USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Owego. Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 34
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The election in 1840 of Gen. Harri- son to the presidency and the accession of the Whig party to power was fol- lowed by a change in postmasters and Col. Daniel Ely was appointed to suc- ceed Dr. Fay. His appointment was dated Feb. 4, 1842. Col. Ely removed the post office into his store, which was on the south side of Front street opposite where the First national bank now stands. This store was on the ground on which H. N. Hubbard afterward built the brick store, which still stands there and which was until · recently occupied by E. E. Strait & Co. as a book store.
In November, 1844, James K. Polk was elected president by the Demo- crats, and his election was followed by another general decapitation of post- masters. On the 20th of that month Stephen B. Leonard was again ap- pointed postmaster. Mr. Leonard re- moved the office into Isaac Lillie's vacant store, which stood at the north-
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east corner of Front and Lake streets, where W. B. Partridge's drug store now stands.
Another change in the national ad- ministration took place in 1848, when Gen. Zachariah Taylor was elected to the presidency by the Whigs and Mr. Leonard lost his official head. His successor was Charles R. Barstow, who was appointed postmaster April 18, 1849. The office was still kept in Mr. Lillie's building until it was burned in the great fire of September in that year. Then Mr. Barstow re- moved the office temporarily to his residence, which is still standing on the east side of Paige street, the sec- ond house north of East Temple street. He soon built a small two- story wooden building on the south- east corner of the lot now owned by Dr. A. D. Gould on the north side of Main street, opposite the Owego hotel. The lot was owned by Dr. H. N. East- man. The second story of the build- ing was occupied by Wm. Fields as a harness shop. The office was kept in that building until December 15, 1851, when it was removed to one of the stores in the Ahwaga house block in Front street. The old post office building was removed in December, 1853, from Dr. Eastman's lot to Lib- erty street and converted into a dwell- ing house.
Charles R. Barstow was a promi- nent resident of Owego. He was a son of Dr. Samuel Barstow, of Great Barrington, Mass., and was born in March, 1804. When about twelve years of age he came to the town of Nichols to live with his uncle, Dr. Gamaliel H. Barstow, who had settled there four years previous. When a
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young man he engaged in the general mercantile business at Nichols. He was commissioner of the United States deposit fund from 1840 to 1842. In 1843 he was elected sheriff of Ti- oga county and removed to Owego. In 1846, at the expiration of his term of office, he was elected to the assem- bly. His term as postmaster expired in 1853. He was then appointed gen- eral wood agent of the New York and Erie railroad, and held that position until March, 1854, when he was ap- pointed paymaster of the western di- vision of the road. In April, 1865, he was appointed port warden of New York city and held the position until August, 1868, when he resigned. He died at Big Rapids, Mich., Dec. 10, 1880. Mr. Barstow's eldest daughter was the wife of senator Thomas C. Platt.
Hiram A. Beebe succeeded Mr. Bar- stow as postmaster upon the election of Franklin Pierce to the presidency in 1852, which restored the Democrats to power. There was considerable strife in Owego over the appointment and the several candidates consented to the holding of a special election to decide the matter. The election was held accordingly at the old Tioga house in North avenue, by direction of the Democratic district committee. All persons who received and sent let- ters through the post office and who had voted the Democratic ticket at the last election previous were al- lowed to vote. John J. Taylor, mem- ber of congress-elect, was chairman and the polls were kept open from 3 to 4:30 and 7 to 8 p. m. Mr. Beebe received 217 of the 267 votes cast, and his two competitors 27 and 23, respec-
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tively. Mr. Beebe was accordingly ap- pointed postmaster May 4, 1853. On the 16th of the same month he re- moved the post office into one of the stores in T. P. Patch's brick block on the west side of Lake street, which ground is now covered by the L. N. Chamberlain brick block. The office was at the back part of the room and the rest was occupied as a news office by A. R. & C. C. Thomas. Mr. Beebe held the office by reappoint- ment through the administrations of presidents Pierce and Buchanan and during a portion of the Lincoln admin- istration-a period of nine years.
Mr. Beebe was born in the town of Bridgewater, near Montrose, Pa., March 11, 1817. He learned the printers' trade at which he worked as a journeyman until 1838, when he be- came editor of the Bradford Democrat at Towanda, Pa. In January, 1843, he came to Owego and was editor of the Gazette thirty-seven years. He was president of the village of Owego in 1852, 1861, and 1871, and in 1874 and 1875 he had charge of the state de- partment of public records at Albany. He died at Owego March 31, 1897.
Charles Stebbins succeeded Mr. Beebe as postmaster June 30, 1864, and in March 1861, he was reap- pointed. He removed the office to the east side of Lake street into the wooden building now occupied by the Owego national bank. Mr. Stebbins resigned the office in 1871. Mr. Steb- bins was born in October, 1820, at Watertown, N. Y., and came to Owego in 1839. He died here Dec. 11, 1882.
Frank L. Jones was appointed to succeed Mr. Stebbins as postmaster Feb. 17, 1871, and held the office two
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terms of four years each. He was born at Lisle, N. Y., Oct. 20, 1822. He came to Owego in 1837 and was a clerk in Allen & Storrs's store. He was engaged in the mercantile and in- surance business many years. He was elected sheriff of Potter county, Pa., in 1852, and was appointed sheriff of Tioga county to fill a vacancy in 1868. In 1869 he was president of Owego village. In July, 1880, he was ap- pointed agent and warden of Auburn state prison. He died at Coudersport, Pa., Nov. 8, 1882.
Daniel M. Pitcher succeeded Mr. Jones as postmaster in March, 1879, and he also held the office two terms of four years each. During his first tern of office, in October, 1870, the post office was removed into Jones & Stebbins's brick building on the east side of Lake street, where it still remains.
Mr. Pitcher was born at Norwich, Conn., in 1822, and lived at Owego much of his life, dying here Feb. 4, 1904. He was engaged many years in buying and shipping wool. He held the omce of village supervisor three years and was one of the commission- ers who built the Tioga county court house in the village park. He was president of the Owego national bank from January, 188S, until the year of his death.
Grover Cleveland was elected presi- dent in 1884 by the Democratic party and he allowed Mr. Pitcher to serve the rest of his term as postmaster, which did not expire until 1887. When Benjamin Harrison (Republican) was elected president in 1888 he was not quite as considerate, and he removed Mr. Cable in the middle of his term
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and appointed William Smyth in his place on Sept. 16, 1889.
When Grover Cleveland was re- elected president in 1892, he appointed. Jonas Shays post master June 28, 1893. The nomination was not confirmed by the senate and Cleveland appointed William J. Atchison, Mr. Shay's brother-in-law, to the office on August 30, 1894. In 1896 William McKinley was elected president and Wm. A. Smyth, editor of the Owego Times was appointed May 12, 1897, to suc- ceed Mr. Atchison and he still holds the office by repappointment in 1901, 1905, and 1909.
William Smyth was born June 19, 1819, in county Derry, Ireland. He was principal of the Owego academy from 1848 to 1854, and editor of the Owego Times from 1854 until his death on Sept. 27, 1898. He was a village trustee in 1863 and 1864 and was president of the village in 1865, 1866, 1867, and 1881. He was chief engineer of the Owego fire department in 1862, 1863, and 1864. In 1872 he represented Tioga county in the as- sembly. The next year he was ap- pointed deputy superintendent of the insurance department of this state and on the death of Orlow W. Chap- man in 1876, he became acting super- intendent and held the office until 1877.
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Some Account of the Old Susquehanna River Bridge, Which Was Built in 1828 and Swept away by a Big Flood Forty Years Afterward, Its Place Being Supplied with a Trestle Bridge, Which in Turn Gave Place to the Present Iron Bridge.
The first bridge across the Susque- hanna river was built in 1807, at Sid- ney, Delaware county, N. Y., by Phineas Bennett, John Avery, and Capt. Hugh Johnston.
The first bridge built across the Susquehanna river in Owego was fin- ished and opened to public travel in 1828. It was built by a stock company twelve years after the company's in- corporation.
The act incorporating the company passed the legislature and became a law April 17, 1816. By this act Eleazer Dana, James Pumpelly, Gen. John Laning, Horatio Ross, John R. Drake, Charles Pumpelly, John H. Avery, Nathan Camp, and William Camp were created a body corporate under the name of "The President and Directors of the Owego Bridge Com- pany" for a term of thirty years. Gen. Ansel Goodrich, James Pumpelly, and John R. Drake were appointed com- missioners, to fix upon the spot where the bridge should be built at a com- pensation of $4 a day each while at work. The act prescribed that the bridge should be at least twenty-five feet wide, covered with plank two and one-half inches thick, and that the opening between the piers should be in width not less than ninety feet, for the passage of rafts and boats. It was also prescribed that during the exis- tence of such bridge no other bridge
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The First Bridge Built Across the Susquehanna River at Owego in 1828.
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should be built nor any ferry estab- lished across the river within three miles. The act also fixed the rates of toMl. The act provided that if the bridge should not be built and com- pleted on or before Nov. 1, 1821, then the corporation created by the act should be dissolved.
No bridge was built, on account of difficulty in obtaining subscriptions to the stock. Six years afterward, on April 12, 1822, another act was passed by the legislature reviewing and con- tinuing in force the act of 1816 for three years, to allow the company time to complete the bridge. April 20, 1825, another act was passed, extending the time three years more and appointing James Pumpelly, John R. Drake, and Charles Talcott commissioners, in place of the three appointed by the act of 1816.
December 19, 1828, Samuel S. and David P. Tinkham. for a consideration of $100 sold the land occupied by the north abutment and approach to the bridge to the bridge company. The same day James Pumpelly sold for a consideration of $1 the land on the south side of the river for the abut- ment and approach to the bridge.
The first stock for the construction of the bridge was issued May 7, 1828. The engineer who planned the bridge and had charge of its construction was Ephraim Leach. The builder was Abner Beers, who built the Owego academy in 1827.
Some account has already been given in these articles of Mr. Leach and Mr. Beers. Mr. Beers was a car- penter and lived on the lot now owned by Mrs. E. J. Pride on the south side
The South Abutment of the Bridge as it was left after the rest of the bridge had been swept away in the great flood of March, 1867, with Samuel Archibald's Tannery on the bank below.
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The Trestle Bridge Built by Wheeler H. Bristol in 1868.
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of Front street, west of Academy street. The model of the bridge was constructed in Mr. Beers's house. It was made of pieces of wood one inch square. A portion of the timbers for the bridge was framed in the village park and the rest on the south side of the river. All the pins for holding the timbers together were made in Gen. John Laning's storehouse, which stood a little east of the bridge and which was used by the carpenters as a tool house.
When the bridge was being built it was generally believed that the wooden piers would not be strong enough to resist the ice, but they lasted, with occasional repairs, for 64 years, and until the present iron bridge was built in 1893.
In the night of Feb. 8, 1842, there was a great flood in the river, caused by rain and melting snow. The water was several feet higher than it had been before in thirty years. Build- ings, mill dams, lumber, hay, hogs, and cattle were swept away. Nearly all the railroad bridges in the country were carried off. In Canawana people were removed from their homes on rafts and boats, and one family was taken out of their house through the roof. A saw mill struck the bridge in the night. The mill was broken in pieces and the pieces were deposited on the bridge, but the bridge was so solid and strong that it was not car- ried away.
In the night of Oct. 5, 1867, a fire broke out in Bullock's brewery, below the bridge and burned much property on both sides of Front street, above and below the park. One span of the bridge was burned. It was imme-
The North End of the Trestle Bridge built by Wheeler H. Bristol.
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The Iron Bridge built in 1892 by the Owego Bridge Company.
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diately afterward rebuilt, and the bridge was open to travel again in the following January.
On Sunday night, the 15th of the fol- lowing March, there was another great flood in the river. The ice car- ried away three or four of the inner spans of the bridge. The following Tuesday morning at 6 o'clock the heavy ice above Hiawatha island came down in a solid sheet the entire width of the river and swept away the rest of the bridge. The loss was a total one.
The bridge company at once con- tracted with Wheeler H. Bristol, of Owego, who had built many railroad bridges, to build a trestle bridge in place of the old one at a cost of $54,550. It was 920 feet long, with nine spans, and the roadbed was 32 feet above low water mark. It was completed and opened to the public Nov. 1, 1868.
The bridge had always been a toll bridge. In 1861, the question of the purchase of the bridge by the village and opening it free to the public was agitated. Toll bridges had been made free throught the country and the pay- ment of bridge toll by the people liv- ing south of Owego who came here to trade was a tax that was detrimental to the village.
The original charter provided that after a term of thirty years from the date of the completion of the bridge, the bridge and its approaches should become the property of the people of the state. When the charter was re- newed, in 1825, this clause was re- pealed, and it was provided that after the expiration of forty years from the time of the completion of the bridge
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ít should become the property of the state.
An action was brought in the su- preme court in 1860 to take the bridge from its owners and make it a free bridge, on the ground that the charter had expired. The case was argued in February, 1861, at the Chemung coun- ty special term by Benj. F. Tracy for the people and George Sidney Camp for the bridge company. The case was decided in favor of the company.
In May, 1881, a bill was passed by the legislature, authorizing a public meeting of the taxpayers of the vil- lage of Owego, to decide whether the bridge should be purchased by the vil- lage and maintained as a free bridge or not, the bridge company having agreed to sell the bridge for $25,000. The election was held July 18 at Wil- son hall, where 318 votes were cast for the proposition and 68 against it. The bill authorized the bonding of the vil- lage for $10,000, after $15,000 should be raised by voluntary subscription. The money was raised and the bridge was purchased in the following De- cember.
In the summer of 1891, the board of supervisors of Tioga county authorized the bonding of the town of Owego for $60,000 for the construction of an iron bridge, in place of the wooden one, which had been condemned as unsafe for travel. The bridge, with its spans elevated above the railroad tracks at the south end, was built the next year at a total cost of about $100,000. Of this amount the D., L. W. R. R. Co. paid $13,000. The stone work of the bridge was built by Ford & Bauer on a contract for $22,897. The iron work
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was built by the Owego bridge con- pany. The bridge was completed and opened to the public in the fall of 1893.
A History of the Old Owego Academy, Which Was Built in 1827 from the Proceeds of the Sale of the Gospel and Literature Tracts of Land by Amos Martin-It Has Had Twenty- one Different Principals, One of Whom Was an Accomplished Native of Russian Poland, Who Could Write and Speak Twenty-five Different Languages.
The old Owego academy, which is still standing in Court street, was built in 1827 with money obtained from the sale of lands given by the state for the support of schools. It was incorporated April 16, 1828, by James Pumpelly, Eleazer Dana, Gen. Anson Camp, and others, who had sub- scribed largely for the building, and when the subscription lacked $800 to complete it, Mr. Pumpelly advanced the money.
By an act of the legislature of the state of New York, passed in 1782, a lot of 400 acres was reserved in each township of the Military tract for the support of the gospel, and two lots of 200 acres for the support of schools. In each of four townships a lot of 640 acres was reserved for schools. One of these townships, then known as Hambden, comprised parts of the present towns of Owego, Vestal, and Nichols .*
*Ilambden was, probably, the name given to the tract in a land patent by the patentee and used in the description of deeds. It is not known that it was ever regularly organized as a town. The east line of Hambden was a north and south line running from the south line of the Boston
The old Owego Academy in Court street in 1853, when Hon. William Smyth was Principal, Reproduced from a Wood Engraving.
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The literature and gospel lots in Hambden township, of which James Pumpelly was appointed the agent, were situated adjoining each other, about three miles southwest of Apa- lachin.
In 1817 the question of building a academy in Owego was first agitated. The lot on which the academy build- ing was subsequently erected on the east side of Court street was a por- tion of the land which was given Feb. 28, 1797, to "the trustees of Owego settlement" by James McMaster for a public ground. This piece contained three acres, one rood, and twenty rods of land, and comprised all the territory now occupied by Park street, the park, Court street, the jail and old county clerk's office premises, and the old academy. property. The trustees were Capt. Mason Wattles, John Mc- Quigg, and Capt. Luke Bates. Their successors in office were Eleazer Dana, John H. Avery, and Gen. Anson Camp. The last named trustees, Octo- ber 29, 1822, deeded that portion of the land now occupied by the jail, sheriff's residence, and old clerk's of- fice to Tioga county, pursuant to the provisions of an act of the legislature passed April 17, 1822.
At the annual town meeting of the town of Owego, held at the old school house, which stood on the south side of Main street, near Academy street, March 4, 1817, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted:
Purchase to the Pennsylvania line, a little east of the Nanticoke creek, and probably ran directly through what is now the village of Union. The north line was the south line of the Boston Pur- chase, from there to the mouth of the Owego creek, and thenee to the Pennsylvania line. The Susquehanna river was its north boundary and the state line its south boundary.
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The Owego Academy in Court Street, after It Was Changed from a Three Story to a Two Story Building, and as It Stands To-day.
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"Whereas, The tract of land within this town known to us by the name of the gospel reservation, originally granted with other tracts by the state for gospel purposes, now lies waste and useless to the community; and
"Whereas, Said land might be so ap- priated within this town as effectually to promote the great object for which it was originally granted; therefore, unanimously
"Resolved, That the supervisors and clerk of this town be hereby author- ized and directed to petition the legis- lature of this state at their present session in behalf of said town for a special act to have the title of said land vested in the trustees of the Owego Congregational society and their sucessors in office, that the said land may be appropriated as originally designed."
April 12, 1826, an act was passed by the legislature, appointing James Pumpelly ,William Camp, and John H. Avery commissioners, to take charge of the gospel and school lot, together with the supervisor of the town of Owego (William A. Ely), to sell and dispose of it and apply the proceeds to such school and literary purposes as should be directed by a vote of the inhabitants of the town.
December 19, in the same year, Gen. Anson Camp and eleven other free- holders signed a petition requesting the town clerk (Jared Huntington) to call a special town meeting, in pur- suance of the act. The election was held on the 30th day of the same month at Philip Goodman's coffee house in Front street and it was de- cided by a unanimous vote to appro- priate the yearly income of the annual interest arising from a sale of the gospel and school lots to the endow- ment of an academy, to be built in this village.
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April 8, 1828, Messrs. Dana, Camp, and Avery, the commissioners of the "settlement," (Owego had been in- corporated as a village April 4, 1827), deeded the old academy lot in Court street, for a consideration of one dol- lar, to the trustees of the Owego academy.
The academy was built by Col. Amos Martin, on a contract in 1827, and Abner Beers had charge of its construction.
It was three stories high, with a steeple, in which was a bell. The lower floor was for many years occu- pied as a school room for girls, the upper floor by the principal, who taught Latin and Greek, and the mid- dle floor by the principal's assistant, who taught mathematics.
In the summer of 1851 a three-story addition to the rear of the academy was built, greatly increasing its ca- pacity. Several years later the inside of the main building was torn out and it was changed from a three story building to a two story one.
James Pumpelly was president of the first board of trustees of the acad- emy. The board was composed of Rev. Aaron Putnam, Col. Amos Mar- tin, Dr. Joel S. Paige, Latham A. Bur- rows, Eleazer Dana, Gurdon Hewitt, Rev. Joseph Castle, Charles Pumpelly, Jonathan Platt, Anson Camp, and Stephen B. Leonard.
Rev. Edward Fairchild was the first principal of the academy, and his as- sistants were Hamilton VanDyke and Joseph Pattee. The school was opened in April, 1828, and the first ex- amination was held at the close of the term, on September 30. The academic year was divided into two terms. The
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summer term began on the third Wednesday in April, and continued two quarters, or twenty-four weeks. The winter term began on the third Wednesday in October and continued twenty-four weeks. Each term em- braced two quarters of twelve weeks each, leaving two vacations in the year of two weeks each. The tuition was $2, $3, and $4 per quarter, accord- ing to the studies pursued. There were 60 male and 61 female pupils the first term. In 1850, the year previous to the building of the three story ad- dition to the building, the number had increased to 153 male pupils and 107 female.
The only pupils of the academy at its opening term now living are Her- mon C. Leonard, of Portland, Oregon, and J. H. Martin, of Tioga Centre, who is a son of Amos Martin, the builder of the academy and one of its first board of trustees.
The second principal was Joseph M. Ely, a graduate of Yale college, who before coming to Owego was a teacher in the New Yorkhigh school. He began his duties at the spring term in 1830. In the following spring (1831) it was announced that the condition and prospects of the academy were so flat- tering that the trustees would add a juvenile department to the two de- partments already existing. The other teachers were Russell E. Dewey, Miss Katherine H. Whitney, and Miss Mary A. Whitney.
In the spring of 1835, A. Clarke was principal, but he remained only a year and was succeeded at the fall term in 1836 by R. M. Stansbury, who had just graduated at Princeton college.
The teachers at the commencement
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of the fall term in 1837, were Joel T. Headley, Isaac B. Headley, and Miss Irene Headley. In the following year Isaac B. Headley was principal and Miss Jennett M. Hall head teacher in the female department.
In the spring of 1839 the number of pupils had increased to 187. Mr. Headley was still principal. Charles R. Coburn* entered the school as mas- ter of the common school teachers' de- partment.
The principals of the academy from its foundation to the present time are as follows:
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