The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 49

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 49

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Among many other old residents buried there is Alvin Hunt, the veteran editor.

The Catholic burying ground adjoins this older one ; is well kept, and the loyal mem- bers of that religious body find fitting sepul- chre there.

The French Catholics have also a burying ground named Calvary, near Huntington- ville, said to be a very pretty spot, not far from the river, The Irish Catholics have purchased forty-five acres of land directly opposite Brookside, which they purpose to make beautiful and attractive.

After diligent inquiry, the author has not been able to find who were the donors of Factory Square to the public. But deeds and leases dating back to 1808, were at that early day bounded by the Square. It is doubtful whether there ever was any formal dedication of that land to public use, but it was probably so given up by common con- sent, and almost a century of use has made the title good to the people. It was most likely surrendered to public use by the old Black River Woolen and Cotton Manufac- turing Company, which is well known to have bought from adjoining owners the land comprising Factory street, as an "easement" or private means of access from the Public Square to the large estate that company purchased from Jewett.

A somewhat unique character in Water- town, dating back early in the thirties, is Daniel Minthorn, a farmer's son, who was once a merchant in Watertown, then a merchant in New York city, and afterwards a real estate owner at Gouverneur, out of which property he was defrauded in the name of law and justice-a peculiar perver- sion of both of which attributes have left him poor in his old age. Mr. Minthorn was always of an inventive, speculative mind, taking nothing for truth that would not bear the investigation he was ever prepared to give. He took the first daguerrotype ever taken in Northern New York, his im- plements having been one of the writer's early recollections, as they stood upon a recessed veranda on the front of the oldest brick American hotel. Mr. Minthorn has also manifested ability as a writer, some of his articles upon geology and its develop- ments in Jefferson county having been ex- tensively read. His mind is yet bright, and in his 81st year he enjoys the respect and regard of all the older people. The younger ones know but little of his ability, or the important positions he has from time to time filled.

His brother, Harmon Minthorn, was his partner while they had the store on Court street, in Watertown. He is more generally remembered, perhaps, as a wool buyer, purchasing the farmer's clippings for many years, shipping the purchases to New York, Watertown having then for many years given up all textile manufacturing. One of the latest efforts having been that of John A. Haddock, in the old Jefferson Cotton Mills, now entirely obliterated by the fine buildings of Nill & Jess and the Water-

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town Spring Wagon Company. at Factory Square.

Those Minthorn brothers bore more than their fair share in the development of early Watertown, and deserve honorable mention for their public spirit, their business ability and their kindness of heart.

Among the families who have contributed to the growth of Watertown, that of Francis Lamon stands prominent. The progenitor of the Lamon families of our city was born in Washington county in 1775. He married Miss Philena Crane, about 1800. Two years later, in 1802, Francis Lamon bought 100 acres of land, located on Dry Hill, in the town of Watertown. He moved from Bridgewater, Oneida county, to this wild land. Such a journey was fraught with great toil-the distance was over 100 miles with an ox team. On Dry Hill they com- menced life in the wilderness, battling with all its difficulties. Mr. and Mrs. Lamon were people of indomitable energy, tenacity of purpose and untiring industry. qualities that must be possessed by those who venture upon a pioneer life. In the course of these years, four children were born to them, and upon their farm they were reared and edu- cated.

In 1836 Francis Lamon sold his lands, which had grown to 450 acres. He moved into the village of Watertown, where the family grew up to be people of prominence and importance. Mrs. Francis Lamon died in 1844, and Francis survived his wife six- teen years, dying in 1862, in his 87th year.

When 10 years of age I began to carry the Eagle and Standard, having become an apprentice to the "art preservative " in that office. This paper I faithfully served for four years, when I struck against longer service in that department of the " profes- sion." Once, when I had the measles and was home sick at the Sulphur Springs, a new boy was put on the route, but with un- usually disastrous results. The next day after he had been paid for distributing the edition, complaints began to come in of not having received the paper-some of the complainants declaring that they didn't care much for it, but after all they " kinder missed it." The boss made an examination, and concluded that his "sub" had gone over only part of the route, around the vil- lage square, leaving the distant portions unserved. While his mind was considerably worked up over it, a man came in with a large package of the last week's edition under his arm, and around it the very same wrapper the boy had used when starting out. The bundle had been picked up in the yard of the Methodist stone church, on Arsenal street, adjoining the dwelling of him we called "Elder" Way, the well- known water-carrier and carman. The young rascal had deliberately thrown the papers away rather than serve them, and after waiting a suitable time had come in and collected his pay. That boy's name

I have forgotton. I liad recovered from my illness, having returned to duty the very day the " jetsam'd " papers were re- covered, and was loud in my denunciation of that boy's flagrant breach of trust, for he had done the very thing I had often been almost ready to do myself, and I wanted to ease my own conscience by condemning him-just as we see grown-up men and women railing against those who commit the very sins they are themselves guilty of. Yet, condemn him openly as I might, in my inmost heart I admired his independence in breaking away from a task he had found to be irksome, and turning the hours of labor into perhaps a ball match or a good swim at Whittlesey's point. His subse- quent career I could not follow, for even his name is swallowed up in oblivion. Whether he regretted in after years the audacious way in which he had abandoned the "profesh," and perhaps taken upon him- self the easier life of tailor or shoemaker, remains a mere conjecture. We saw him no more.

The permanence of impression made upon an observing boy's mind by the peculiarities of the men he meets in his experience, has ever been a curious study with me. My weekly route in carrying the newspaper made me familiar with almost every face in the village, and I think I could then tell where every man or woman or grown-up child lived. To this day I can recall the walk, the peculiar speech, the general per- sonality of all the leading men in Water- town from 1833 to 1861.

There was always a strife between the opposition newspaper offices in getting out the President's message, and the carriers were expected to deliver the damp sheets as soon as possible after they left the press. I remember that once I went over my route after dark in a blinding snow storm. Call- ing at John Sigourney's brick house on Factory street, that somewhat austere gentleman himself opened the door, and invited me in, thanking me for my prompt- ness, and giving me a "quarter." That was a present so unexpected and so accept- able that it made a vivid impression on my young mind, and I always liked Mr. Sigour- ney for it.

Afterwards. when I was partner with Mr. Ingalls, my eldest son, Orison, (who died at Carlisle, Pa., editor of the Herald), came by natural inheritance to be a newspaper carrier. It was the custom then, and it may be so now, to send the paper free to all the ministers as a sort of set-off, probably, for the editors' general neglect of attendance at their churches. My young son had been told by some one, perhaps his grandmother, that the Catholics would never go to heaven like good Methodists and " perhaps some of the Baptists." The good woman had prob- ably read the book of Maria Monk, who went about the country in those days selling her work and preaching tirades against

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

Catholicism, claiming that she was an escaped nun-but after listening to her story or reading her book, you hoped that "none" such would ever cross your path again. Well, what Orison had heard made him very timid about leaving the paper at the Catholic priest's house, generally compro- mising the matter by ringing the door bell, dropping the paper, and making a quick run out of the yard to a safe distance down the street. One New Year's Day he rang the bell as usual, and made a rush for the gate-but just at that moment the door

opened, and he was called to " come back." Turning in his flight, he saw a humorous, chubby face, and a friendly hand beckon- ing him to approach. Venturing back, the good priest smilingly gave him a silver dol- lar as a New Year present. Ever after- wards that boy felt like withdrawing any personal objections he might have been taught to entertain against Catholics reach- ing the same heaven where all the good Methodists and "some of the Baptists" would be welcomed.

J. A. H.

HON. BEMAN BROCKWAY.

BEMAN BROCKWAY was a newspaper man. It was his life work, and he never cared for higher honors as he understood what honor was-to be in some measure a force for the elevation of the race ; to have a good effect on the lives of people. He was engaged in the business for fifty-nine years, from the time he was nineteen years of age until he died at the age of seventy-eight, not count- ing his term of apprenticeship. He came to Jefferson county in 1860, and purchased an interest in the "Watertown Reformer," published by L. Ingalls and J. A. Haddock. A year later the " Daily Times" was started, and Mr. Brockway was connected with the two publications as editor until his death, except at one or two brief periods. What effect he may have had upon the life and thought of Jefferson county, can, of course, not be known. The editor never knows the result of his work. He sees the tangled thread on his side the fabric, but never the completed picture. But this is known, that he labored always to elevate and never to degrade ; that he worked honestly, and feared no man.

Beman Brockway was born on a farm in the town of Southampton, Mass., April 12, 1815. He died in Watertown, Dec. 16, 1892.

In his autobiography he says that he did not remember the time when he was a boy and enjoyed juvenile sports. He never saw the day when he would not as soon work as play. He did not like the business of farming, and when he was fif- teen years of age he became an apprentice in the office of the Southampton Courier. His parents, meantime having removed to Chautauqua county, N. Y., and having finished his apprenticeship, young Brock- way obtained leave of absence to visit them, going by stage and canal, and a part of the way by the Schenectady rail- way which had been completed the pre- vious year, (1832.) He obtained some work on newspapers in Chautauqua county, and. inspired by the success of Horace Greeley, whose parents lived on a neighboring farm, he went to New York, but was unsuccessful in obtaining employ-

ment. He met Horace Greeley, however, and formed a friendship that was never broken through life. He returned to his father's farm and soon after obtained em- ployment on the Mayville Sentinel, and soon after that, when nineteen years of age, he became owner of the paper. He remained here ten years and was very successful as a newspaper publisher in this, his first effort, a success which always attended him in that business wherever he was. He sold out in 1845, and came to Oswego, where he pur- chased the Oswego Palladium which he pub- lished successfully for eight years, and started the daily which still prospers. He then went to New York and became an edi- tor of the Tribune under Mr. Greeley, and was one of the distinguished galaxy of writers which made the Tribune the most powerful of the newspapers of the nation in the years immediately preceding the war. He never liked the metropolis, and losing his wife in 1854, dislike for life there be- came intensified, and he came to Pulaski where he went into the milling business, in which he says: "I sank money, of course, because I have never been successful in any business outside of making newspapers."

In the campaign for Fremont, in 1856. he addressed a large number of political meet- ings and in 1858 was elected to the Legisla- ture. He was on the Committee on Canals, and made chairman of a special committee to consider constitutional amendments, and drafted the resolution to submit to the peo- ple whether or not the colored people of the State should be allowed the elective fran- chise. He was also parent of the first regis- try law, which remained in operation in the State until the adoption of the present en- larged laws on that subject.

In the winter of 1860 he met in Albany, Mr. John A. Haddock, the publisher of this History, who induced him to come to Water- town and engage on the Reformer. The Daily Times was started a year later, the outcome of the necessity created by war news.

In 1884 Reuben E. Fenton then in Con- gress, was mentioned for Governor, and as

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

Mr. Brockway had known him from boy- hood, he strongly advocated his nomination and election. Gov. Fenton appointed him his private secretary, which position he filled with credit until appointed one of the board of canal appraisers a few months later. The last year he was on the board (1869), occurred the great flood on the Black River, which swept away nearly every dam between For- estport and Dexter, besides many mills, fac- tories and tanneries, doing extended dam- age to all interests along the river banks. Mr. Brockway was very active in his efforts to have the damages properly adjusted, and he partially succeeded, but the cases were appealed beyond his jurisdiction and the board of appraisers dissolved, or rather was superseded by the Court of Claims. [See article on the Waterways of the County.

In 1870 Mr. Brockway returned to Water- town and the newspaper business, this time purchasing a one-third interest in the Re- former and the Daily Times, the firm being Ingalls, Brockway & Skinner. In 1872, Mr. Brockway, who was bound by the closest ties of personal friendship to Horace Gree- ley, temporarily retired from editorial con- trol of the paper, having, much against his will, been made the candidate of the liberal Republicans for Congress on the Greeley ticket. He was, of course, defeated, as he expected to be, but received a very flatter- ing vote. The campaign over, he returned to his newspaper work, and a year or two thereafter had bought out both of his part- ners and became sole proprietor of the con- cern, into which he took his two sons, Jeffer- son W. and Henry A. Brockway, making the firm name of B. Brockway & Sons, and so it continued until shortly before his death when a stock company was organized under the name of the Brockway Sons Company.

The above brief statement of the life of Mr. Brockway, is condensed from the auto- biography with which he closes his volume of .. Fifty Years in Journalism," a work which occupied much of his time toward the close of his life.

Very few knew Mr. Brockway unless closely associated with him. To most peo- ple he appeared a severe man, hard to ap- proach. In truth he was one of the kindest and most approachable of men, and he had a vein of dry humor that made his company most agreeable as he drew from his long ex- perience and large acquaintance with public men and public affairs. He was brought up in the New England school of grave and stern men, but he never accepted the New England orthodoxy, and was very broad and liberal in all his opinions. He had a gruff way and would say " Good Morning!" in an abrupt manner that was forbidding. but it was kindly meant, and the sentiment that inspired the greeting was hearty and sin- cere. In truth, in all things he sought to promise little and then to do much. He would be chary about making promises, but when he made one he carried it out at all

hazards. He meant that his word should be better than any man's bond. He re- garded every one else as being as sincere as himself, and was easily deceived once, but never twice. His confidence once lost was never regained. He was a loyal friend to friends and a good hater of enemies That is, "hatred " is not the word, for he had no actual hatred for any one. But he never respected any one again who had deceived him or sought to do him an injury. He never allowed them a second chance, and years would not wipe out the effect when one had once misled or misused him.

Mr. Brockway in earlier life was a Barn- burner Democrat and one of the most enthn- siastic. In company with nearly all the Democrats of that stripe, he went into the Republican party at its foundation. to fight the extension of slavery. He always as- serted that the Republican party was the closest to the principles of Jefferson, and that he changed nothing in his principles in leaving the party which had substituted the principles of Calhoun for those of Jefferson.

His religious convictions were strong, though not of the orthodox school. He be- lieved in God and immortality, and so tried to live as to please his own conscience. He was, in fact, orthodox in nothing. He had the old Pilgrim Fathers' hatred of anthori- tative rule, or any close corporation of thought. He enjoyed being in the minority on any subject, and his sympathies were always with the under dog in every fight. His friends called this "ohstinacy." He called it "independence " in not fearing to stand alone, and he used to quote with great glee a remark made of him that if he should be drowned in the Black river his friends would look for his body at Carthage and not at Dexter. In truth he did not fear to go against the current of public opinion, and sooner or later the current generally turned and went with him. He had the courage of his convictions.

As a writer Mr. Brockway was clear and incisive. He had a sledge-hammer way of dealing with subjects that marked him as one of the most forcible and best editorial writers in the State. He wrote in short sentences and short paragraphs, and each was well considered and had a sharp point to it. He was not rapid in composition, because he condensed so much in a brief space. He always accomplished something. in whatever place he was, as legislator, State officer or newspaperman, and had much influence through his newspaper, on the thought of the locality where he hap- pened to be in business. He was thoroughly interested in preserving the history of Jeffer- son county, and all his spare time in his later years was devoted to collecting relics and compiling data which would be of use to the future historian. He was first President of the Jefferson County Historical Society, and was active in the interests of the organ- ization.

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Mr. Brockway did much for Jefferson county - just how much we cannot say, for the results of the work of a newspaper man are intangible. But this is known, that he advocated every measure in the line of progress, that he suggested lines of endeavor

and lent his aid to every good work. He won a worthy place as one of those who have had a part in putting Jefferson county in the commanding and prosperous condi- tion which it to-day enjoys.

W. D. M.

HENRY KEEP.

PERHAPS no more graphic description of Henry Keep, the friendless Jefferson county boy who became a millionaire after almost incredible hardship in his youth, could be given than what is contained in Governor Flower's address at the formal opening of the Henry Keep Home, in Watertown, on December 31, 1883- just ten years before the close of Jefferson county's first century of settlement and growth.

The Home is located on Washington street, a short distance fron the business centre of the city, and is surrounded by thirty five acres of excellent tillable land, which is the property of the institution.

The building is a handsome brick struc- ture of Gothic style of architecture, and is three stories high in front and rear gable, Its dimensions on the ground floor are 114x55 feet. A veranda extends entirely around the Home. Inside, the arrange- ments for comfort and living are intended to be complete. The building contains forty rooms for inmates, besides a dining room, kitchen, pantry, laundry, reception, reading room and parlor.

There are gas fixtures, steam radiators in every room, while bath rooms and closets are distributed throughout the building, with hot and cold water on every floor. The cellar is warm and dry, the bottom of which is laid in Rosendale cement. The sewerage system is complete.

This noble charity was the free gift of Mrs. Keep, the daughter of Norris M. Woodruff, whose biography may be found in this History.

HON. ROSWELL P. FLOWER'S REMARKS.

Ladies and Gentlemen - In opening this institution, and on behalf of its Board of Trustees declaring we are ready to re- ceive applicants for admission, I feel that a few words should he said as to the nature and inception of the undertaking, the com- pletion of which we are now celebrating, and as to the purposes for which it is in- tended.

It is many years since Henry Keep, the poor boy whose energy and industry in after life were to be commemorated by such a monument as this, first saw the light in Jefferson county. His birth was humble. and the record of his life, until he reached middle age, was one of harsh and grinding poverty. He saw his father die by inches of a broken spirit. He felt himself an orphan, uncared for and hopeless. He

found himself and his sisters bound out in a servitude little better than absolute slavery, deprived of education, ill-fed, ill-housed, and exposed to all the inclemencies of our northern weather. The vicissitudes through which he passed in his endeavors to raise himself to a higher level, are almost in- credible; but through them all, with an in- domitable determination, he pressed steadily forward. Wherever he was, in whatever position, as a runaway apprentice, as a bootblack, as a canal-boat driver, as a trav- eling money broker, and as a millionaire, he never faltered. Finally he attained a position where he could not only bury the misfortunes of his youth in the pleasures of success, but could alleviate the hardships of others whom he saw struggling with the obstacles he had himself confronted. His whole career is a lesson for the rich and an example for the poor.

His early poverty and later success are encouragements to the ambitious of every degree, while in this appropriate memorial which his widow has chosen to perpetuate his name, may be found a suggestion that those who succeed beyond their fellows would do well to follow. At the present time when so many questions respecting poverty and wealth are being agitated, there is one aspect of this charity which is peculiarly interesting. In our almost per- fect form of government, where each citi- zen has a share and responsibility, there can be nothing particularly dangerous while men of all conditions continue to exercise their privileges, to allow the same to others and to feel an equal interest in the preser- vation of law and order and the common welfare. If all men had the same abilities and opportunities and the same luck, we would probably be as nearly equal in cir- cumstances as we are before the law. The fact is that while the great majority of us in a free State are pretty nearly on a level, it nevertheless happens that some, generally by good fortune, rise above the rest, while others, a comparatively small number, are, through ill-health or other misfortunes, worse off than the average, and unequal to the struggle with their competitors.

On the proportion of these two conditions of estate to the rest of the community, and their relations to each other, the prosperity of the country largely depends. * * * *

On such an occasion as the present, when we recall the progress of Henry Keep from

HENRY !KES

HOME.

FLELE

THE HENRY KEEP HOME, WASHINGTON STREET, WATERTOWN, N. Y.

HENRY KEEP

OME PROPERTY

VIEW OF THE BUILDINGS OWNED BY THE HENRY KEEP HOME.

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

abject poverty to the greatest wealth, and see a part of the fortune he gained ex- pended to relieve those of his earlier neigh- bors who are unable to support themselves in their declining years, we can compre- hend how near we are to one another, rich and poor, and how, by mutual support and assistance, we can maintain confidence be- tween those who do not work because they cannot, and those who do not work because they need not.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 49

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