USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 20
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In the spring of 1871 the "Owego Driving Park Association " was organized, the present fair grounds on the north side of Main street, in Canawana, were fenced, and a good half-mile track was graded. The first races were held in June of that year, and on October 17, 18 and 19 an agricultural exhibition was given in con- nection with them. The success which attended this enterprise was so gratifying that the management determined to reorganize the county agricultural society, although the Driving Park Asso- ciation enterprise ultimately resulted in failure. A public meeting was held at the court house on October 18, 1875, and the following officers of the agricultural society were elected : Thomas I. Chat- field, president ; William Ellis, of Barton, Lewis P. Legg, of Berk- shire, Sylvester Woodward, of Candor, George E. Rich, of Newark Valley, John Smith, Jr., of Nichols, Edwin Goodrich, of Owego, Charles F. Curtis, of Richford, Jeremiah McMaster, of Spencer, and Henry Young, of Tioga, vice-presidents ; William Smyth, of
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Owego, corresponding secretary ; George Worthington, of Owego, recording secretary ; Stephen S. Truman, of Owego, treasurer.
But even this admirably officered association could not effectu- ally revive the society, and after the appointment of a committee on by-laws no further steps were taken and the subject was dropped. However, in 1872, on August 10, a public meeting was assembled at the court-house to consider the question of still an- other attempt at reorganization, or at least to re-establish the annual fairs. An informal organization was effected, a committee was appointed to confer with the officers of the driving park asso- ciation, and on October 24 the society was revived and officers were elected as follows : Herbert Richardson, of Newark Valley, presi- dent ; William Ellis, of Barton, Charles Manning, of Berkshire, James Anderson, of Candor, H. Richardson, of Newark Valley, John Smith, Jr., of Nichols, George R. Curtis, of Owego, Charles A. Clark, of Richford, James Nelson, of Spencer, and Richard Spendley, of Tioga, vice-presidents ; William Smyth, of Owego, sec- retary ; George Truman, of Owego, treasurer ; and John S. Giles, Samuel M. LaMonte and William H. Armstrong, directors.
The first fair under this reorganization was held in September, 1873, and from that to the present time an annual exhibition has been held on the same grounds. Occasionally unfavorable weather has operated against financial success, but generally the results have been satisfactory, and the Tioga County Agricultural Society has become known as one of the fixed and permanent institutions of the shire.
From the time of the original organization in 1837 the officers of the society have been as follows :
PRESIDENTS.
1839-Thomas Farrington .* 1863-George Woodford .*
1843-1846-Charles Frederick Johnson .* 1864-Louis P. Legg.
1855-Harvey Coryell."
1865-Samuel B. Smitlı.
1856-Louis l'. Legg.
1866-1868-Jolın L. Taylor.
1857-Chester Randall .* 1869-Thomas I. Chatfield .*
1858-W. R. Shoemaker .*
1873- Herbert Richardson .*
1859-William Ellis.
1875-Louis P. Legg.
1860-John McQuigg .*
1876-F. W. Richardson.
1861-David Taylor .*
1877-John S. Giles.
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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
1878-William H. Armstrong .*
1890-George M. Griswold.
1881-George J. Nelson.
1891-William E. Dorwin.
1882-Frederick C. Lowman.
1892-Cyrenus M. LaMonte.
1883-John Smith, Jr.
1893-G. Henry Horton.
1884-W. Hulse Shaw.
1895-Jonathan C. Latimer.
1889-Frederick C. Lowman.
1896-Herman M. Tilbury.
SECRETARIES.
1838-Charles Frederick Johnson .*
1866-68-W. H. Corey.
1844-1846-Dr. L. H. Allen .*
1871-George Worthington .*
1855-William Smyth.
1872-William Smyth.
1862-John L. Taylor.
1873-William A. Smyth.
1864-Thomas I. Chtafield .*
1877-1897-L. W. Kingman.
TREASURERS
1838-George Bacon .*
1873 -- George Truman.
1842-1846-John Carmichael .*
1874-Thomas I. Chatfield .*
1855-Thomas I. Chatfield .*
1878-A. Chase Thompson.
1862-1868-Dwight I. Bloodgood .*
1880-1897-James M. Hastings.
1871-Stephen S. Truman.
* Deceased.
THE TIOGA COUNTY FARMERS' CLUB.
Incident to the subject treated in the foregoing portion of this chapter, mention may properly be made of the farmers' club which was organized in November, 1855, at a meeting held at the old court-house in Owego. The proceedings were har- monious but much discussion arose in relation to a suitable name for the organization, among those suggested and advo- cated being "The Tioga County Agricultural Club," proposed by H. W. Shoemaker, of Nichols ; "The Tioga County Agricultu- ral and Horticultural Club," advocated by Col. James S. Thurston, of Owego ; and "The Tioga County Farmers' Club," presented by William P. Raymond, of Owego, and finally adopted. The first officers were Stephen B. Leonard, president ; H. W. Shoemaker, secretary, and Thomas I. Chatfield, treasurer. However, the club had but a brief existence and after one or two meetings was dis- solved.
In 1872, at one of the meetings of the agricultural society held in the old court-house, a farmers' club was brought into existence, but no permanent organization was effected until January 29, 1875. At that time Rial Walker was elected president, and LeRoy W. Kingman, secretary. The club held monthly meetings for the
1
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discussion of agricultural subjects, and the debates were published regularly in the Times and the Gascette. The original name of the organization was "The Tioga County Agricultural Society and Farmers' Club," but a portion was afterward dropped and that of " The Tioga County Farmers' Club " adopted. This club passed out of existence in 1876.
"The Gibson Corners Agricultural Society" was organized by articles of association filed April 28, 1880. The corporators, officers and directors were as follows: James W. Benjamin, president ; Orlando Winans, vice-president : Charles Annevelle, secretary ; Amos Congdon, treasurer ; Stephen Bostwick, Henry Bills, Thomas Bost- wiek, Albert Carpenter, Morris Moulton and James Dunham, direc- tors, and Charles Sibley, David B. Thomas and Albert Benjamin, additional members.
The Northern Tioga Agricultural Society was formed at Newark Valley, November 23, 1880, and its articles of association named as directors John R. Ford, Edgar Belden, D. M. Sturtevant, Wil- liam Elwell, Eugene Johnson, F. G. Bushnell, William T. Shaw, L. D. McCullough and F. W. Richardson ; and as officers : L. S. Birch, president : Theodore Mayor, vice-president ; C. F. Curtis, 2d vice-president ; Charles L. Noble, secretary; and J. R. Hankins, ticasurer.
The North Barton Agricultural Society was incorporated June 25, 1885, by Shubael C. Brown, Oscar Talcott, D. V. Besemer, N. M. Bruster, Alonzo Baker, H. E. Barden, M. B. Sager, S. W. Ellison, P. H. Wheeler, O. H. Stebbins, D. V. Personeus, C. S. Nichols and Solomon Genung.
The Spencer Agricultural Society filed articles of association July 13, 1888, and named the following officers, directors and members, viz : John Q. Shepard, president ; Seymour Seely, Ist vice-president ; O. H. Stebbins, 2d vice-president ; Loring W. Hull, secretary ; Wm. A. Holdridge, treasurer ; Daniel E. Brooks, A. J. Tupper, Asahel H. Woodford, Harmon Stevens, Marvin D. Fisher and Benjamin F. Lewis, directors ; and Phineas C. Van Gelder and Charles E. Butts, additional members.
The Candor Agricultural and Driving Park Association was incorporated February 27, 1889, the articles of association naming
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these officers : Lewis A. Hart, president ; John W. McCarty, vice- president ; Frank L. Heath, secretary ; Fred W. Smith, treasurer : A. A. Robinson, James H. Jennings, Solomon Vergason, Ira Hoose, Asahel Woodford, Jacob C. Fuller, Eli Blinn and Henry Quick, directors ; and Charles F. Barager, Wn. B. Smith, Epenetus Howe and George W. Hart, additional members.
The town agricultural societies will be further mentioned in the history of the towns in which they are respectively located.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PRESS OF TIOGA COUNTY.
E DUCATION is the great civilizer, and printing its greatest auxiliary, yet it is surprising when searching our libraries to discover how little has been written of the " Art preserva- tive of all arts," and the educator of all educators. While print- ing has been the chronicler of all arts, professions and learning, it has recorded so little of its own history as to leave even the story of its first invention and application wrapped in mystery and doubt ; and we only know that from the old Ramage press, which Faust and Franklin used, capable of producing only one hundred impressions an hour, we have now the ponderous machine which turns out one thousand copies a minute.
In glancing over the pages of history we discover the gradual development in the arts and sciences. We notice that they go hand in hand-one discovery points to another, one improvement in the arts leads to others continually, and the results of the last few centuries have shown that observations of no apparent use led to the most important and valuable developments. The falling of an apple led Newton to unfold the theory of gravitation and its relation to the solar system ; the discovery of the polarity of the
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loadstone led to the construction of the mariner's compass; the observation of the muscular contraction of a frog led to the nu- merous applications of galvanic electricity ; the observation of the expansive force of steam led to the construction and application of the steam engine ; the observation of the influence of light on the chloride of silver led to the art of photography ; the observa- tion of the communication of sound by the connected rails of a railroad led to the invention of the telephone ; the impressions cut in the smooth bark of a birch tree led to the art of printing-the art which transmits to posterity a record of all that is valuable to the world.
Thus is progress discernable in each successive generation of man. Gradually has he advanced from a state of rude barbarism and total ignorance to a degree of perfection which gives him almost absolute dominion over all elements, and in the pride of glorious and enlightened manhood he exclaims with Cowper :
" I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute ; From the centre all 'round to the sea I am lord of the fowl and the brute."
So long as mind shall occupy its seat, so long will progress be the watchword of man, and onward and upward will be his march to an almost limitless ascent, where all the hidden and occult secrets of creation will unfold their mysteries to his comprehension and crown him master of them all.
The printing office has well been called the "Poor Boy's college," and has proven a better school to many ; has graduated more in- tellect and turned it into useful, practical channels ; awakened more active, devoted thought than any alma mater on the earth. Many a dunce has passed through the universities with no tangi- ble proof of fitness other than his insensible piece of parchment, himself more sheepish, if possible, than his "sheepskin." There is something in the very atmosphere of a printing office calculated to awaken the mind to activity and inspire a thirst for knowledge. Franklin, Stanhope, Beranger, Thiers, Taylor, Greeley, and a host of other names illustrious in the world of letters and science,
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have been gems in the diadem of typography, and owe their suc- cess to the influence of a printing office.
The newspaper has become one of the chief indexes of the in- telligence, civilization and progress of the community in which.it is published, and its files are the footprints of the advancement and refinement of the period of its publication ; and the printing office is now deemed as essential as the church or the school-house. It has taken the place of the rostrum and the professor's chair and become the great teacher. No party, organization, enterprise or calling is now considered perfect without its "organ "-the news- paper, as a mouthpiece.
The first newspaper published in America was Publick Occur- rences, issued in Boston, Mass., September 25, 1690, by Richard Pearce for Benjamin Harris, and was immediately suppressed by the government. The next was the Boston News-Letter, the first number of which was dated April 20, 1704. The first newspaper published in the state of New York was a reprint, in 1696, of a copy of the London Gazette, which Benjamin Fletcher, lieutenant- governor of the colony, caused to be issued, having induced Wil- liam Bradford, a Philadelphia publisher, to quit that city and set up business in New York. The paper contained an account of an engagement with the French, not long before the peace of Ryswick. The first newspaper published in the state of New York, and still published, was the Hudson Gazette, established in 1785. The tenth newspaper established in this state was the Owego Gasctte, first issued in 1800 under the name of American Constellation, and was, of course, the first newspaper published anywhere in the southern tier counties. The first number was issued Saturday, November 22, 1800, dated at "Union, Tioga county, N. Y." Although the paper was dated at Union it was actually printed at Chenango village, a small settlement on the west side of the Chenango river, about one mile above the present city of Binghamton. This settlement was begun in 1793 or 1794, and there was no settlement at Binghamton until 1799. In 1800 Binghamton was surveyed and laid out as a village, was then called " Union," and the paper was dated "Union," for the reason that the place was for a long time the only postoffice in the vicin-
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ity. A postoffice was established at Binghamton (then Union) in 1796, but there was no office at Union until 1830, when it was kept by William A. Stoddard, four miles east of the present vil- lage of that name, exactly at the only point where the Erie railroad touches the bank of the river between Union and Bing- hamton.
The American Coustellation contained four pages of four columns each, measured seventeen and one-half inches in length and eleven inches in width. The subscription price was two dollars a year. It was published by Daniel Cruger, Jr., who may have been the son of Daniel Cruger, who is mentioned in Wilkinson's "Annals of Binghamton" (page 106) as having been one of the earliest settlers of Elmira and as having opened there the first store.
In 1801, Mr. Cruger removed his printing office to Owego, and continued the publication until 1803, when he sold it to Henry Steward and Stephen Mack, who changed its name to the Ameri- can Farmer, issuing the first number under that name August 26 of that year. The printing office was in a frame house which stood on the lot at the northeast corner of Front and Court streets. Judge Mack soon afterward purchased his partner's interest in the paper, and removed the office to the second story of his residence, on the north side of Front street, east of Church street, between the present residences of Henry Young and I. J. Delevan. The house was torn down in 1826.
When Daniel Cruger, Jr., came to Owego he was 21 years of age. In 1794, at the age of 14, he was apprenticed to the printing trade in the office of Mr. Webster, one of the early printers and publishers in Albany. He was not only attentive to his duties, but while other boys were amusing themselves he pursued a course of classical studies, assisted occasionally by a relative, a learned and benevolent clergyman. As time passed he contrib- uted anonymously to Webster's paper, the articles possessing such marked ability that they were at first attributed to John Jay or De Witt Clinton. Immediately upon the completion of his appren- ticeship he came to southern New York and began the publication of the American Constellation. Having disposed of the paper in 1803, he went to Bath, Steuben county, where his father lived
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and where he worked as a printer until his health began to fail. Then he left the printing office forever and entered the law office of General S. S. Haight, of Bath, and prepared himself for the bar. He was admitted to practice in 1809, and soon became one of the leading lawyers and most prominent politicians of western New York, the friend of De Witt Clinton and other notable men of the day. In 1814, 1815, 1816, and 1826, he represented Albany and Steuben counties in the assembly, and in 1816 was speaker of the house. He was district attorney of the seventh district, which comprised the counties of Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Steu- ben, Seneca, and Tioga, from March 17, 1815, to June 11, 1818, and from 1818 he continued as district attorney of Steuben county until February 19, 1821. He represented the Twentieth congres- sional district in the Fifteenth congress from 1817 to 1819. While in congress General Cruger made the acquaintance of Mrs. Lydia Shepard, of Ohio county, Va., who was in Washington trying to collect a claim of her deceased husband against the government. He subsequently went to Virginia and was married with her. After marriage he retired from public life, devoting his remaining years to agricultural pursuits and the management of his wife's property. He died July 12, 1843, at Elm Grove, Ohio county, Va., in the 64th year of his age, and his remains lie in Stone Church cemetery.
Some time previous to 1811, the name American Farmer was changed to American Farmer and Owego Advertiser, which name it bore until Judge Mack's death, in 1814.
Judge Stephen Mack was born in Massachusetts, March 20, 1766. In 1799 he kept a general country store in Cooperstown, N. Y., and had a contract with the government to furnish about 100,000 spars, to be delivered at Baltimore, Md. In March, 1799, a freshet carried away all the timber he had purchased and paid for in goods from his store, and bankrupted him. He came down the Susque- hanna to Owego in quest of his timber, but found it would cost as much to secure it as it would be worth, so he abandoned the search. Having become attracted by the beauty of this valley, he came here to live. He engaged in mercantile business and became a prominent citizen. He held the offices of commissioner of high-
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ways, assessor, excise commissioner and constable, and was super- visor of the town of Owego in 1807, 1808, 1811, and 1812. He also served several years as a justice of the peace. From 1812 until his death he was first judge of the court of common pleas of the county. He died in Owego April 16, 1814.
In 1813 Stephen B. Leonard purchased an interest in the Ameri- can Farmer. He had entered Judge Mack's office in 1806 as an apprentice to the printer's trade. After the expiration of his term he went to Albany in order to perfect himself in the printer's art. In the winter of 1813 he returned to Owego and purchased a half interest in the paper. An agreement was made whereby Judge Mack's son, Horace, was to be taken as an apprentice, the services of Horace to offset those of Mr. Leonard. Mr. Leonard soon after- ward returned to Albany. One day in May, 1814, by chance he picked up a piece torn from a newspaper, in which mention was made of Judge Mack's death. He at once returned to Owego and June 15, 1814, changed the name of the paper to the Owego Gazette. The arrangement in regard to Horace Mack was at the same time terminated. June 15, 1815, the date of the completion of the first year, Ebenezer Mack, another son of Judge Mack, who had been foreman of the Columbian office in New York city, became a part- ner with Mr. Leonard in the publication of the paper. This part- nership lasted only one year, when Mr. Leonard purchased Mack's interest. Mack went to Ithaca, where from 1817 to December, 1833, he was proprietor, with various partners, of the Ithaca Jour- nal. He represented Tompkins county in the assembly in 1830, and was state senator for the sixth district from 1834 to 1837, in- clusive. He died in Ithaca in August, 1849.
When Mr. Leonard purchased the Gazette he removed the press and material to the second story of the building owned by James Pumpelly and occupied as a store by John Hollenback. The store was afterward converted into a dwelling house, and is still stand- ing on the north side of Front street, the second west of Paige street. The post office was kept in the printing office from 1816 to 1820, Mr. Leonard having been appointed postmaster.
In 1821 Charles Pumpelly built a small one-story building, with basement, which stood on the bank of the river on the south side
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of Front street, above Church street, about 20 feet east of the house built by W. A. King. A dug road led down to the river on the west side of this building, from which a door opened into the basement, into which the printing office had been removed. The building was torn down by Mr. King, in March, 1877. At this time the office force was composed of John Rose, foreman, and Daniel H. Cole, apprentice. The paper was published on a hand press. The ink was applied to the type by means of balls made of buckskin, stuffed with wool.
When Mr. Leonard began the publication of the Gazette he delivered the papers throughout the county in person, established post routes, and obtained subscribers. He afterwards secured con- tracts for delivering the mail at various points throughout this part of the state by post-riders, as Judge Mack had also done while publishing the American Farmer. Mr. Leonard's routes extended from Owego to Binghamton, Norwich, Penn Yan, Bath, and other points. The United States government paid the post-riders for delivering the mails, and the newspapers were delivered at the same time. Mr. Cole was one of the carriers. He went to Ithaca once each week by the way of Richford, returning the next day by way of Speedsville. Mr. Cole served an apprenticeship of only three months. He afterward became a lumberman and farmer, and died at Tioga Centre, Feb. 18, 1891, aged 83 years.
Previous to 1828 no other newspaper than the Gazette had been published in Owego, and as the paper was democratic in politics the whigs had no organ. In the presidential year of 1828, when Andrew Jackson was the democratic candidate for president and John Quincy Adams the candidate of the republicans (or whigs), Stephen S. Chatterton, who was then about twenty-two years of age, and who was the publisher of the Republican Chronicle in Ithaca, came to Owego and established the Owego Free Press, the first number of which was issued September 2, supporting Adams and Rush. It was printed at the Republican and Chronicle office in Ithaca, and was almost identical with that paper. After the elec- tion publication was discontinued. Four years later, in the cam- paign of 1832, S. S. Chatterton and C. O. Flynn, who were pub- lishers at Ithaca of the Tompkins American, to which name the
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Republican and Chronicle had been changed, established in Owego the Owego Republican, the first number of which was issued Sep- tember 19, 1832. The Republican supported Henry Clay, the whig candidate for president. This paper was also printed in Ithaca, and its publication was suspended after election. In the next presidential campaign, four years later, the Owego Advertiser, a whig paper, was permanently established in Owego. Mr. Chat- terton was a native of Troy, N. Y., and had learned printing in Ithaca. In 1835 he went to New York city, where he established a job printing office, became prominent in politics, and died Feb- ruary 26, 1876.
In October, 1827, Mr. Leonard sold an interest in the Gasctte to Jonas B. Shurtleff. The partnership of Leonard & Shurtleff con- tinued two years, and was dissolved October 13, 1829. In 1831 the paper was published for a short time by Leonard & Cook, and the day of publication changed to Thursday. Mr. Leonard's next partner was John J. C. Cantine, a printer, who learned his trade in the Albany Argus office and who came to Owego from Ithaca. The firm of Leonard & Cantine continued from the summer of 1833 until early in the summer of 1835. In this year Mr. Leonard was in congress, but Cantine's management during his absence was so unsatisfactory that the partnership was dissolved. Cantine went to Towanda, Pa., where he established the Bradford Democrat. He died in Chicago, Ill., in January, 1859, aged 53 years. In the summer of 1835 Mr. Leonard sold the Gasette to Shurtleff & Bull.
Stephen Banks Leonard was born in Wall street, New York city, April 15, 1793, and came to Owego in his boyhood with his father, Silas Leonard. He served an apprenticeship to the printer's trade in the office of the American Farmer, and at the expiration of his term (in 1813) he purchased an interest in the paper. Soon afterward he went to Albany and entered the printing office of Solomon Southwick, in order to perfect himself in his trade. On learning of the death of Judge Mack he returned to Owego and took possession of the American Farmer office and changed the name of the paper to the Owego Gazette. Mr. Leonard naturally became active in politics, and was for many years one of the most prominent democratic leaders in this part of the state. He was
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