointed district attorney of Madison county in March, 1821, and ad- jutant general on the staff of Governor Yates in 1823. He was mem- ber of assembly from this county in 1829-30, and representative in Congress from 1833 to 1837. General Fuller subsequently returned to the family homestead in Schenectady, where he died.
Judge Joseph Clark was a prominent citizen in early years and was honored with several public offices. He was a son of Captain Samuel Clark, who was an early settler at Clarkville. When the post-office was established at that point, about the year 1820, he was appointed post- master, an office which he held more than thirty years, and the name of the place was changed from Bailey's Corners to Clarkville in his honor. Judge Clark also held the office of town clerk about twenty years, was supervisor fifteen years, and justice of the peace more than twenty years. He was elected a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and served with great acceptability for ten years. He was twice elected to the Assembly, in 1824 and 1828, and again in 1835. In 1839 he was elected to the State Senate for four years. In both of these legislative bodies he left a record for faithfulness to his duties and integrity in their performance. Judge Clark died May 11, 1873.
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Daniel Cady, who had studied law and begun practice in Johnstown, Fulton county, removed to Chittenango in 1828, and continued his pro- fession until about 1835, when he removed to Columbia county. He was a man of large attainments and in that county was honored with appointment to the office of judge of the County Court in 1840. Judge Cady was a brother of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Other early lawyers of Chittenango were R. John Everett, who came soon after Judge Cady left, and remained a year or two; Horatio Gates Warner, Hiram Cummings, Duane Brown, who practiced about ten years, and removed to Morrisville; Lorenzo B. Dana, who practiced a short time before his election to the office of county clerk, when he re- moved permanently to Morrisville; William E. Lansing, born in Sulli- van in 1822, read law with Judge Joshua Spencer, in Utica, began practice in 1845, was elected district attorney in 1850, county clerk in 1855, and member of congress 1861-63 and 1871-75. Charles L. Ken- nedy practiced a number of years in company with Mr. Lansing, re- moved to Morrisville when the latter was elected county clerk to per- form the duties of that office, and remained there; he succeeded Lan- sing as clerk in 1858 and was elected county judge in 1867.
Many of the particulars of the life of Peter Smith, outside of his career as a judge, have been given in an earlier chapter, which includes a part of the history of the town of Smithfield. Born in Rockland county, N. Y., in 1768, he obtained such education as his circumstances permitted before he was sixteen years old, when he began clerking in a New York store. After three years of this experience he took a small stock of goods and opened a store about two miles from Little Falls. One year later he began mercantile business in Utica. He was successful in winning the confidence of the Indians and carried on a large fur trade, in which John Jacob Astor had an interest at one period. In 1794 he acquired the New Petersburgh tract of land, of which an account has been given and which took its name from him. In 1806 he removed to the town of Smithfield and built the family homestead which, with its many alterations, subsequently became the home of his distinguished son, Gerrit Smith. When Madison county was organized in 1806 Mr. Smith was chosen one of the judges and in in 1807 was made first judge, a position which he held until 1820, ad- ministering its duties with signal success considering his limited oppor- tunities for obtaining an education. His knowledge of human nature was profound and his mental characteristics were such as to enable him
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