The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 4

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 4

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The first settlers of Jefferson county (1791 to 1820) came mainly from western Massa- chusetts and Vermont, with quite a Con- necticut contingent. If you draw a line east by north through those States you will touch nearly every county that sent its sons and daughters into Northern New York - for it is a curious and instructive fact that nearly all considerable migrations have been from east to west, upon nearly the same parallels. Through western Massachusetts into north-eastern New York poured in a steady stream those sturdy emigrants who settled the lands they tarried in, from the Hudson to the Mississippi in the north; while in the south we observe the same curious force impelling these living currents to move upon the same isothermal lines -the Virginians from the James and the Rappa- hannock peopling first Kentucky and South- ern Ohio and Indiana and Illinois, then Mis- souri and Arkansas, and so on to Southern California - transplanting to that distant region those characteristics that made Stockton and its homicidal Judge Terry eventual possibilities.

"The Southron to his warmer clime, The Northman to his ice and snow."

These New Englanders became, by the mere force of personal ability. the dominat- ing influence in the Black River country. The town meeting (as it had been that of their ancestors) became their method of de- ciding what should be done in all matters pertaining to the public welfare. They were men of enlightened ideas, profoundly re- specting that independence which their fathers, and not a few among themselves,

had helped to wrest from England by a long and peculiarly trying war. No man should call himself their master. They were a sturdy and an assertive race, entirely com- petent to govern themselves in their own independent fashion. Such a creature as an office-seeker could not be found among them, for to have it known that one of their num- ber desired or sought an office would have been fatal to his success. Each man soberly considered himself competent to fill any of- fice his fellow citizens might impose upon him, but felt it as a burthen patiently to be borne, yet never sought. Public office was then indeed a " public trust," never a source of gain.

As early as 1791-92 settlers began to pene- trate the wilderness now known as Jeffer- son county, though it was not until 1805 that the county was definitely set off from Oneida. But as an indication of what at that early day (1805-6) had been accom- plished, we note that the taxable values of the landed and personal property in Jeffer- son county had reach nearly a million of dollars-fully equal to double that sum in our day. In 1805 preparations had been made to build a court-house. The specific details of such historical facts will be duly chronicled in their appropriate place in this History, and are alluded to here merely as indications of the primal conditions which preceded movements generally classified as "political." But the partizan spirit became for the first time manifest in 1807, when Daniel D. Tompkins received 765 votes as against 615 for Morgan Lewis for govenor, Lewis being elected. Yet it was not until 1820 that one of Jefferson's own citizens (Hon. Micah Sterling) went into the National Congress, the district then being the 18th in the State, comprising the counties of Jeffer- son, Lewis and St. Lawrence.

Gradually, as in the case of Sterling, able and ambitious men were coming into promi- nence, and questions that concerned the State and the whole Nation began to become intermingled with local considerations-and then was developed the county convention, made up of delegates from the towns. As there must ever be, in a Republic, two political parties-the one in power and the

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

other trying to get in-so there naturally came to be two county conventions, each reflecting the views and making the nomi- nations of its party-a plan found so ac- ceptable as to have been continued for three- quarters of a century, essentially unmodi- fied.

The name "Democrat "-the most im- portant and dominant party name the county or the Nation at large has ever known-dates almost from the birth of the Republic : and we introduce the name thus early so that we may explain its origin, and that, when used in this chapter hereafter, the reader may catch our meaning. There was, at the end of the 17th century, an earnest sympathy in these United States with France during her revolutionary crisis. and that sympathy continued unabated until the French Directory nearly precipitated a war upon ns. The French Revolution, revolting as it must ever stand in history, was regarded as a democratic uprising (and therefore justifiable), especially when our people saw that the beloved Lafayette was at the head of the National Guard, which had sided against their king. The victory of France against the Germans at Jemappez was celebrated in the United States with joyful and noisy demonstrations, and was soon followed by the arrival in this country of Citizen Genet as the French minister, whose efforts seem to have been artfully directed toward embroiling the United States in a war with England. Under his guidance and patronage a Democratic Society was organized in Philadelphia, with Duponceau as secretary ; and its cunning method was to denounce all who opposed them as aristocrats. This society spread rapidly, its first definite aim being to gain enough ascendency in Pennsylvania to re- elect Gov. Mifflin. The effort was success- ful, and the Keystone State was rated as Democratic. In our own day it is not pos- sible to realize how strong an influence European politics exerted in America. Ob- viously the country's interests lay in friendly intercourse with England, and the Federal- ists, bent on neutrality as to any of the wars of Europe, were accused of British procliv- ities, while the Democrats favored France. Democratic clubs multiplied, French cock- ades were worn in the streets, and French songs sung at the theatres. It is well estab- lished that the doctrine of government "by the people" was widely disseminated by these organizations. The name of "Demo- crat" was used opprobiously by the Federal- ists to designate their opponents, much in the sense in which we in our day use the term "anarchist."

Another factor in the rise and increasing popularity of the Democratic party had its growth in our own State, then the most plutocratic in the Union, where grants of immense tracts of land by the State had been the means of creating powerful fami- lies, whose political influence had proved

almost irresistible. This power they had kept up by imposing a property qualifica- tion for voting, thus actually disfranchising a large body of the people. But during our Revolutionary struggle many of these wealthy families were on the Tory side, and at the conclusion of peace they found them- selves disfranchised. The political control then passed into the hands of the Whigs, who in turn were dominated by the Sons of Liberty, under the leadership (in New York) of Hamilton, who had married a Schuyler.

When the Tammany Society was started (being a popular counterpart to the suspected Society of the Cincinnati), Aaron Burr was believed to control its policy, and he used that organization to undermine the in- fluence of Hamilton, whom he regarded as a formidable rival. So long as Burr was in public life Tammany supported him, achiev- ing his election to the United States Senate, and an even division between him and Jefferson of the electoral vote in 1800. But the House of Representatives elected Jeffer- son. Burr having made himself odious by killing Hamilton in a duel, Jefferson com- pleted his ruin in 1806 by denouncing his treasonable plots in the West, and thus Jef- ferson was rid of two formidable rivals, and became heir to the Democratic sentiment in the North, and his name was indissolubly blended with that party, which he founded and may be said to have named.

The Federalists, who were the only nation- ally organized opponents to the Democracy, from 1810 to 1822, were never popular in Jefferson county nor in the State at large, Those early settlers, as we have already shown, were essentially "democratic" both by education and occupation, and felt not the slightest affiliation with an organization which bore the merited designation of the "silk-stocking party." And, much as it has been denied, it is historically true, that from the disintegrated elements of the early Federal party was formed the later Whig organization, which, eminently patriotic and popular under the leadership of Henry Clay in the South and Daniel Webster in the North, was unable, with a single exception, to secure the electoral vote of New York- for it could not escape from the aristocratic reputation that clung to it-until at last (in 1854) it became merged in the Republican organization, which was destined (1861) to become the grandly victorious Northern patriotic force that took up the gage of bat- tle the crazy South, under its desperate Democratic leadership, had so vauntingly thrown down in Charleston harbor. Hav- ing, under the wise leadership of Lincoln, brought the great civil war to its only rational conclusion by freeing the slaves, that party had in the meantime established a National system of banking and finance, and instituted other reforms in the govern- ment, that have proved of inestimable value to the country.

This somewhat lengthy yet purposely

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abridged explanation has appeared neces- sary in order to give definite names to (as well as trace the origin of) the two great political parties that now, in this centennial year of Jefferson county's history, are struggling for supremacy-with Grover Cleveland in the presidential chair (since March 4th, 1893), and Roswell Pettibone Flower (since Janu- ary 1, 1893), in the Gubernatorial chair of the great State of New York, both of them elected by the Democratic party and counted among its foremost advocates- a party, as described in one of our ablest Encyclo- pædias, that lias "always maintained its cohesion, sometimes through difficulties and disasters which would have irretrievably de- stroyed any political organization with less discipline and partizan fealty. In its curi- ous history, while reverting to certain origi- nal principles with tolerable persistency, it has in its exigencies advocated in turn nearly every doctrine of its adversaries, and voted at one time in favor of what it de- nounced at another. It is in these respects to the United States what the Tory party is to England, and it illustrates the value of organization in prolonging party vitality."

Returning to our own local history, we find the Whigs and Democrats keeping up their political antagonism in Jefferson county until about 1842, with varying suc- cess, but generally with results favoring the Democracy, though Thomas C. Chittenden, a Whig, had been elected to Congress in 1840, a phenomenal year in politics. From 1815 to 1834, the year of his death, Perley G. Keyes (a contemporary of Jason Fair- banks, Joseph Sheldon, Hale Coffeen, Norris M. Woodruff, Hart Massey, and the other worthies of that time), had been the unchal- lenged "boss" in the county, and his behests were law to his subservient followers. At his death his abler lieutenant, Orville Hun- gerford, caught his mantle as it fell, and in 1842 was elected to Congress. From that time the county became more intimately and generally associated with National poli- tics-for in Mr. Hungerford a man had come to the front whose personal popularity and conceded ability proclaimed him a natural leader of men. He was born in Farming- ton, Conn., in 1790, and came to Watertown with his father in 1804. On reaching his majority he entered upon mercantile life, in which he rapidly broadened until he was favorably known to almost every voter in the county, being a second time sent to Con- gress. In his first term at Washington he was made chairman of the then important Committee of Accounts and Revolutionary Pensions, and displayed so much ability and integrity that at the beginning of his second term he was appointed chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, the most important committee of the House. He was the author of the protective tariff of that Congress, under which the country was remarkably prosperous and its indus- tries rapidly developed. The South was

then, and continued so until the war, op- posed to the principle of protection and in favor of free trade-for, as she was the great producer of our leading exports (cot- ton and tobacco) she naturally preferred to buy her goods from those who purchased those great staples, and bring in such goods free from taxation. Though Mr. Hunger- ford felt that he had alienated the personal regard of many admirers in the South by his course in strenuously advocating the system of protection, he never lost their re- spect for him as a man.

At home, however, he was destined to encounter serious opposition, and from a variety of sources. In the first place, he had been so long successful as a merchant and leading citizen, and as a member of Congress for two terms, that there had sprung up around him a sort of "junta," who assumed (in his absence) to speak for him politically, and they looked upon it as a sort of sacrilege if any man aspired to an office who had not sprung from their ranks or was favored by them. This had been going on for quite a number of years almost unchallenged, and, as had been and is yet the case with many other able men, Mr. Hungerford had at times felt constrained to use his influence, or it had been used in his absence, to put in office men who had no just claim to popular favor, but who had managed to get through the polls success- fully. impelled by the power of the "junta." In the second place, there was another, and a more potent influence which was des- tined to work disastrouly upon Mr. Hunger- ford's political influence in the county and congressional district where he had so long and ably held sway. As early as 1846 there began to be heard the mutterings of that dreadful storm of fratricidal strife that was not to be stilled until half the families in the land were mourning for some kindred slain or maimed in the momentous struggle to maintain the national government and the incidental freeing of the slaves. Mr. Hun- gerford, however, was spared any feeling of humiliation over what may be called the "displacement" of himself and friends from local political power -- for he died in 1851, universally regretted as one of the county's most respected, able and successful men.

The natural and increasing growth of the sentiment for universal freedom in the United States found quick acceptance in Northern New York, a section settled by freemen; and it brought into immediate prominence, under the aggresive name of "Barn-burners," a troop of able young men who did not hesitate to make war upon the "Hunkers," that astute and venerable po- litical faction who affiliated with their al- lies in the South, and had long held the leading offices in the Northern States. Fore- most among these younger men, and perhaps the ablest and least selfish politician the county ever produced, was Charles Brooks Hoard, a citizen of Antwerp, in which town

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

he had held several important offices. [See his biography.] While not an orator, Mr. Hoard was an able organizer, and the in- herent honesty of his purpose, joined to his powers of persuasion, made him especially acceptable to his political associates. These active " Barn-burners" of New York State helped to form, and in their localities be- came leaders in, the national organization known as "Republican," which continues to this time as the persistent antagonist of the Democracy and its dictatorial adjunct, Tammany Hall. The influence of these younger men, impelled as they were by the constraining force of a popular demand for freedom in the territories (now free States), soon proved too much for the " Hunkers" in Jefferson county and the State, as well as throughout the Northern States, and in 1856 the National House of Representatives be- came Republican, Charles B. Hoard having been elected the member from the Jeffer- son and Lewis district. He succeeded Caleb Lyon. after an interval of one term, filled by W. A. Gilbert. Lyon was elected (in 1852) as an independent candidate in oppo- sition to the Democratic nominee.

THE IRRUPTION OF CALEB LYON INTO JEFFERSON COUNTY POLITICS.

HON. CALEB LYON.

Perhaps nothing can more clearly illus- trate the general political discontent in Jef- ferson county with the protracted dictation of "Hunkerism," as managed by the " junta " who had acquired their influence through Mr. Hungerford-than the remark- able manner in which the mass of the people supported Caleb Lyon when he ran for Con- gress. The tremendous political cyclone which had burst upon the Democratic party

in 1840, and placed Gen. Harrison in the Presidential chair-memorable as the "log cabin and hard-cider" campaign - had elected Thos. C. Chittenden the Member of Congress, in his time the only Whig parti- zan who had held that important office. Caleb Lyon was also a pronounced Whig, but his father had been in his day an active supporter of his personal friend, Wm. L. Marcy, a distinguished and uncompromising Democrat. The elder Lyon had secured from the French (Chassanis) Company a large tract of pine land about the High Falls on Black river, and to these falls his name has been given. One day his horse came home without a rider, and an immediate search revealed his dead body by the road- side, where he had dismounted and died from heart-failure. His youngest son, Caleb, received a good classical education, and had also an excellent tutor in an elder sister, who was well educated, and much devoted to her brother. He went to Cali- fornia in 1849, having sailed from New York with Bayard Taylor on the " Taro- linta." which had among her passengers and crew many bright fellows,

" Who went, with hearts elate. To found another empire, to rear another State."

Lyon received from the California Consti- tutional Convention $1,000 in gold for de- signing the seal of that State, and this was a triumph over numerous and able competi- tors. Returning to his home near Lyons Falls, he made the tour of Europe and the Holy Land. These incidents in his life (at this day regarded as but slim foundation for a political career) gave him a certain character, and he courted notoriety by al- ways appearing with a flaming neck-tie and curiously grotesque clothes. These, combined with his long hair (reaching to his should- ers) made him a striking feature in modern civilization.

His first attempt to run for office was in '48 when he appealed to the citizens of Lewis county to elect him to the Legisla- ture, mainly bacause he was, as he expressed it, "a poor Black River boy." He was elected, and while serving his term in the Assembly. there occurred that unique man- œuvre which induced certain members of the State Senate to resign, and seek a re- election from their constituents as a vindica- tion of their votes upon some party question affecting the canals; a proceeding paralled, long afterwards, in the National Senate, when the dictatorial Conkling and his col- league " Me-too" Platt, flouted out of that body in a " huff " because President Garfield had nominated a customs collector for the port of New York who was not a follower of those gentlemen, who called upon the Legislature (then in session) to condemn an independent and honorable President by re- electing them to the positions they had va- cated in anger. Like these two worthies, these State Senators having "shunted "

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

themselves from the main line on to a side- track, were allowed by the people to stay "shunted " for life. The seceding Senator from the Jefferson and Lewis district was Alanson Skinner, of Brownville, a some- what phlegmatic, but really a very respect- able man. I.yon immediately proclaimed himself as a candidate for the vacant seat. He was elected -- thus, with only a brief in- terval. becoming a member of both divi- sions of the Legislature. While the restrict- ing limitations of his capacity must ever have precluded him from acceptably filling any position that called for industry and a thorough knowledge of public affairs or a proper understanding of the people's wants, he yet had a persuasive and a flattering tongue which at times served him in the ab- sence of sincerity and ability.

His term as State Senator having expired, he announced himself as an independent candidate for Congress. Fortunately for him, the Hunker Democrats put in nomina- tion Mr. Pearson Mundy. an estimable gen- tleman, supported by the powerful and wealthy Woodruff family. But he had been nearly all his business life a wholesale grocer. The temperance vote was then (as now) an important factor in Jefferson county politics. Mr. Mundy had also been an ac- tive member of the Hungerford "junta," and that operated against him. Lyon began his canvass a month before Mundy was nominated. He spoke in school-houses and at cross-roads, and at some villages in the churches, calling his talks at such times "Lectures on the Holy Land." In many ways he worked himself into the favor of the religious and temperance people. The "Barn-burner " contingent among the Democrats looked on smilingly, for they soon saw that Lyon was gaining ground so rapidly that Mundy's defeat would be ac- complished without their being called upon to lift a finger to effect that (to them) de- sired end.

Lyon had no newspaper organ, and per- haps one would have been an incumbrance, for his promises to the people were so va- ried, and at times so grotesque that to have printed them from cold type might have proved embarrassing. He was greatly aided and admirably coached, however, by an able young newspaper man whose sincere friendship he had secured, and this friend's disinterested. counsel materially aided Lyon's prospects. Gradually, from one school district to another, he drew nearer to the geographical and business centre of the county. The "grape-vine " telegraph had been active, and public curiosity was by this time wonderfully wrought up-so that when he finally burst upon Watertown on the Saturday evening previous to the election, the largest hall could not hold the people, the assemblage adjonrning to Pad- dock's arcade, where Lyon spoke from one of the balconies. He pathetically reminded the vast audience that he was still the

" poor Black River boy," who had all the newspapers against him because he was not rich enough to buy the editors ; that he was then, as he had ever been, the poor man's friend, etc., etc. A sort of frenzy seemed to possess that audience; after the speech they swarmed out of the arcade, shouting "Lyon!" "Lyon!" Such another sight was never seen there before nor since. The few politicians at the meeting who retained their senses saw that the Democratic day was lost. Lyon won by a decided majority, and that ended any future attempt to elect to an important office in Jefferson county any man who had been a prominent "Hunker " Democrat.

Lyon was so well satisfied with the posi- tion of Representative in Congress that he made an attempt (in 1856) at re-election as an independent candidate. The "poor- Black-River-boy " and the "Holy-Land " methods were destined, however, to be far less advantageons than when he ran against Mr. Mundy. His competitor was now Charles B. Hoard, an able, wealthy and en- getic man, who had filled several import- ant offices, and sbown himself exceptionally capable in all of them. This time the "Hunkers " were in a position to enjoy the fun. The Democrats made no nomination, merely observing the contest, and throwing their influence (such as it was) on the side of Lyon. But in the intervening years be- tween 1856 and his previous candidacy a party had arisen who "knew not Caleb," and, struggle and squirm as he might, his candidacy steadily diminished in popu- larity.

While skirmishing about the country he had met Gerrit Smith, who was running for Governor on the abolition ticket, and Gerrit advised him to invite the people (as Gerrit was doing in his own meetings), to pro- pound questions as to his political views - to the end that there might be no doubt as to his position. Lyon thought this a cun- ning idea, and attempted to carry it out at the next meeting, which happened to be in the important and highly intelligent village of Carthage. When the meeting was duly organized, and Lyon had spoken. he asked for questions. These rained down upon him in such a flood, and some of them were so insidiously and embarrassingly worded, that Lyon's limited stock of patience was soon exhausted, and the meeting broke up amidst great excitement. This was Lyon's first and last attempt to answer questions fired at him in public, the scheme proving not less disastrous to him than to Smith, its Quixotic originator.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 4

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