Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 74

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 74

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This policy of Judge White's triumphed, and he and his neighbors ever afterwards enjoyed the unswerving friendship of the Indians whose deeds of kindness to the settlers are matters of history. It was this incident that gained for the white people the entire confidence of their untutored neighbors, and perhaps no white man who lived among the Six Nations at this time shared their confidence more widely or ex- ercised a more civilizing influence over them than Judge White. His active sym-

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

pathies for them and neighborly offices dispensed to their tribal households, begot their full confidence in him as a man, a neighbor and a counsellor.

There was one other incident, however, that perhaps entitled him to the above influence more than his implicit trust and confidence in the fairness of the Indian dealings, and this was the solution of a question as to his muscular fitness for their highest tribal distinction ; and as a test of his manliness in this regard they chal- lenged him on one occasion to wrestle with their champion athlete. In view of his prestige, he could not do otherwise than accept the challenge, and the trial came off in due time. The judge was past fifty-six years of age and had been quite an athlete in his youth, but of late years had not had his hand in at trips, and besides he was inclined to be corpulent, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds, though nearly six feet in height. He was ever noted, however, for his alertness of mind and motion, and to this he was mainly indebted to a victory over his more agile combatant. Immediately after they had fairly clinched, the judge by a quick and skillful trip, succeeded in throwing the Indian. As he saw him fall- ing, in order to prevent the necessity of ever making another trial of his powers or of receiving any new challenges, he managed to fall with his whole weight upon the Indian which drove all of the breath out of the poor fellow's body, and it was some moments before he could get up; at length he slowly arose, shrugged his shoulders with an emphatic, "Ugh! You good fellow, too much." The judge was never called on again for a test of his strength. The Oneida Indians were so pleased with his prowess, that at the suggestion of Skenandoah, Han Yerry and another Indian called Good Peter, they, together with the other chieftains, appeared at the residence of the judge, and with much pomp and mystery, he was duly adopted into the Oneida tribe of Indians, with all the rights of perpetual succession. One of the Oneida customs was their annual visit to Oneida lake and Fish creek for the tribal catch of salmon; this Judge White attended on one occasion after his adoption to the tribe, and ever after that during his life a portion of the catch was set aside and sent him on account of his tribal privileges.

Hugh White was not a seeker of public position, but he was appointed justice of the peace ; afterwards the governor appointed him one of the judges of the county, and he served several years as such judge with approbation and honor.

The town that he founded was the gate-way to what was known as the garden lands of New York State, and the prominence of Judge White soon drew around him in the village the leading clergymen, lawyers and merchants, and it was well rec- ognized for years that the bar of the town of Whitestown was the most distinguished bar west of Albany. Judge White was the master spirit of Whitestown, and at one period there were living no less than fifty-five grandchildren of this Whitestown pioneer. He having apportioned his land into seven farms, five for his sons and two for his sons-in-law, dividing them in distances from his own home at the east end of the Whitestown Green according to the age of the child to whom they were given. He retained the title of these farms in himself until his death. They were located on what is now known as Hart's Hill. He died on the 16th of May, 1812, and was buried in the Whitestown Cemetery on an eminence overlooking the Mohawk valley, and the town of his settlement; the following is the inscription from his tomb stone:

. Hugh whity

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Here sleep the remains of HUGH WHITE Who was born 5th Feb. 1733, at Middletown, in Connecticut, and died April 16, 1812.

In the year 1784 he removed to Sadequada, now Whitestown, where he was the first white

inhabitant in the State of New York west of the German settlement on the Mohawk. He was distinguished for energy

and decision of character, and may be justly regarded as a patriot who led the children of New England into the wilderness. As a magistrate, a citizen and a man, his character for truth and integrity was proverbial.

A hundred years after Judge White's settlement in Whitestown, the advent was deemed so important by the Oneida Historical Society that they erected in June, 1884, on the village green, a granite shaft to commemorate the first settlement of Whitestown by Hugh White and family.

The generation succeeding the pioneer's children were so occupied in overcoming the crudities of the wilderness that it does not become necessary for us to take up their history with any particularity until the succeeding generation when we find five grandsons of the pioneer worthy of especial mention in the county; one of them, the

HON. HUGH WHITE,

was born in Whitestown, December 25th, 1798; he was seventh in lineal descent from the Elder John White, and was a son of Hugh White, Jr., the third son of the pioneer who was for three years a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was for a while on board of a privateer. Hon. Hugh White was a worthy descendant of the illustrious founder of Whitestown. He inherited in full measure the noble charac- teristics of the race. He was upwards of six feet in height, weighed about 250 pounds, with a flashing black eye and strong manly bearing. His earlier education in the common schools was interspersed with hard labor on the parental farm, and this occupation in those days meant labor such as the present generation scarcely comprehend. He remained at home enjoying a quarter's schooling each winter until 1819, when he commenced a continuous routine of instruction, partly under the counsel and encouragement of his elder brother, Canvass White, who was at the time of his death the leading engineer in the construction of canals, and who was the originator of the Croton water system for New York City. Hugh White prepared for college under the guidance of his distinguished brother, Canvass, and was graduated from Hamilton College in 1823, after the customary four years in a full classical course. After graduating at Hamilton College, he fitted for the bar in the office of Col. Charles G. Haines of New York city, having as a fellow student John A. Dix. He soon turned his attention, however, to business pursuits, and in 1825 was located in Chittenango, engaged in the manufacture of a water lime called

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

White's Water Proof Cement, it being the first cement made in America; this he afterwards manufactured at Rondout in Ulster county ; later he built up the Rosen- dale Cement Works where he manufactured much of the cement used on the Croton Aqueduct. He was also largely interested and engaged in the development of the water power of Cohoes on the Mohawk. In 1844 he was chosen representative to Congress where he served three terms. He was then active with the Litchfields, D. B. St. John, Gov. Hunt, John Stryker and others in building the Michigan South- ern and Northern Indiana Railroads which were carried to a successful conclusion. In 1830 he moved to Cohoes, Saratoga county, where he resided until his death, which occurred October 6, 1870. Mr. White was also engaged in other enterprises of a manufacturing and business nature. He took and executed large private con- tracts, and followed agricultural pursuits somewhat extensively all his life. He was a man of strict integrity, honest, upright and broad minded, and won honorable dis- tinction ; he was persistent in pursuit of a purpose, though impassionate in his man- ner of obtaining it. He conscientiously respected the rights and privileges of others and aided many a struggling man on the road to success and prosperity. No person ever left a fairer name or a more unblemished record. He was of a frank and patri- otic nature, always acted with the Whigs and Republicans, and while in Congress, though not gifted as a parliamentary debater, yet he exercised an important influence on legislation in the House and held prominent places among the committees. As a climax to his legislative career, it was well understood in Washington that on his retirement from Congress he was to be appointed United States minister to Spain, but the early demise of President Taylor, and the succeeding of Vice-President Fill- more to the presidency, disappointed him and his friends and supporters.

Hugh White was born a business man, his plans were broad and comprehensive, his mind was analytical, and his intellectual grasp of methods was marvelous; he was persistent and practical, and was possessed of an indomitable will with rare ex- ecutive talent; he was also experienced as a financier He was president of the Saratoga County National Bank at the time of his death. In religion he was a life- long Presbyterian, and was a liberal benefactor and an active promoter of all public enterprises. Mr. White was married in the thirtieth year of his age, to Maria Mills Mansfield, daughter of William Punderson Mansfield of Kent, Conn. She was a lady of much education and refinement and of exemplary womanly graces, a mother, helpmate and friend in the highest sense of the terms, and died in July, 1888. Only two children survive them; a son, William Mansfield White, whose sketch appears in this volume, and Isabel. wife of Hon. W. W. Niles, a prominent lawyer of New York city.

CANVASS WHITE.

Adapted from "Lives and Works of Civil and Military Engineers of America," by Charles B. Stuart, C. E., 1871.

The most conspicuous of the grandsons of Pioneer White was Canvass White, also a son of Hugh White above mentioned, and an elder brother of Hon. Hugh White just above spoken of. He was born in Whitestown, Oneida county, September 8, 1790. His mother was Tryphenia Lawrence of Canaan, Conn., of Puritan descent, and from his Puritan parents he derived those traits of integrity, indefatigable

BIOGRAPHICAL.

industry, and purity of character of which his public life was so distinguished an example.

Canvass White had a feebleness of constitution that caused his early years to be a constant struggle between disease and health. His mother was a delicate lady un- used to the rough exposure incident to pioneer life, and died when he was ten years old. At an early age he began to display a talent for invention and a genius for improvements that resulted in the construction of several domestic and agricultural implements, which were in use for many years on the paternal homestead and in the neighborhood. His minority was spent mainly on his father's farm, with such ad- vantages only for acquiring an education as the very limited common schools of that period afforded; and it was not until the winter of 1813 that an opportunity occurred for him to pursue those studies essential to success in the profession he had chosen. In February, 1803, he entered Fairfield Academy and there studied mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, mineralogy and surveying until he completed the course, after which he continued these studies under Dr. Josiah Noyes, of Clinton, N. Y. At the age of seventeen he became a clerk in the store of Colonel Carpenter, where he remained until the spring of 1811, during which period he gained the entire confidence of his employer and became a general favorite with all his acquaint- ances. At this time, his health became precarious, a sea voyage was advised as a means of restoration. He therefore shipped as super-cargo on board a merchant vessel bound for Russia, and did not return until October, 1812. The captain, while in Russia, remained ignorant of the declaration of war and commencement of hos- tilities between the United States and Great Britain, and took in an assorted cargo and sailed for Hull, England. He was unaware of the war until they entered the English port, when they were made prisoners and their ship and its cargo seized. For some unexplained reason the captain and crew, however, were released, per- mitted to discharge their ship, take in another lading, and continue their homeward voyage. The ship had scarcely cleared the mouth of the Humber when a violent storm and high tide drove them ashore, leaving the vessel, when the tide receded, sixty rods from the sea. An inspection of the bottom of the ship disclosed the fact that much of the planking was completely rotten. Young White advised that new planks be substituted and a channel opened through the sand that would admit the tide to the stranded boat. A few days later the ship was on her way to New York, where she arrived in the latter part of September.

Mr. White's health was materially improved by the voyage, and on his return he again entered the employ of his former patron and friend, Colonel Carpen- ter, where he remained until the spring of 1814 when, having raised a company of volunteers, he was commissioned lieutenant in Colonel Dodge's regiment, and took part in the assault and capture of Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo. While in occupation of the fort, with his command, he was severely wounded by a shell fired from the enemy's redoubt half a mile distant. Soon after his recovery an opportunity occurred for revenging himself on the enemy. A reconnoitering party from the British camp was discovered in an adjacent wood, and Lieutenant White was sent with his com- mand to capture or disperse them. He succeeded in capturing the whole party, kill- ing and wounding several before they surrendered. He remained with his regiment until the expiration of their term of service, when he returned home and resumed his studies.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

In the spring of 1816 Judge Benjamin Wright was forming a corps for prosecuting the surveys of the Erie Canal. Mr. White solicited a position and was engaged by Judge Wright as one of his assistants. During this and the succeeding season he was employed in taking the levels westward from Rome. In this duty he acquitted himself so well that he very soon won the esteem of the chief engineer, between whom and himself there ever afterward existed a firm and unbroken friendship. About this time he made the acquaintance of Gov. De Witt Clinton, who was highly pleased with his personal qualities and professional abilities. At this early day the knowledge of canal construction among the engineers of the country was very lim- ited, and Mr. White, at the earnest solicitation of Governor Clinton, determined to visit England for the purpose of examining public works and procuring the most in- proved instruments in use. In the autumn of 1817 he carried out this determination and made a careful examination of the canals of the United Kingdom, traveling for this purpose more than 2,000 miles on foot. He returned the next spring, bringing instruments and accurate drawings of the most important structures on those works, and much valuable information for the benefit of the State in the construction of its canals. About this time there was much discussion on the subject of lock construc- tion, some favoring wood, and others stone, or a combination of the two. It was finally decided, however, to build stone locks, using quick-lime mortar for the ma- sonry, and pointing the joints with hydraulic cement, then imported at great cost from England. Mr. White soon discovered a valuable lime rock near the route of the canal in Madison county, which, after repeated experiments, he converted into a cement equal to the imported, and at much less cost to the State. For this discov- ery he obtained a patent, but permitted its use under the promise of the canal com- missioners that a just compensation should be allowed, not only for it, but for his expenses and services while abroad. The commissioners, however, failed to obtain the necessary authority from the Legislature to fulfil their promise, notwithstanding the recommendations of the governor and other officers of the State. Gov. De Witt Clinton, in a letter to a committee of the Legislature in 1824, said " that Mr. White had been of great use in his operations as an engineer, and that his skill, industry, and integrity in that department furnish strong recommendations to the favorable notice of the State." Judge Wright stated before the same committee: " I have no hesitation in saying that the discovery of hydraulic cement by Mr. White has been of incalculable benefit to the State, and that it is a discovery which ought, in justice, to be handsomely remunerated." Mr. Flagg reported from the same committee " that Mr. White, a principal engineer, had made this discovery after repeated ex- periments and received a patent in 1820, and that he introduced it at great expense amidst the doubts and fears which operated against its use."

The Canal Commissioners, in their report of February, 1820, say: "Between the Seneca and Genesee Rivers Canvass White, engineer, had the charge of a party which has been engaged for several months in leveling over and surveying different routes for the canal line. These labors he has performed much to our satisfaction, and having presented a view of them to a meeting of our Board held in October, at Utica, we thereupon decided in favor of the route originally explored between these rivers in the year 1816." The canal through, and eight miles east of Utica was com- pleted in the fall of 1820, Canvass White being the resident engineer. In 1820 Messrs.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Wright (principal) and White (acting) engineer, explored the country thoroughly from Little Falls to the Hudson, and pronounced impracticable the route from Schnectady connecting with the Hudson at Albany, and located the line via Co- hoes and Troy. This location was finally fixed upon by Mesrss. Wright, Geddes and White. Early in the spring of 1822 Canvass White was sent to lay out the Glens Falls feeder, and in that year he planned and directed the building of the lock and dam between Troy and Waterford, until the 8th of June, when William Jerome took charge. Judge Wright, in a letter to Dr. Hosack in December, 1828, says:

" Here it is proper that I should render a just tribute of merit to a gentleman who now stands high in his profession and whose skill and sound judgment, as a civil engineer, is not surpassed, if equalled, by any other in the United States. The gen- tleman to whom I refer is Canvass White, Esq., who commenced as my pupil in 1816 by carrying the target; he took an active part through that year and through 1817. In the fall of the latter year he made a voyage to England on his own account, and . purchased for the State several leveling instruments, of which we stood much in need. He returned in the spring and brought with him much valuable information, which he has usefully developed, greatly to the benefit of the State of New York. To this gentleman I could always apply for counsel and advise in any great or diffi- cnlt case, and to his sound judgment in locating the line of the canal, in much of the difficult part of the route, the people of this State are under obligations greater than is generally known or appreciated."

Simon Guilford, who was Mr. White's assistant civil engineer, related the follow- ing incident: "When that portion of the canal along the Mohawk River between Little Falls and Canajoharie was completed, and the supply of water was turned in, owing to a very porous soil over which a considerable portion of the canal was made, the supply proved inadequate, which was fully realized as the first boat passed. The question was as to how the difficulty was to be overcome. Mr. White replied, 'A feeder must be obtained from the river at this place' (a few miles above Fort Plain), and on being asked how long it would take to build a dam across the river, 900 feet long, so as to raise the water nine feet above the ordinary surface, he replied, 'A few weeks.' The dam was completed in sixty days, inclusive of a side-cut and bridge connected with it."

Mr. White's professional success, scrupulous integrity, and modest demeanor, in all transactions of life, won for him the enduring esteem of all with whom he was associated. For these admirable qualities of mind and heart he became widely known, and as a consequence frequent and urgent offers were tendered him for en- gineering services in other States. He continued, however, in the active discharge of his duties as an engineer on the Erie Canal until it was so nearly completed that his place could be supplied from his assistant engineer, when he succeeded Loammi Baldwin as chief engineer on the Union Canal in Pennsylvania. He continued in that position until the latter part of the summer of 1826, when, in consequence of a severe illness contracted while conducting the surveys of the canal west of the Sus- quehanna River, he returned to Philadelphia, and resigned his connection with the company. Meanwhile he had been called to New York to examine the sources of supply for pure and wholesome water for the city. He reported that, for the present need of the city, and its probable requirements for twenty years thereafter, a suffi-

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

cient supply could be obtained from the Rye pond and the Bronx River in West- chester county, " but after the city should extend to one-third the surface of Manhat- tan Island it would be necessary to add the Croton River to their other resources." The report was accompanied with full details, and strongly impressed the city gov- ernment with the importance and feasibility of the project.

While engaged upon these two enterprises he was solicited to take charge of the works of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, which were then in course of construc- tion. After making a rapid survey of the ground and the plans of the company he suggested alterations and recommended the employment of Captain Beach as their chief. Mr. White continued as consulting engineer until the work was completed, and was at the same time consulting engineer for the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, Judge Benjamin Wright being the chief engineer. The success and reported profits of the Erie Canal gave an impetus to canal construction in that day that would have resulted in a system of artificial internal navigation as universal as our present railroad system could the capital necessary for the purpose have been ob- tained. Projects were started in various parts of the Union, and a pressing demand was made upon the time of the few engineers then in the country. The citizens of Hartford conceived the project of improving the navigation of the Connecticut River, and the Windsor locks were built by Mr. White as chief engineer. Careful financial men were led away by the prevailing spirit of the time, and large amounts were expended upon impracticable enterprises. Among these was the Farmington Canal, constructed from New Haven to Farmington and thence up the Farmington River, "as money could be found to prosecute the work." Mr. White was applied to for plans and surveys, and for an opinion of the value of it when completed; he furnished the former and remained consulting engineer during the construction of of the work, but frequently expressed an opinion adverse to the success of the canal, which ultimately proved correct. In the spring of 1827 he was appointed chief en- gineer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and resumed the construction of a canal along the Delaware River from Easton, Pa., to navigable waters below. This project had been inaugurated in 1825 for the purpose of increasing the com- pany's facilities for shipping coal from Maunch Chunk to Philadelphia, and a canal one mile in length, with five locks and a large basin at Maunch Chunk, had been built. Mr. White prosecuted the work with such diligence that the first boat passed through the canal in July, 1829. At that time the Lehigh Canal was the most capa- cious work of the kind yet undertaken in the country, and was considered a bold project. In the summer of 1825 Mr. White was appointed chief engineer of the Del- aware and Raritan Canal. He organized a party for preliminary surveys and placed it under the immediate charge of John Hopkins, one of the most trusted assistants. This work was discontinued in the fall after the location of about twelve miles, and was not resumed again until the spring of 1831. The construction of the canal from the Delaware to the Raritan Rivers was attended by many difficulties and met many obstructions, all of which were successfully overcome. In the prosecution of this important work Mr. White always acknowledged with becoming gratitude the gen- erous and wise course of Commodore Robert F. Stockton, who took an active interest in the success of the enterprise. In the autumn of 1834, when this work was nearly completed, Mr. White's health was so much impaired that his physician advised him

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 74

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