The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 55

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

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WATERTOWN WOOLEN MILL. George A. Lance, proprietor, commenced the manufac- ture of woolen yarns in March, 1882. The mill is located at 40, 42 and 44 Moulton street, gives employment to from six or eight per- sons, and uses about 40,000 pounds of wool annually.

YORK & SON'S shops are located on Black river, at No. 37 Mill street. This enterprise was instituted in 1870 by Anson E. York and E. Dwight Moore, the firm name being York & Moore, which continued until 1881, when Mr. Moore retired; later on came the firm of York & Starkweather. In 1892 Mr. Starkweather withdrew his interests in the firm, and Mr. York took his son, Fred E., into partnership. They are extensive con- tractors and builders, and manufacturers of doors, sash, blinds, etc. This industry gives employment to an average force of 20 men.

HYDE, YOUNG & HYDE, plumbing, stoves and tinware, No. 29 Public Square. This is a comparatively new business, composed of practical men, and they are doing a good business. The Hydes were born at Massena, N. Y., and Mr. Young is from Vermont.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

PEARSON MUNDY.

PEARSON MUNDY was for many years a dis- tinguished citizen and a leading politician of Jefferson county. His origin was humble, his scholastic education limited, but he soon overcame unfavorable conditions and grew into a widely-known and respected citizen, and man of affairs. He was born in New Hope, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1818. His parents were industrious and respected. He came to Watertown in 1827, and began life as a grocer with Horace P. Mitchell. In 1836 he had established his reputation for honesty and industry sufficiently to become a partner with Mr. Mitchell in the grocery business, under the firm name of Mitchell & Mundy. By his pleasant ways and pushing attention to his duties, he soon organized an establishment that became one of the most prominent in this section of the State. About

1847 he removed into the Iron block, then just completed, Mr. Mitchell having retired from the business, and thenceforward he was alone, but growing more and more into leadership in the wholesale grocery trade.

In 1871 he retired from the grocery busi- ness, and in 1876 built the large malt-house at the foot of Court street, where he was in business until he died of apoplexy, in 1885. His death made a deep impression upon the community, where he had grown up from boyhood, for few men had more earnest friends, and he had made them such by his integrity and his democratic ways. Mr. Mundy treated every man as if he were a MAN; wealth and its glamor had no effect upon him; he looked for what was in the man, not on him.

About 1840 Mr. Mundy married Maria D.,

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daughter of Norris M. Woodruff, one of a family of girls who have held high positions in society. Mrs. Mundy died in 1871, uni- versally lamented. Like her husband, she was pre-eminently democratic and agreeable, though the family from which she sprang was, for many years, the first in wealth and social position in Northern New York. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Mundy (Mrs. Van Brunt, of Watertown, and Norris W., now in active business in Chicago). In 1873, Mr. Mundy married a second time, the lady being Miss S. Augusta Strong, of Water- town. She, with one daughter, Miss May, survives her husband.

Mr. Mundy was one of the most charitable and public-spirited men in Watertown. He delighted in kindness, and was especially popular among the workingmen.

In politics, Mr. Mundy was a firm, life- long Democrat. In his earlier days he was a ready and attractive speaker, and made many able arguments for his party. He was also a ready writer, and his political articles werc full of life and point. Well acquainted with local history, possessed of a great memory, and being an indefatigable reader, he was

able to contribute to the city papers many valuable paragraphs, some of which attracted wide attention. In 1846-50, he held the office of postinaster, and in 1852 was a candidate for Congress, but was defeated.

At the time of his death, Mr. Mundy was president of the Henry Keep Home, and took great interest in the work of that noble charity. He was a director of the Jefferson County National Bank, which position he held for many years. For several years he was vice-president of the Haberlie Brewing Company of Syracuse. He was a life-long and respected member of the Masonic order, and was twice elected Grand Commander of the State of New York.

In his private and public life Mr. Mundy was distinguished for the honest and con- scientious performance of his duties. Being a distinguished (33 degree) Mason, his funeral was conducted under their peculiar rites and ceremonies. Our picture shows him in full regalia, he being one of the widest known and most generally respected among that ancient and honorable organization in the State of New York, and he "justified the honors he had gained."

THIS PLOW

THE FIRST IRON PLOW MADE IN NORTHERN NEW YORK.

THIS old plow now rests in the Smithsonian Institute. at Washington, D. C. It was made by Col. Wm. Lord, of Brownville, a manu- facturer who was always in the front rank, keeping abreast in his business with the mechanical improvements of his time. There are yet farmers living in Jefferson county who used wooden plows for years after they came into this country. The iron plow, a fact not now generally known by younger men, is of comparatively recent origin-dating back to 1819, the invention of Jethro Wood. In every State of Old Mexico to-day, the traveller sees the peons plowing with a crooked stick, with but slight ability to penetrate that fertile soil,

which raises a decent crop, even when only "tickled " with their horrid plows.

Moses Eames, the distinguished farmer, scientist, writer, all-around man, who left a watering-trough on our Public Square, where a tired and thirsty horse may drink without having his loose check-rein unhitched, for which kindness even the stolid cart horses bow their heads in thanks every hour of every day in every later year-Moses Eames was the owner of this plow. and used it upon his farm for many years. The plow, like many other useful creations (and creators as well), now passes into history, being rescued from oblivion by the printed page.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

FRANK D. PIERCE.

FRANK D. PIERCE is the son of Deforest and Mariette Pierce; he is of Scotch-Irish origin. His father's people were from Vermont, and this genealogy shows that some of them were with Stark and the Green Mountain Boys in the war of the Revolution. His grandfather (on the mother's side) Samuel Shelley, took part in the battle of Sackets Harbor. His boyhood days were spent in Dexter, N. Y., and there, early in life, he was taught the lessons of frugality and perseverance that have been a help to him through life. His age prevented him from enlisting in the army during the war of the rebellion; but he was full of patriotism, and it was with a great many regrets that he was turned away from the recruiting station as being too young.

In politics he has always been a Republi- can, voting for Grant for President, bis second

term (his first Presidential vote). He was elected several times town clerk of the town of Brownville, and in the years 1882, 1883 and 1884, was elected supervisor of the town, being the youngest man ever elected frou that town for that responsible position, as well as the youngest man on the board. This (1894), is his third year as county clerk, it being the last year of his term.

His family consists of a wife, two sons and three daughters. In October last he was elected president of the Lincoln League, a Republican organization, made up largely of the young men of the county. As an indica- tion of Mr. Pierce's popularity, it may be re- marked that when he received the nomination for county clerk, it was without a dissenting voice, and he was elected by a majority of about 2,000. He has filled this position with

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much honor to bimself and with universal satisfaction to his constituents.

He is a gentleman of even temperament, and possesses a genial disposition and a kind- ness of heart which have made him one of the most popular and best-known residents of Jefferson county.

It will be matter of surprise if he is not re-

nominated, for his administration of the office has been unusually economical and popular. He is the people's man, gentle in manner. without a particle of gall in his disposition- a gentleman who has many friends. because he is always friendly. [As this History is passing through the press, Mr. Pierce is again nominated].

SOME WATERTOWN PREACHERS.

DURING the author's residence in Water- town, from 1833 to 1861, he heard many able preachers of all the denominations. Some of these he knew well in Watertown-one of them later upon a much broader theatre, and under the full glare of popularity in a great city. It is natural that the author should select such as he knew for special mention, for he can write best of those he knew best. To each of those named below, he owes fealty and great personal obligation, for some of them were the instructors of his children, and they were all of them the heralds of that blessed Gospel which is the hope of the world

REV. JOHN PEDDIE.

IN the spring of 1865, John Peddie was engaged to temporarily supply the vacant pulpit of the Watertown Baptist Church. He was then completing the last year of his preparatory studies for the ministry.

His first sermon made a marked impression. Few were prepared for such an incisive, spiritual and eloquent discourse from a theo- logical student. Many who heard him at once came to the conclusion that he had been sent by the Divine Spirit. As the weeks of his engagement passed, it became the settled opinion of the church and congregation that he ought to be called as pastor. The attend- ance increased, and at the evening services it was soon necessary to place chairs in the aisles to accommodate the large congrega- tions. In the prayer meetings, also, a deep interest developed under the inspiring minis- trations of our young and zealous brother. He was modest and unassuming, and in the pulpit and prayer meetings his whole soul seemed aglow in the service of Christ. He early won the hearts of the young people of the congregation, and this circle of good influ- ence drew many to hear his impassioned ser- mons. He was earnest in the offer of sacrifice of praise to God continually. Soon after he came here, the town was shocked by the news of the assassination of President Lincoln. The part he bore in the memorial services in Washington Hall, in honor of the memory of the martyred President, is recalled with vivid distinctness. He was chosen to fill a prominent place in the programme, and the building was crowded. The audience seemed surcharged with deep feeling. Every one present was as sincere a mourner as though some blood relative had been suddenly stricken down.

The truth is that the deep emotion welling up in his patriotic heart, at first almost over- came his self-control, but after a few senten- ces lie went on in a way that moved the great assemblage to tears. The silence was almost painful, relieved only by occasional sobs as the silver-voiced preacher read the Scripture selections. So deep was the impression upon the audience by liis reading of God's word, that the subsequent oration delivered by a distinguished judge, failed to secure the attention it really deserved. From that day Mr. Peddie was secure in his position as a man of great popularity in Watertown. Before his return to his theological studies, at the close of his vacation, the church had felt its duty made clear to extend to him a call to become its pastor.

At a council called by the Baptist Church in Watertown, for the purpose of ordaining Bro. John Peddie to the Gospel ministry, in response to the invitation extended, delegates from nine churches in the Black River Bap- tist Association were present and took their seats. The candidate was called upon to re- 'late his Christian experience, which he did in a very clear and concise manner.

After his ordination he settled down to a severe course of preparation for his accepted calling. As a pastor, he soon endeared him- self to both church and congregation, by his full consecration to his calling, and his genial intercourse with the people. The three years of his pastorate in Watertown were not made conspicuous by any remark- able events, but the growth of the church was steady and healthful. He did good work, and left the church in excellent condition, spiritu- ally and financially. In the pulpit he was of commanding presence. He was a handsome man, of medium height, with an athletic and symmetrical body. The trace of Scotch accent in his speech gave a charm to his eloquent words, and the intense emotional feeling displayed in his beautiful sentences, uttered with unusual pathos, went to the heart like a strain of music.

From the first he discarded notes in the pulpit. His sermons and addresses were laboriously written, and often they were re- written, and then, by reading them over once or twice, he would deliver them word for word without hesitation. He was a hard worker, and a consecrated and devoted searcher after the truth of the Word, in all his preparation for his ministerial duties. His soul was cast in a large mould. From the

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REV. JOHN PEDDIE.

first he was an earnest preacher. He carried the commands of liis Lord and Master at full speed.

In 1868 Mr. Peddie was married to Miss M. H. Wilson, of Watertown; she was a member of the Methodist Church. On March 22, 1868, Miss Wilson was immersed and became a member of the Watertown Baptist Church. The marriage took place a short time before lis removal to Albany, but it met with the hearty approval and best wishes of a large circle of devoted friends. It was with deep regret that the people received the announce- ment of his call to Albany, but with Chris- tian courtesy the wider field of labor was recognized. His subsequent career has always been to members of his first pastorate a subject of the deepest interest. It was in Watertown that he commenced his ministry. Here he was ordained and here he married his wife. It is not too much to claim, there- fore, that to the Watertown Baptist Church lie owed much for the early inspirations that gave him equipment for his useful life in his later pastorate. And surely no young minis- ter was ever more fortunate in being surrounded by a loving and devoted church than was Mr. Peddie. "He came at our united and earnest call, and left us only because we

were too small a church to keep one so gifted and ealled of God, from a larger field of usefulness," were the words of our venerable Deacon Harbottle, in recalling the first ap- pearance and subsequent labors of our friend and brother, and former pastor. And after a moment's thought came the good Deacon's summing up of his work here : " He was a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ."

A. D. S.

REV. PETER SNYDER.

In the summer of 1848, Rev. Peter Snyder came to Watertown as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church (now the Stone Street Church), but then situated on the corner of Factory and Mechanic streets.

A small, slight man of boyish face and energetic movements, whose conspicuous spectacles and whose frequent use of his staff with the staghorn handle, showed that his eyesight was defective-a quick smile for everyone he met; a rich voice, a hearty laugh, a sympathy that never failed to find common ground with every interlocutor, and to make every child his friend. Such was the new minister, and such were the evident qualifications which Mr. Snyder brought to

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the up-building of a poor and struggling church. But it was not long before the community also knew that his mind was one of the most vigorous in their midst, his heart the most all-embracing, his slight ahoulders strong to bear the burdens of a church and of a town. For more than fifteen years he con tinued the beloved pastor of the church, living on a scanty salary, and refusing calls to wealthier churches for fear of dealing a death blow to his own, the existence of which was threatened by the growth of the town away from its once central position. During this decade and a half, when his ordinary church duties implied, for the most part, three preaching services on the Sabbath and two week-day meetings, besides innumer- able funerals, weddings and pastoral calls, Mr. Snyder never declined a duty toward the community at large; and while he had no desire to be a political leader, he recognized his responsibilities as a citizen, and believed that the true pastor is the pastor of all the weak. When it was the cause of the drunk- ard or of the slave that was at stake, he found the roatrum as sacred as the pulpit; and few could go away from his addressea uninflu- enced. For this small man, erect and straight as an arrow, with a chest broadened by constant exercise, and a voice that filled large halls or groves with no apparent exer- tion, met his audience with a smile and a bright look through his large spectacles, stated his subject honestly and distinctly, and kept the unflagging attention of his auditora while he advanced clear-cut arguments, and clinched them well with telling illustrations. He could never resist the call of the children, and besides giving his own congregation a children'a sermon once in two months- sermons which, from their simple directness and charming anecdotes, were often declared hy the adults to be the best of the year-he was constantly called upon to address picnics and conventions, where his juvenile audiences listened spell-bound, or gave hearty answers to his suggestive questions. The young men of the town also seemed to him to need a leader in their intellectual life, and the clubs he organized for the study of logic or mental science, started in right-thinking some young men who have aince been leaders in their generation. His exposition of "Pilgrims' Progress " and the " Holy War," were a rich inspiration to those who lined the parsonage dining room on winter evenings, and read by the light of "burning fluid " lamps. And his classes in the Jefferson County Institute, by which he earned the tuition of his chil- dren, and in which he dealt with a wide range of subjects. were counted among the richest treats of the academic courses. His friendly intercourse with the other pastors of the town, and indeed of the whole region, belonged to the same spirit of brotherhood in the Kingdom, aud there were few of any de- nomination with whom he did not effect fre- quent exchange of pulpits, and hold consul- tation in the ministers' meetings.

Mr. Snyder's preaching was eminently in-

structive and upbuilding. He used to say that if he understood a subject himself he seldom failed to make it plain to another; and so his first object was to understand God's word, and then, by every charm of freshness, variety and illustration, to win for it an entrance into the lives of his auditors. His eloquence was that of conviction and of intense earnestness. Clear and decided in his own views, he still held them always in abey- ance to new light, and was the first to wel- come advanced trutha in science and theol- ogy. Seldom doctrinal in his sermons. he preached both for his people's immediate needs and for their spiritual education; and by his frequent "courses" of sermons ou individual books of the Bible, on Old Testa- ment histories, or on the life of Christ, hc strove to make them as familiar with God's Word as the classical student is with his Homer.

In couversation, Mr. Snyder was the life of every company, not only by his own contri- butions of incidents and anecdotes, but hy drawing out those with whom he talked, and opening the way for them to give their best ideas and fullest information; and on what- ever level the chat began it was sure before long to reach some breezy height, from which all went away the better. He counted a good hearty laugh as a means of grace, and when he threw back his head at the end of one of his good stories and set the example, it was good to be there and join in the happy conclusion. A friend loves to tell of a tea- party where a group of lawyers and business men were hopelessly groping about for social small-talk until Mr. Snyder came in, when, behold, in five minutes' time they were all engaged in an animated conversation, which had in some way been turned to the unusual theme of Heaven. It was such a familiar theme with him-his Father's house-that there was no cant in his frequent allusions to it. Another friend tells us how he said to him only a few months before his death : " Brother H -- , I have been thinking lately that I must begin to cultivate strenuously the grace of patience, for perhaps in the other world the Master may want to send me on errands that will require that quality, and I should be ashamed not to be ready and pre- pared."

To those who loved and trusted Peter Snyder-and such were all who knew him-it will be of interest to know that he was born of excellent German lineage, in Schoharie, N. Y., in 1814 He was afflicted with cata- ract from his birth, and the operations on bis eyes in his boyhood were only partially suc- cessful, leaving his sight so defective that he was never able to recognize his friends by sight, though his ear was quick to distinguish them by the tones of the voice. He was never able to put his sermons into writing. nor to use any notes in the pulpit. His edu- cation at Williams and Union colleges, and Princeton and Union Theological seminaries, was carried on in great physical weakness, from which he afterwards recovered by the

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------

REV. PETER SNYDER.

sheer force of will, careful diet and the prac- tice of daily out-door exercise. After gradu- ating from the seminary, he preached for 18 months each in Whippany and New Rochelle, N. Y., marrying, while residing in the latter place, Marcia Penfield, the love of his child- hood and youth, and his blessed helpmeet in all good works. Next followed a pastorate of between five and six years in Cairo, N. Y., from which place he was called to Water- town.

Mr. Snyder's health was severely broken by an attack of pleurisy, in the summer of 1863, when he had been putting forth un- usual efforts to raise money for the building of a new church edifice. He never recovered hls former vigor, and the walls of the new building were but half up when, on the 13th of September, 1863, after a few days' painful ill- ness, he passed quietly away. To the com- munity which leaned upon him, it seemed as

though there had occurred a terrible loss to the Kingdom; but not so did he limit God's ways or times, For many years he had counted this world and the next as one good life, developing along lines that suffer no loss by the short transition from one to the other; and though called hence in the midst of his activity, at the age of 49, he responded with a smile upon his face, saying to the friends at his bedside: "I am going where I hope I can do better work for the Master than I have ever done in this world."

A sorrowing community gathered from far and near, for his hurial, and erected over his grave in Brookside Cemetery a monument in memory of the good man and the love they bore him. His wife, of blessed memory, survived him until 1889. Two daughters, are still living, and his son Rev. P. M. Snyder, has followed in the footsteps of his father, serving in the ministry of the Presby-

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terian Church at Carthage. N. Y., and in Congregational churches in Middletown, Ct., and Burlington, Vt.

REV. W. S. TITUS, A. M.,

WAS born in Victory, Cayuga county, N. Y., June 23, 1820. Converted at 17, he went to Hamilton Literary and Theological Semi- nary, where he remained till the last term of the freshman year, excelling in the studies of Latin and Greek. His means failing, he went to Virginia, where he taught an academy one year, and thence to Georgia, where he taught in Newburn Academy 6 months, and in the spring of 1843 he came North, teaching_a select school in Fleming, Cayuga county. In the autumn he became pastor of two small baptist churches in Tioga county. In the winter of 1844 he taught a large district school in Candor, and, during a great revival there, he left the Baptist Church and became a Methodist. In July, 1845, he was received as a probationer in tlie Oneida Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and station- ed at Berkshire, Tioga county. At the end of a year he entered the junior year at Union College, where he graduated in 1848; then he entered the junior year at Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, where he graduated in 1850. By teaching classes in New York, and by missionary labors on the Delaware and Hudson canals during vacations, he earned his money, and was mainly a self- supporting student.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 55

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