The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 10

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098

USA > New York > Jefferson County > The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894 > Part 10

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PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND HIS CON- NECTION WITH POLITICS.

He was slightly over six feet in height; his countenance had usually a thoughtful and, at times, a serious expression; his man- ners were courtly, his speech engaging, im- pressing the listener as though in the pres- ence of an earnest man, too busy to trifle upon any subject. It was easy to see that he was a natural leader of men, and when

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

the long-postponed but inevitable rupture took place in the old Democratic party over the question of admitting slavery into the territories, Mr. Hoard came quickly into prominence as the most popular and saga- cious among the " Free Soilers " in Jefferson county. It was natural that the " Hunkers," who had long held continuous political sway from the times of Perley G. Keyes to Orville Hungerford (1815 to 1851), should resent any attempt to wrest this control from their hands. They held the offices and meant to keep them. They felt an especial bitterness towards Mr. Hoard, for they counted him as the most to be dreaded among their opponents. His natural inde- pendence of character, and his habit of doing his own thinking, made him especi- ally unwilling to "take orders" from any one. At the time he was elected county clerk he was comparatively unknown per- sonally to the masses of the people, but the foolish attacks upon him by the editor of the old-line Democratic newspaper had made his name familiar to all who could read, and thus the very means adopted to subdue his rising importance only contribu- ted to further his political interests in the county at large. When he was later elected to Congress he was equally as prominent in that body as he had been in the State As- sembly, and soon attracted the attention of such able men as the Blairs, father and son. He spent many Sundays at the elder Blair's country seat, "Silver Springs," beyond the Soldiers' Home, just north of the District of Columbia boundary line. This noble man- sion was made memorable at a later day from being the dwelling occupied by Early and his staff when they made the raid in 1863 upon the suburbs of Washington. They were said to have imbibed so freely of Blair's fine liquors that they became unable to carry out their proposed attack, giving time for the Sixth Corps to come up the river and just " shoo" them off. While on a visit there young Blair remarked to Mr. Hoard that Secretary Chase had asked him to look up a man for Treasurer of the Uni- ted States-one who had experience as a banker, of unquestioned integrity and able to furnish the legal bond. "Do you know such a man !" Mr. Blair asked. Mr. Hoard at once named Francis E. Spinner, whose term in Congress had just expired. Both Blairs at once exclaimed, "The very man the Secretary wants." What followed we will leave Mr. Spinner himself to relate .*

* PABLO BEACH, FLORIDA, Dec. 3, 1896.

MY DEAR Sta .- Your very kind and to me interest- ing letter of the 28th ultimo, and the "Ceredo Ad- vance " containing the obituary of the good man, your father, have both been received.

It was very kind in you to send them to me. I was ever so anxious to know all the particulars, for there is not a man living whom I held in such high esteem as I held him. A good man has gone to his reward. Would that there were more like him.

* *

* * ₭

Your good father has left you the large inheritance of a good name, for if ever there was a strictly hon-

Mr. Hoard gave President Lincoln's ad- ministration his earnest support, and he retired from the position of Representative in Congress, March 4, 1861, with every honor that could befall a conscientious man, who had done his whole duty while in office.

HIS EFFORTS TO HELP YOUNG MEN.

Mr. Hoard was a very generous man, though his strict business education and at- tention to the minutest details sometimes led the observer to regard him as exacting. A bit of personal experience will illustrate his prompt and generous way of doing a kindness to any one he thought deserving. At the time of the great Watertown fire, May 13, 1849, the writer was proprietor of a newspaper office in successful operation, but that fire swept it away like chaff, he being able only to rescue his hand-press, which stood in such a position as to be readily tumbled out of a large window, and was afterwards repaired. The little safe, which contained the ready cash of the office, after the fire showed only a mass of molten silver and copper, the bills being wholly consumed. The office was insured for $1,000, but there was a technical point in the transfer that, under a rigid legal rnl- ing, might vitiate the policy. While half crazy at his loss the young editor went home, it being Sunday. Mr, Hoard sought him out while the fire was yet smoking, and desired to know what he intended to do. Quite naturally he expressed a desire to get hold of a new plant, but had not the requi- site money. "How much will you need ?" was asked. He thought $750 would buy enough type to make a start with. " Oli, that would not be enough. Better say $1,000, and I will loan it to you. When will you be ready to start for new material ?"' "Right off, if I had the money." Mr. Hoard routed up his banker, got the money, handed it to his young friend, not even taking a note or receipt, and that night he went east to buy material. That old and reliable company, the Atna, of Hartford, Conn., would not contest the insurance pol- icy over a mere quibble, and in about ten days paid the $1,000, enabling the young printer to repay his benefactor much sooner than either had expected. This is but one illustration, and there were many such, of the workings of Mr. Hoard's philanthropic

est man, he was that man. For four years, while we were colleagnes in the 35th and 36th Congresses, he was my most intimate and trusted friend. Ou all matters of importance we thought and acted alike.

It was by his kind advice mainly, and by his good offices as well, that I became the Treasurer of the United States. Bail became necessary, and [ ob- jected to asking any one to become surety for me. That objection he removed by volunteering to become bound for me, and he went further-he procured others to join him. But for his action I would most probably have been in the army, and then what ?

That he is blessed there is no donbt, and that all whom he loved may be blessed is the hope and prayer of your friend,

F. E. SPINNER.

S. FLOYD HOARD, Esq .. Ceredo, West Va.

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

heart. Many a poor woman in Jefferson county could tell of his timely aid to pre- vent a mortgage foreclosure, but one never learned of these transactions from him nor from any member of his family.

It is not a matter of surprise that such a man, so noble and so good, should have many friends, and, inevitably, now and then, an envious enemy. When he left Jefferson county his departure was greatly regretted. But he thought it best to spend a year in looking after his landed interests in the West and South before settling upon any plan for the future. He never again returned to Jefferson county.

HIS LIFE AT CEREDO, WEST VA.

After a winter spent in Missouri he went to Ceredo, West Va., in 1868, at that time a small town of about 125 people, on the south shore of the Ohio river, where Eli Thayer had planted (in 1857-58) a small colony of New Englanders in carrying out his coloni- zation scheme, which had a conspicuous place in the political history of the country just before the Civil War. Thayer and his asso- ciates had borrowed a considerable amount from Mr. Hoard, and mortgaged their town site and adjoining lands for security. The war practically obliterated it as a coloniza- tion scheme. It was looked upon as a "Yankee town," and was frequently raided. The government organized and for a while kept a regiment there to protect it, and some traces of their earth works can still be found. The New England people returned east, with but few exceptions. Almost the en- tire male population remaining joined one of the two armies in the war, and frequently since, one could hear during the "Sunday afternoon reminiscences of the war " inter- esting incidents of skirmishes and battles, when the parties would discover and laugh over the fact that they had been shooting at each other, and how one or the other com- mand had to " hustle" out of this or that place. Thayer and his associates having abandoned the effort to build a town, thus left Mr. Hoard to realize whatever he could out of his securities.

After investigating the location, and the mineral and timber resources naturally tributary to the Ohio river in that section, he decided to remain and bend his efforts to building up the town and his depleted for- tunes. At that time the town was mainly dependent upon the timber business of get- ting out logs in the mountains, floating them down the Twelve-Pole river to Ceredo, where it was rafted and sold to dealers for consumption in the cities along the Ohio river. His first effort was to induce Penn- sylvania parties to locate a saw and planing

mill at this point. This proved successful, and has steadily increased its business, giv- ing employment to some 150 hands and re- quiring 2,000 to 3,000 logs a month. Other industries followed. When he went to Ceredo the nearest railroad in the State was nearly 200 miles distant, and he prophesied that within a few years citizens then living in Ceredo would see fifty trains a day pass- ing between the hills on the Ohio side of the river and those on the West Virginia side, about a mile back from the river. Though he lived to see only one road completed (the Chesapeake and Ohio), with some fifteen to twenty trains a day, at the present time (1895) there are over fifty daily trains on three railroads, all on the south side of the river, and all located on his property within the corporate limits of Ceredo, which has increased its business and population until it has between 1,200 and 1,500 citizens.

Mr. Hoard made two efforts, in connection with parties in West Virginia and outside of the State, to build a 50-mile railroad from the river at Ceredo back to the coal deposits, some 25 miles distant, and extending to the Virginia State line. Several thousand dol lars were expended, and a few miles of grading done, but both efforts were unfor- tunate in being so timed as to encounter financial panics - the first in 1873, and the second in 1882-83. A leading idea in these efforts was that it would be an inducement for some railroad from the south seeking the Ohio river to join it, and thus be advan- tageous to Ceredo. This route is now occu- pied by a trunk-line road, and the Ohio river crossed by a bridge costing over $750,000.

At Ceredo Mr. Hoard was less active in business than at Watertown, but he was in- evitably thrown more or less among thie leading men of that part of West Virginia and of southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. He was recognized there as a man of ad- vanced ideas and of large experience, and no one was more generally respected by all conditions of the inhabitants. No purchaser of land has ever been dispossessed, and the same friendly interest and leniency shown that was manifested by Mr. James D. Le- Ray in dealing with his debtors in the early days in Jefferson county. His long and use- ful life closed on the 20th of November, 1886, in his 82d year.

Viewed in all its lights, and especially in the later years of his life, when he had shown his ability to surmount business re- verses without being soured or discouraged, Mr. Hoard's personal history has proved the most instructive and interesting of any man's who has ever lived in Jefferson county. To the young men the example of such a life is like a " liberal education."

J. A. H.

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

GENERAL N. MARTIN CURTIS,

THE HERO OF FORT FISHER.

NEWTON MARTIN CURTIS was born in the town of DePeyster, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., May 21, 1835, from New England an- cestry, tracing his genealogy to William Curtis, who landed in Boston from the ship "Mary Lion," October, 1632. The wife of William Curtis was Sarah Eliot, sister of John Eliot, the Indian apostle. The subject of this sketch was the son of a farmer, and received the usual advantages of the com- mon schools. Later he was an attendant at the Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, pre- paring for the junior year in college; but being prevented by ill health from entering college, after two years spent in recovering his health he began the study of law in the

GENERAL N. MARTIN CURTIS,

office of Brown & Spencer at Ogdensburgh. But his health again failed, and he then re- turned to his home and engaged in farming until the surrender of Fort Sumter. The following day he began the organization of a company of volunteers, which were re- cruited in his and adjoining towns; he left with the company for Albany on the last day of April, having been elected captain. The organization papers had been prepared by the major-general commanding the mili- tia division in that district, and were pro- nounced informal by the adjutant-general of the State, and an order was subsequently issued for the organization of the company at Albany on the 7th day of May. It was

mustered into the 16th New York Infantry as Company G, and in June left for Wash- ington. He was on duty with his regiment until the battle of West Point, Va., May 7, 1862, where he was seriously wounded. He rejoined his company at Harrison's Landing July 5th, and was soon afterwards attacked with typhoid fever and went into general hospital at Point Lookout. He returned to his company during the battle of Crampton's Pass, Md., September 14th; remained with it through Antietam, and a month later was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 142d regiment, which he joined in camp near Munson's Hill, Va., the last of Octo- ber. On the 23d of January he was pro- moted to the colonelcy of his regiment, and in April his regiment was transferred to Suffolk, Va., and took part in the operations at that point, and in the movement up the. Peninsula with the army of General Dix. On the 5th of July marched down the Pe- ninsula from the point nearest Richmond occupied by the troops of that army. Was then sent to the Army of the Potomac, join- ing it near Berlin, Md., crossing into Vir- ginia, and marching to Warrenton. In August, 1863, the regiment, with others, was transferred to the Department of the South, and was on duty on Morris, Folly and Kiawah islands, taking part in the opera- tions conducted by the Federal troops in the vicinity of Charleston. In April, 1864. he was transferred, with the 10th corps, to the Department of Virginia, at which time the 10th and 18th corps were organized into the Army of the James. He was in the movements conducted from Bermuda Hun- dred until the last of May, when he went with others of the Army of the James via White House to Coal Harbor. At this place he was assigned to the command of the sec- ond brigade, second division, 10th army corps. Was soon after transferred to City Point, and took part in the advance on Petersburg, on the 15th of June, under General Brooks, and established the line that was maintained during the remainder of the campaign against Petersburg. His brigade was stationed at the Hare House, and constructed the small earthwork after- ward known as Fort Stedman, named after a gallant officer commanding a Connecticut regiment who was killed there soon after relieving Curtis' brigade. Curtis' brigade was among the troops of the Army of the James that joined with the Army of the Potomac in the engagement known as the Mine Explosion, July 30th, and in all the op- erations conducted by the troops of the Army of the James north of the James river. In December his brigade went in the expe- dition to Fort Fisher, where he landed with a portion of his command on Christmas, and

HON. ROSWELL PETTIBONE FLOWER, Governor of the State of New York.

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

remained upon the shore until the evening of the 27th of December, having failed to return from the front of Fort Fisher to the point of embarkation in violation of the or- ders of General Butler in time to be em- barked that night. The discussion growing out of his disobedience of orders, and his statement that Fort Fisher could have been captured had the attempt been made, led to his being sent for by General Grant, to whom hedetailed his views respecting the construc- tion of the works and the strength of the gar- rison, which was further specially inquired into by General Weitzel under orders of General Grant. These views, it is said, in- fluenced General Grant to send the second expedition under General Terry. Reference is made to this matter in General Grant's autobiography. General Curtis' command led the assault on the 15th of January, 1865. He took an active part in capturing the traverses on the land face until sundown, when he was seriously wounded, losing his left eye. He rejoined the army at Rich- mond five days after its occupation in April, 1865, and was detailed as chief of staff to General Ord, commanding the Army of the James and the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, which position he occupied, under Generals Ord and Terry, until the 1st of July, when he was assigned to the com- mand of south-western Virginia, with head- quarters at Lynchburg, where he remained on duty until January 15, 1866, when he was honorably mustered out of service. He was promoted to be brigadier-general by brevet, October 28, 1864, for meritorious conduct; brigadier-general, January 15th, 1865, for distinguished services at Fort Fisher, and later major-general by brevet for conspicu- ous gallantry in the capture of Fort Fisher.

In civil life he has been collector of cus- toms at Ogdensburg, N. Y., special agent of the Treasury Department, member of the New York Legislature from 1884 to 1890, in- clusive; member of the 52d Congress, and is now a member of the 53d Congress from

the 22d District of New York. He has been interested in agricultural matters, and for several years was president of the St. Law- rence County Agricultural Society, for many years a member of the board of directors of the State Agricultural Society, and in 1880 its president. From its organization, for a period of ten years, he was secretary or president of the board of control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva. He was the author of the bill lo- cating the St. Lawrence State Hospital, and of the bill changing the names of the vari- ous asylums for the insane to State Hos- pitals. He was the first to introduce what was known as the "State Care Act," to place the insane under the care of the State, and gave it his support during the three sessions it was before the Legislature. In his legislative work he has been actively en- gaged in legislation for the insane and crim- inal classes. During each year of his mem- bership in the Legislature he introduced bills for the abolition of punishment by death, and in 1890 passed such a bill through the Assembly. On entering Congress he introduced a bill aholshing the death pen- alty under the Federal laws, and has given such attention to the subject of crimes and punishments that his speeches and articles are quoted as authority upon the question.

But it is as a soldier that he meets with the most admiration and commendation. He stands 6 feet 3 inches in his stockings, has broad shoulders, a large head, and commands attention wherever seen. In manners most agreeable and courteous, he never loses a friend he has made. His il- lustrious career in the army, in which he received two very serious wounds, was not won by favoritism or good luck. He fought his way through all the grades from captain to major-general, leaving an army record for distinguished heroism and faithful ser- vice not surpassed by any of his contempo- raries. He is known among soldiers as the "Hero of Fort Fisher." J. A. H.

GOVERNOR FLOWER.

HIS PRIVATE LIFE AND BUSINESS AND POLITICAL CAREER.

ROSWELL PETTIBONE FLOWER was born August 7, 1835, at Theresa, Jefferson County, N. Y. His father, Nathan Monroe Flower, whose ancestors came to Connec- ticut in 1696 and settled in New Hartford, was born at Oak Hill, Greene County, in this State. Nathan Flower learned the wool-carding and cloth-dressing trade in his father's mill at Oak Hill, and when he became of age established business for himself in Cooperstown, Otsego county. At Cherry Valley, in the same county, he married Mary Ann Boyle, and soon after moved to the northern wilderness and es- tablished a wool-carding and cloth-making

business at Theresa. Nine children were born to him, seven sons and two daughters, of whom Roswell Pettibone Flower was the fourth son and sixth child. Their father died when Roswell was only 8 years old. Their mother conducted the business for a couple of years, and young Roswell was put to work picking wool eight hours off and eight hours on daily, during the summer season, for a couple of months, and the rest of the time he was sent to school. The family had a farm of 30 acres near the vil- lage and another one of some 200 acres eight miles out. The children worked on these farms, chopping wood for the house in the

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

village and raising hay and oats, wheat and potatoes. There was nothing on the farm that young Roswell could not do. Until he was 14 years of age he was occupied at school, and night and morning did what work he could to help support the family. His brothers being older than he, it was not Roswell's luck to have a new suit of clothes until he was able to earn the nioney him- self. His mother would cut down the clothes of the older boys to fit him, and stories are told, even in these days, at Theresa, of the anguish of mind which young Flower suffered over this matter of hand-me-downs. His sister Caroline mar- ried Silas L. George, a merchant of Theresa, and Roswell was employed by him for $5 a month and board. In the winter he at- tended the Theresa High School and worked for his board until he was 16 years of age, when he was graduated. To get his spend- ing money Roswell did odd johs of sawing wood and carrying it upstairs for the law- yers of the village. Twenty-five cents was a good deal of money in those days, and rather than ask his mother for the money, he preferred to saw half a cord of wood and carry it upstairs. Farm hands were scarce in haying time, and being a strong and active young man, he could command good wages, and frequently left the little country store for two or three weeks to help out some farmer who was anxious to get his crops in. He also worked in a brick yard, driving a yoke of stags around the vat to tread out the clay, for which he received the munificent sum of $1.50 a week.

AS A VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER.

After he was graduated from the High School he found an opportunity to teach in a little school a mile from town. The scholars in those days must first have a bout with their master before they would become tractable. Mr. Flower taught out the bal- ance of the term in the red school house he- low the village and " boarded around " among the parents of his scholars a week or less in a place, in the regular old New Eng- land fashion, which still obtains in the way- back districts of New England.

His first day in school. during the noon intermission, the biggest boy came to him for a "square-hold " wrestle. Mr. Flower accepted the challenge and easily threw the lad. After he had thrown all the larger boys he found them all, with one exception, ready to recognize his authority. One day in the spelling class this boy, who was about 21 years old, declined to pronounce his syllables, but after a tussle Roswell suc- ceeded in making him pronounce them cor- rectly. He then gave notice that he would hold a spelling school that evening, and stated that he desired only those of the scholars to come who would be willing to do their best, During the intermission this young man said he was coming to school that evening, but that he would not spell.

Roswell was boarding at the time with the family of Edward Cooper, with whom lived a young man of 22 named James Casey. The young teacher talked over the expected trouble and arranged that Casey should choose for one side of the school and if this obstreperous young fellow should make his appearance Casey should elect him to his side, and if he made any fuss in spelling, the two should join forces and put him out. The evening school had not been opened more than 10 minutes before this young man came in and sat down hehind one of the old-fashioned desks. He was immedi- ately chosen, but said he would not spell. Then young Flower told him that he must spell or leave the school. He replied that he would be - if he would spell, and that he would be -- if he would leave the school. Mr. Flower insisted, which only called forth a repetition of the offensive re- mark. The schoolmaster then called upon anybody who desired to resent the insult to the school and the teacher to assist him in putting the offender out of doors ; where- upon young Casey rose up, and Roswell, grabbing the young man by his shoulder and his assistant by the feet, he was speedily ejected. But he was not conquered. He went over to the hotel a few rods distant and persuaded one of the trustees and a big chap by the name of William Wafful to come over and whip the teacher. Nothing daunted Roswell stated the case to his belli- gerent visitors and then said to the young man: "Now, sir, you must either spell or leave this school again." This conquered the youthful Samson and he spelled without further trouble. After school was out the colossal Mr. Wafful remarked that if this young man had not spelled then he would have whipped him himself.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 10

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823- Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company Number of Pages: 1098

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098