Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 30

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 30

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Thus, as it appears from the directory, while the buildings of Genesee were in num- ber 157, of Whitesboro 84, of Main 67, of Broad 59, of Hotel 34, of Catharine 20, and Water as many, Seneca had 15, no other street more than 10, and the rest but half or less than half of that number. Of those running eastward not one is named above Catharine. "Cornhill was a forest from South street to the New Hartford line. Another forest skirted the gardens on the west side of Genesee, came down the slope to the present Fayette, and extended west to the Asylum Hill." When the commis- sioners in the following year ran the line between Whitesboro and Utica, from Jewett's farm to the county line on the east, and to the river on the north they were obliged to fell trees so as to see their flag.

Going back to 1805 to continue personal notes of early citizens, we find that Rudolph Snyder, a prosperous cabinetmaker was established in the village ; and others of that date were James A. and Lynott Blood- good, ironmongers; Seth Dwight, merchant and hotel keeper; John Barton, watchmaker ; Benjamin Payne, tailor; William Hayes, earthen- ware maker ; William Baxter, gardener and baker, and progenitor of numerous later Uticans; Samuel Hickox, builder of the Cayuga bridge, and B. B. Rathbun, who achieved an unenviable notoriety in Buffalo

In 1798 John Post had received into his household his nephew, Abraham Van Santvoort, who eventually became his successor in the Mohawk River transportation business. He announced in 1806 that he had commenced the storage and forwarding business to and from Schenectady, Albany and New York and any part of the western country. He was associated with Eri Lusher between Utica and Schenectady and with David Boyd from there to Albany. Other resi- dents of 1806 were Jonathan Child, teacher, and afterwards first mayor of Rochester ; Bennett Bicknell, cabinetmaker and later a prominent politician of Madison county ; Henry Kip, brother of James, ropemaker ; two brothers Oudenarde ; John Culver, carpenter ; Thomas James, wagonmaker, and John Queal, shoemaker.

Several men of considerable prominence came in 1807. Peter Bours, at first a hardware merchant, was active in organizing the Utica glass factory, started at Glassville (so-called) in the present town of Marcy. Stalham Williams, who had been a clerk and a merchant in the village,

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was appointed collector on the middle section of the new canal. He was employed by the Messrs. Devereux, and when they opened a sort of unchartered savings bank on Bleecker street, Mr. Williams had charge of it, and when the Savings Bank was organized he was appointed its secretary and treasurer. The establishment of Bagg & Camp started in 1807. John Camp, son of Talcott Camp, had been a clerk for Williams, and two years after the latter had associated himself with Moses Bagg, he bought the interest of Mr. Fellows and the new firm was formed. Later the firm was John Camp & Brothers.

A public meeting was held in the hotel on the 3d of September, 1808, to take into consideration the policy of petitioning the president to sus- pend the operation of the embargo. The petition was proposed by Jonas Platt and was forwarded, but the reply, received six weeks later, was not encouraging.

Arthur Breese, who had settled at Whitesboro in 1794 and was partner of Jonas Platt in law business, removed to Utica in 1808 to take the position of Supreme Court clerk. On the death of the first presi- dent of the Ontario Branch Bank he held that office for a time ; he left numerous descendants.

Others who became residents in the period we are considering, and who can only be mentioned, were Eliasaph Dorchester, teacher, bank clerk, assistant on the Columbian Gazette, founder of the Utica Observer, and again a teacher ; Henry B. Gibson and Montgomery Hunt, already mentioned as prominent in banking affairs; Seymour Tracy, attorney ; James Van Rensselaer, merchant, for whom was erected the brick row on the southerly side of Liberty street between Hotel and Seneca ; Thaddeus Wakeman, capitalist ; Daniel Stafford, packet boat captain ; Joshua Ostram, who ran stages in competition with Jason Parker ; William Whiteley, who made musical instruments down to 1850; Shubael Storrs, watchmaker; Robert McBride, mason and builder ; William Penniman, tanner; Thomas Thomas, mason ; Joseph Simon, furrier ; John Robinson, blacksmith ; Joseph S. Porter, a popular jeweler ; Alfred Hitchcock, druggist; Erastus Cross, a marble cutter; Riley Rogers, gunsmith; John Bradish, connected with the clerk's office of the Supreme Court ; Ezra S. Cozier, a hatter of 1812, who was seven years village trustee and treasurer of the city, died of cholera in 1832;

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Barent Bleecker Lansing, second son of Col. Garret G. Lansing, who was cashier in the United States Bank and the Oneida Bank ; Thomas Rockwell, teacher and thirty-four years bookkeeper in the Ontario Branch Bank; Ezra S. Barnum, long connected with various local public offices ; John E. Hinman, served honorably in the war of 1812, was deputy sheriff under James S. Kip, and afterwards sheriff, mayor of the city three years and otherwise prominent; John Welles, keeper of the Coffee House at one period ; Amos Gay, landlord ; Comfort Butler, saddler and long in charge of the Utica Museum ; William Jones, long the official surveyor; John H. Ostrom, village attorney, and further noticed in a later chapter ; Briggs W. Thomas, merchant and clerk in the Oneida Bank ; Ezekiel Bacon, a man of political and judicial prom- inence in Massachusetts, a member of the firm of Alexander Seymour & Co., associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas, nominee for Con- gress, etc .; William Clarke, lieutenant in the army in 1812, and long manager of lotteries in Utica while they were countenanced by the law ; Ephraim Hart, a successful merchant, manufacturer, and State senator ; John H. Handy, merchant ; Robert Shearman and Edward Vernon, mer- chants; Andrew Merrell, publisher of the Western Recorder and of various books; Zenas Wright, William Geere, and Collings Locke, leather dealers ; Flavel Gaylord and his brother, Edwin, looking-glass makers ; William Blackwood, brass founder ; Nathan Stevens, carpenter; Elisha Lovett, grocer.

In the years 1815-16 the sum of $1,000 was voted for village ex- penses, the limit then authorized by the charter. When the second charter went into effect in 1805, the annual expenses were about $200, which sum was gradually increased to $1,000. During these twelve years many improvements were made, particularly in streets and side- walks. One or two additional churches were established, the First Pres- byterian in 1813, and the Methodist in 1815. School facilities were ex- tended in various directions, as described further on, and at the same time the material interests of the village made satisfactory progress.

The third charter, adopted April 7, 1817, erected Utica into a town, its boundaries remaining the same as before. The village was divided into three wards.

The president of the village was to be appointed annually by the 38

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Governor and Council of the State, and received compensation in fees for permits to tavern keepers, butchers and others to the amount of $250, or a salary of that amount. Two trustees were chosen from each ward, a supervisor, three assessors, and two constables; other subordi- nate officers were appointed by the trustees. The trustees were em - powered to raise not exceeding $1,500 for annual expenses, and as commissioners of highways, had control of street and sewer improve- ments. The first president under the new charter was Nathan Will- iams. Among the ordinances and regulations put in force by the trus- tees were those for the regulation of groceries and victualing houses ; for the prevention of nuisances; establishing the assize and inspection of bread ; in relation to preventing and extinguishing fires ; and in re- lation to a night watch. A fire warden and a fire engineer were to be appointed for each ward, and the wardens were to examine buildings at least once a month to learn if chimneys, fireplaces and stoves were in safe condition. From the two fire companies then in existence were detailed ten men to act as a hook and ladder company. Four watch- men were to be appointed by the trustees, two of whom were to patrol the streets in the thickly settled parts, while the other two remained in the watch house.

While during the existence of the third village charter, a period of fifteen years, the growth of Utica in population was steady and health- ful, it was not at all remarkable ; from nearly 3,000 it increased to some- what less than 10,000, with a commensurate growth in its various in- dustries and institutions. In the fall of the year 1819 the Erie Canal, begun in July, 1817, was so far advanced between Utica and Rome as to be navigable, and on the 22d of October the first boat made a pass- age between these two places ; it was a packet boat called the " Chief Engineer." On the following day the boat returned to Rome having among her passengers the governor of the State, the canal commis- sioners, and about seventy men and women from Utica and its vicinity. The embarkation was celebrated with ringing of bells, firing of cannon and was witnessed by a large crowd.

In 1820 steps were taken to open a new road above the canal and extending westward from Genesee street in continuation of Bleecker street. After overcoming much vexatious opposition the object was accomplished in 1823 in the opening of Liberty street.

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THE CITY OF UTICA.

In 1821 the market, which had long been a source of contention and which had been banished to Water street, was sold to Daniel Thomas for $50.

In 1822 the first paving was done on Genesee street from the canal to the south line of Whitesboro and Main streets, and in October Frank- lin street was opened.

In 1823-4 many street improvements were made, among them the paving of parts of Liberty, Catharine, Broad and Genesee streets; Pine street was opened and in the latter year John street was paved. Water street was extended, and a sewer was built on the east side of Genesee street from opposite the clerk's office to Hotel street, from John street to a connection at Main street with the one before opened down Gene- see street, on Burnet street, on Charlotte from Elizabeth to Bleecker and on Bleecker from Burnet to Genesee. In 1824 a new engine house was leased from the president (William Clarke), and the lot in rear of Trinity church, which had been in use for the purpose, was sold to the church. A committee was appointed to confer with Apollos Cooper for six acres of land for a burial ground. Eight watchmen were now needed to guard the village nights and Ara Broadwell was armed with full power as a fire inspector. The tax for general expenses was fixed at $1,137.25.

General La Fayette made a tour of the State, in 1825 and visited Utica, and was accorded a grand reception. At Shepard's Hotel the general was received by President Clarke, who made a speech to which La Fayette responded. A military review followed, with a reception to citizens and ladies.

The building and opening of the Erie Canal has been described in an earlier chapter. It was opened to admit water at Black Rock on the 26th of October, 1825, which was Wednesday. Early on the fol- lowing Monday the distinguished officials and citizens who arrived on the boats were received at the court house, where an address was de- livered by Judge Ezekiel Bacon. Governer Clinton made a happy re- sponse. But the canal had been navigable through a section including Oneida county four or five years earlier, and exerted a wholesome in - fluence before the entire waterway was opened. As an evidence of the rapidity with which the canal was brought into use and of the great

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change made by it in the mode of transportation from those before employed, it may be stated that the number of canal boats arriving in Albany during the season of 1823 (before the whole canal was open) was 1,329; in 1824 it was 2,687 ; in 1825, 3,336; and up to Septem- ber 6th of 1826, it was 4,380, which number it was estimated would be increased to 7,000 before the close of navigation.

The history of Utica during several years succeeding the opening of the canal shows that a spirit of enterprise and hopefulness had grown strong in the community, and progress and improvement were rapid until the panic of 1837. It seems to have been more difficult, however, to preserve order than it is now, according to the size of the place. From six to eighteen watchmen were employed a number of years. Early in 1826 it was resolved by the board that the watch should be continued " provided they would receive orders on the treasurer pay- able when there were funds." It is little wonder that they objected, and they were discharged, at least temporarily, at the next meeting. In this year the clerk for the first time was voted a salary of $50. Pav- ing was considerably extended. Chancellor Square was improved, and a hook and ladder company and eighteen fire wardens were appointed.

In 1827 a village attorney was for the first time appointed in the per- son of Robert Van Rensselaer. In April action was taken which re- sulted in the division of the village into four wards, the regulation of elections, and empowering the trustees to raise $3,000 and $1,000 in each of the succeeding five years for a market. This action followed upon the circulation of a petition which was signed by about two- thirds of the freeholders. A committee was appointed who selected a lot on the corner of Bleecker and Back streets and purchased it for $1,000. In January of the next year the market committee were instructed to receive proposals for the erection of a market building. At a special meeting in February it was resolved to accept the plans of Mr. Colling and the committee was authorized to build at a cost of $40,000. A public meeting was held in February at which a committee of five was appointed to co-operate with the authorities in raising $2,000 for the purchase of a fire engine and hose. This action was prompted in part by the occurrence of two destructive fires. Ordinances were adopted defining the fire limits of the village and making more stringent regu-

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lations for caring for streets, the suppression of gambling, and keeping cattle out of the streets. Steuben Square was laid out and improved, Rutger street was opened to First street, South street was extended from West to Steuben, and many other streets were improved.

In 1828 the market had been completed and in June a committee was appointed to establish a code of regulations for its government. Annual rent of stalls was fixed at $45 for eight feet stalls, $40 for seven- feet stalls, and $35 for six feet stalls. No meat was to be sold else- where in the village. The basement was devoted to a vegetable market. meats on the first floor, while in the second story was the council room of the trustees. The market continued in existence until about 1845. The fire department was reorganized and William Williams appointed chief engineer ; E. Z. Cozier, first assistant ; Abraham Culver, second assistant ; Moses Bagg, T. S. Faxton, B. B. Lansing, John E. Hinman, James Platt, Spencer Kellogg, R. R. Lansing, and Kellogg Hurlburt, five wardens.

The gulf of Ballou's Creek in the eastern part of the village was con- verted into a canal basin in 1828-29. This was called by its builders, the Public Basin. In 1829, on the 22d of July, a resolution was adopted that a sum adequate to the expense be "appropriated for the construc- tion of two engine houses and one hook and ladder house, the same to be constructed so as to be capable of being removed from one extremity of the village to the other without injury to the buildings." It is probable that this measure was not carried out, as in November of 1831 a com- mittee was authorized to buy the lot on the corner of John and Cath - erine streets for $1,500 and procure plans for an engine house and a school house and contract for their erection by June 1, 1832. Street improvements were extensive between 1829 and the adoption of the city charter in 1832. An act of Legislature dated February 3, 1831, reorganized the fire department, making it consist of a chief, two assist- ants, eight fire wardens, and four companies numbered consecutively from one, and a hook and ladder and a hose company.

Already there was discussion of the project of incorporation as a city. On November II a resolution was adopted by the board that a public meeting be called on the following Monday evening at the court house, to consider this and other matters of importance.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Utica was not yet a very large community, but the inhabitants were progressive and had abundant faith in the future of the place. The population was nearly 10,000 (it was 10,183 in 1835) ; ten churches had been organized and most of them were in existence ; the schools were far advanced; measures were about to be adopted for beginning the construction of the Chenango Canal ; the first railroad was about to be incorporated, and leading citizens felt that they were justified in seeking the benefits of a city government. But before taking up this important change it is incumbent to notice further some of the more prominent additions to the population under the last village charter.

In 1817 James and Walter L. Cochrane, sons of John Cochrane, who was director-general of hospitals in the Revolutionary army, came to Utica and were prominent in social affairs. Charles Hastings and An- drew Merrill opened a new bookstore at 40 Genesee street in 1817, added a circulating library and from 1824 published the Western Re- corder. Jared E. Warner began in the drug business in 1812 and his store was long and honorably known. Theodore Sedgwick Gold was a merchant of this period and a literary character of ability. He edited the Oneida Whig a few years and in 1837 was mayor of the city.

Henry Seymour, a native of Onondaga county, where he was a suc- cessful merchant, came to Utica soon after his appointment as canal commissioner in March, 1819, and lived there the remainder of his life. From 1816 to 1819 he was State senator; in 1820 was elected to the Assembly and in 1822 was again sent to the Senate. In 1833 he was appointed mayor of Utica. He died August 26, 1837.

James Sayer was many years a successful hardware merchant, served as director in the United States Branch Bank. the Ontario Branch Bank and the Oneida National Bank, and was president of the latter at his death. Others of 1821 were Levi Cozzens, inn keeper and lumber dealer ; the four Thurber brothers, for the most part bakers, of whom Philip was also a hardware dealer ; Jabez Miller, baker ; Edward Bright, brewer ; Elisha Wells, shoe dealer ; Robert Jones, grocer ; Otis Whip- ple, Cyrus Grannis, and Elisha Backus.

At a little later date Alfred Munson became a resident and was long a foremost citizen, largely connected with public works and later in developing manufactures in the village, promoter of the Mechanics' As-

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THE CITY OF UTICA.

sociation and the water works, and the largest benefactor of Grace church.

Among the early employees of Jason Parker & Co., the great stage proprietors, was John Butterfield. Later he engaged in transportation business by himself and long kept the leading livery in the city. He was connected with boating on the canal and Lake Ontario, was prom- inent in establishing plank roads and took a large interest in the early express business. He was one of the first to foresee the future useful - ness of the telegraph and with others organized the first company to construct lines across this State. He built the Butterfield House and the Gardner block and in 1865 was mayor of the city. He died No- vember 14, 1869.

Holmes Hutchinson was village surveyor in 1824, in which capacity he served until 1835, when he was made chief engineer on the Erie Canal, performing the duties of the office until 1841 and during the en- largement.

Michael McQuade1 was conspicuous in local politics, held many offices from collector to mayor and was alderman of the First ward, where he was practically supreme. Others of this period were Horace Butler, merchant and forwarder ; Jonathan R. Warner, hatter ; Chester Gris -- wold, canal weighmaster, and Henry White, grandson of the founder of Whitestown. Milton Boynton and Truman Parmalee were partners at this time in dry goods trade, and Mr. Parmalee became a leader in the promotion of Sunday school work. About 1829 Alrick Hub- bell was deputy sheriff under John E Hinman. He acted several years as the efficient chief engineer of the fire department, was alder- man in 1841 and mayor in 1856-7; in 1858-9 he was State senator and was director of the Utica and Black River Railroad. Others who should be mentioned of about 1824 were Israel Tiffany, clerk

1 The name of Michael McQuade has been often met with in the History of Utica. His eldest son was James McQuade, born April 27, 1829. He was a clerk and afterwards an officer in the Bank of Utica and in 1851 was made assistant clerk of the Assembly. He was in the Board of Supervisors in 1855 and 1856 and was conspicuous in the Fire Department. In 1866 and again in 1870 he was elected mayor of the city. In 1859 he was elected to the Assembly, and on the day following the firing on Fort Sumter offered himself and the Citizens' Corps, of which he was then captain, to the government for two years. They were assigned to the 14th Regiment, of which he was elected colonel. Serving honorably in the field he rose to the rank of brevet brigadier-gen- eral. He was presidential elector in 1856 and was prominent in 1882 as a candidate for lieutenant- governor. He died March 25, 1885.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

for H. & E. Phinney in Cooperstown, who came to Utica to super- intend their establishment opened here. As bookseller he remained to 1868. Harvey Barnard, dealer in wall paper, succeeded by his sons. 1 Abraham Shepard, landlord of Bagg's, the United States and the Coffee House ; Richard Sanger, landlord of the Clinton, National, Franklin and the Coffee House ; Thomas Midlam, landlord and grocer ; George S. Wilson, prominent in Sunday school work; Henry Ivison, who came to Utica with his father and learned bookbinding, with Seward & Williams, and became later a large publisher in New York ; Thomas Davis, watchmaker; Stafford Palmer, Charles Churchill, An- drew O. and Norman Downer, all connected with the lumber trade or its manufacture; John F. Vedder, dealer in leather ; Elisha Cadwell and Samuel L. Perkins, grocers ; William G. Allyn and John S. Joslin, marble workers; Vistus Balch, copper-plate engraver, and the follow- ing printers who were apprenticed in Utica at about this time : Henry Day, brother-in-law of George Dutton ; William Swain, who founded the Philadelphia Ledger and the Baltimore Sun; James O. Rockwell, a gifted poet and editor of the Providence Journal ; Francis M. Hill, an- other poet, who edited the Kingston (Ca.) Chronicle and was mayor of Kingston ; O. N. Worden, editor of the Louisberg Chronicle, Penn- sylvania ; Edward P. Wetmore, brother of Edmund A. Wetmore, a publisher of Cleveland and Cincinnati ; William Schram, for thirty- one years with the Poughkeepsie Eagle; Edward Bright, editor of the Baptist Register ; and others.

Spencer Kellogg, long a leading merchant, was a native of Williams- town, Mass., and settled in Utica in 1824, first with S. H. Reynolds, then with his son, Palmer V.,2 and later with other persons. Andrew S.

1 Charles E., Horace and Harvey Barnard were sons of Harvey and succeeded to his business in the wall paper trade. The first named was alderman two terms and in 1876 was mayor of the eity. He was also prominent in the volunteer Fire Department, a member of the Citizens Corps and a trustee of the Cemetery Association. He died May 1, 1xSS. Harvey Barnard was an active member of several civic associations and evinced a keen interest in municipal affairs. The only publie office he held was supervisor, declining many other proffers of public station. He was a member of the old Columbian Artillery and of the Citizens Corps. His death took place Novem- ber 2, 1873.

2 Palmer V. Kellogg was a son of Spencer Kellogg, the merchant of 1825, and in 1832 became a partner of his father. Ten years later he was associated with James Rockwell and still later with his son Charles C. About 1853 he began the extensive manufacture of clothing, which was mostly sold in Chicago, in which business he had as partners John H. Prentiss and James K. Hitchcock. Mr. Kellogg and Prentiss went to Chicago in 1869. While in Utica Mr. Kellogg was somewhat prominent in Whig politics and held the offices of supervisor, sheriff and United States marshal.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 30

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co. Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612