The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 62

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 62

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My father found his land lying in the northwest corner of the town of Frankfort, Herkimer county, a perfect wilderness, within about six miles of Utica, which city then contained some half dozen houses. Ile procured a deserted log hut, about one and a half miles from his land, where we stayed until we cleared some of the land and built on his own premises.

On the 2nd of November, 1804 I married. and being disposed to emigrate, in September, 1805, came to Rutland, and bought the land now (1854), owned by E. Churchill, and on the 6th day of March, 1806, started from Herkimer for Rutland, and was four days in reaching it with a severe fatigue; the country then heing entirely new; Watertown village then con- taining perhaps ten quite indifferent houses.

I cut the first tree that was cut on my land, built a log house and barn, cleared 25 acres, lived on it three years, sold it and bought the land I now own. then entirely new, built me another log house and in the spring of 1810 moved into it.

These times, just previous to the war with Great Britain, and the country new, was the time to try men's souls, ah! and women's too. Great were the privations to be endured in a new country near the lines, on the breaking out of the war, which took place on the 14th day of June, 1812. In the December following I volunteered for three months in the cavalry, having a sergeant's commission, and served the time at Sackets Harbor and Cape Vincent.

In June, 1814, I went to Buffalo with a regiment of troopa with my team. In September thereafter, I went into Sackets Harbor and kept a boarding house till March, when peace was proclaimed. I then re- turned to my farm, huilt my first frame barn in 1817 and my house in 1822.

Anna, the wife of Elihu, and daughter of William Pelton, was born the 25th of August, 1743, in the State of Connecticut, town of Saybrook, near the mouth of the Connecticut river. She came with her father, who emigrated to Frankfort, Herkimer county, N. Y., in the winter of 1795, driving four yoke of oxen at- tached to two sleighs, being three weeks performing the journey.

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Robert Wade. Jan.

Daniel Wade June

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10 Benjamin Woodruff

11 Benjamin Meeker

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Daniel Stookey

Daniel Baker

THE MUSTER-ROLL OF AN ARTILLERY COMPANY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. H. M. BALL'S GRANDFATHER WAS FIRST SERGEANT. [The Roll shows all the wear and tear aud blots of the original.]

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MATRESSES

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

Alexander Parker was born in the Green Mountain country of Vermont, Sept. 3, 1787, educated in the common schools, and came to Watertown in March, 1801, with his father, carrying packs upon their backs and on foot from Vermont. Built their shanty in what has always been called the Parker neighbor- hood, near the old district school house, so long known and actively used. The follow- ing winter Alexander lived in Deacon Bartho- lomew's family and attended the nearest school, three miles distant, on the Keyes farm, south of Watertown. His father returned to Vermont that winter to bring on the family, and they came in upon a sled drawn by oxen all the way from Vermont. In 1807 he married Betsey, daughter of Deacon Bartholomew. In company with his father he became interested in the manufacture of the solid rock millstones, then the only stones used in grinding grain, and in use throughout the whole northern country, eventually superseded by the French burr- stone. He settled upon 70 acres of land, half way between Watertown and Brownville, where he lived and died, after raising a large and long-lived family. At different times he purchased adjoining lands uutil his farm at last comprised 240 acres of valuable and pro- ductive land. He died in June, 1871, aged 84 years. Probably no one of the early settlers effected more in the settlement of the county than Mr. Parker, for his large family all remained in the county and themselves raised families and made homes here. Ile has left a grand memory as an industrious, persever- ing and substantial farmer. His faith in Democracy was sublime.

William H. Wilson, a native of the town of Rutland, was the son of Samuel Wilson, who came into Rutland in 1803, being one of the earliest pioneers of that town. He was from Massachusetts. He raised seven children. William H., the eldest son, retained a part of the ancestral estate, and lived and died upon the land his father had acquired. He lived to a good old age, being 83 when he died. One of the sons of William H. is Frank E. Wilson, who has been connected with the Grange organizations in Jefferson county for many years, a patriotic and popular citizen. He inherited the farm of his father, on the river road from Watertown to Black River, above Huntingtonville. He has one child, a daugh- ter, who has received the best education possible in the High School of Watertown. Mr. Wilson's residence in town is at 7} Win- throp street.

V. K. Kellogg, district attorney of Jeffer- son county, was born March 17, 1858, in the town of Rutland. He is the son of Sylvester (born January 21, 1808, at Martinsburg, N. Y., and moved to Rutland in 1822). Attend- ed county district school some, and a short time both at Watertown High School and Hungerford Collegiate Institute, Adams. He entered upon the study of law June 27, 1879, in the office of Levi H. Brown. Admitted to the bar in October, 1882, at Rochester; went to Carthage in November, 1884, and formed

a business connection with Hon. A. E. Kilby. In 1892 was elected district attorney by a plurality of 2,678 votes over John Conboy, Democrat. Opened an office in Watertown, January 1, 1893. He is a Republican, and always has been. The writer regards Mr. Kellogg as one of the brightest young men at the Jefferson county bar at the present time. He has been unusually successful in his posi- tion as district attorney, being one of three who have procured convictions in murder trials during the hundred years of the county's corporate existence. He is well grounded in the law, is a close student, and has underpinned his legal learning with a good classical education. His success in a marked degree is confidently predicted.

Amasa Trowbridge was born in Pomfret, Windham county, Conn., May 17, 1779. He worked on his father's farm in the summer, attending the common schools in the winter season, until 14 years old. After that he acquired an academic education. At the age of 17 he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Avery Downer, of Preston City, New London county, Conn. When 20 years old he was admitted to practice, receiving a diploma from the State Medical Society of Connecticut. He then spent a year with Dr. Thomas Hubbard; theu moved to Lanesboro, Mass., and practiced in company with Dr. Jarvis. He came into this State and settled in Trenton, Oneida county, in 1805, entering into company with Dr. Luther Guiteau. In 1809 he came to Watertown and was a part- ner of Dr. Paul Hutchinson. War breaking out in 1812, he was commissioned surgeon in the militia of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Law- rence counties. Under orders from General Brown, he organized hospitals at Sackets Harbor during the winter of 1812-13. On returning to civil life he was appointed assist- ant justice, under the first constitution, serv- ing from 1815 to 1818, in which last year lie was appointed judge. In 1819 he was made sheriff. In 1834 he was appointed professor of surgery and medical jurisprudence in the Willoughby University, Ohio, where he gave annual lectures of eight weeks. In 1838, giving up his practice to his son Amasa, he moved to Painesville, Ohio. In 1841 he re- turned to and again settled in Watertown, where he remained until his death, April 11, 1859. He had a large and extensive practice, and was known as a bold and skillful sur- geon.

Gordon P. Spencer was born in Salisbury, Litchfield county, Conn. He was educated under the supervision of Rev. Joseph Cross- man, of his native town, and Ammi L. Rob- bins, of Norfolk. He entered Williams Col- lege in 1807, graduating from that institution with honors, and obtained his diploma from the Medieal Society of New London in 1812. War with Great Britain having been declared, he sought and obtained a commission as sur- geon from the Secretary of War. He was actively engaged in 1812-13, during the cam- paign in Canada; was present at the bloody battles of Lundy's Lane, Chippewa, and the

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

blowing up of Fort Erie. Soon after this latter catastrophe, the army returned to winter quarters, and he was detailed to the hospital at Sackets Harbor. Peace having been declared, Dr. Spencer, on his way home, passing through Champion, was called in hy Dr. Durkee to assist in dressing the leg of a man, which had heen crushed.

He arranged with the Doctor for a partner- ship, and hegan practice with him. He had an iron constitution, was indefatigahle in the pursuit of his professional duties, and rode on horseback by day and by night, fording streams, with his clothes strapped to his horse's head, as I have heard him relate it. In pursuing his extensive and extending practice, as long as his health would permit, he was called to visit patients and in council, and in both medical and surgical cases, into Lewis, Oneida, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties, and Canada, riding one horse over twenty years. In 1854 he was attacked by a malignant congestive fever, and it was about four months before he could resume his prac- tice. Finding his health was so much im- paired as to prevent his attending upon his numerous professional engagements, he con- cluded to change residence, and moved into Watertown in the summer of 1857, and here he continued to reside until his death, from heart disease, March 25, 1859

Dr. James K. Bates was born in Killingly, Conn., June 24, 1806, and died in Water- town, N. Y., June 30, 1872, in the 66th year of his age. His mother was a sister of Jasan Fairbanks, of Watertown. His early life was spent on a rough, stony Connecticut farm till he was nearly 18 years old. He had the ad- vantage of a common school, in the district in which his father resided, and made the most

of his opportunities. He developed such pro- ficiency in his studies that his father decided to give him a collegiate education, and with this end in view he was sent to a preparatoy academy at Monson, Mass. During his first year at Monson his father died. This made it necessary for him to go home. Not long after the death of his father, his uncle, Jasan Fairbanks, of this city, went to Connecticut to look after the affairs of his family, and while there had some intimations that James would like to be a physician. Just as his uncle Fairbanks was about to start for home again, he said to James: "So you want to be a doctor, do you?" " I have sometimes thought I would," he replied. " Well, go home with me," his uncle said, "and I will see what I can do for you." Accordingly he came to Watertown, and entered his name as a student of medicine in the office of the late Amasa Trowbridge He was licensed to practice medicine by the County Medical Society, and practiced under this license until 1840, when he received an honorary degree of M. D. from the medical college of Castelton, Vt. In February, 1831, he married Miss Serina L. Massey, of Water- town, and for 10 years practiced in Brown ville. In 1848 he removed to Watertown, where he took a good position, very soon

working into a large and lucrative practice. To this his best energies were given for 10 or 12 years. He was an active politician, and in 1861 was elected inspector of State prisons, which position he held for six years.

Mr. W. W. Greene. ths well-known florist, comes of a well known Jefferson county family, his father (Jacob Greene) coming to Perch River about 1814. John Caddington Greene, the father of Jacob, was a first cousin of the celebrated Gen. Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary fame. Jacob Greene held vari- ous local offices, such as coroner, justice of the peace, etc His brother, Dr. Alphens S. Greene, was a well known physician in early days, being also prominent as a politician, a Mason, and a leader in the Baptist church, to which he subscribed considerable sums of money. Dr. Greene's medical studies were completed under the celebrated Dr. Wil- loughhy, of Fairfield, Herkimer county, (who was the uncle of Mr. W. W. Greene) and whose name was signed to nearly all the diplomas of the Jefferson county physicians of the early part of the century. Dr. Greene repre- sented Jefferson county twice in the State Legislature, was a member of the Constitu- tional convention of 1846, and was appointed postmaster at Watertown, a position which he held until 1843. In 1839 he was the Demo- cratic candidate for Congress, but failed of election. For many years he resided in the house on the corner of Washington and Clinton streets, now occupied by Mr. George Smith. He died in 1851. Mr. W. W. Greene established himself in the nursery and garden business in Watertown, in 1853, a business which has since grown to great dimensions, and is now carried on under the firm name of W. W. Greene & Son. His marked success has been largely due to prompt business habits and strict integrity. In all his efforts he has heen aided by his faithful wife, a descendant of the distinguished Ingham family. John Ingham, her father, was the son of Capt. Joseph Ingham, a native of Bermuda, N. Y., whose mother was Sarah Starr, a direct descendant of Dr. Comfort Starr, who emigrated from Ashford, England, in 1634, settling in Boston. John Ingham, Mrs. Greene's father, was born in Middle- town, Conn., May 21, 1794, and settled at Flat Rock, Jefferson county, about 1814. After serving as quartermaster during the war he took up the business of building, and most of the buildings in Alexandria Bay, erected prior to 1830, were his work. The old school house still standing in good repair at Flat Rock, was also built by him. In 1823 he married Harriet Tulley, of Adams, and their union was blessed with a family of three boys and six girls, all of whom are either dead or living in other States, excepting Elizabeth, wife of W. W. Greene, of Water- town. Mr. Ingham passed the latter years of his life in Watertown at the home of his daughter, and died there in 1879 at the age of 85, rounding out a life of unusual self-denial and great usefulness. Mrs. Greene is well known and much respected in Watertown, an

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

unfaltering advocate of temperance, of the duty of giving the ballot to women, and of every cause that shall lift up the poor and oppressed. She possesses unusual ability as a manager, and has been of great usefulness in building up the large floral business of W. W. Greene & Son.

Edmund B. Wynn was born in New York city, April 8, 1827, and was the only child of Arthur Wynn, of Wynnstay, in Wales. He was of English descent on his mother's side. Bis first appearance in Watertown was as a student in the office of James F. Starbuck. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and soon thereafter opened an office at Three Mile Bay, and practiced there a few years, when he returned to Watertown about 1850 and estab- lished an office and practiced until his death. In 1851 he married Sarah Schuyler, daughter of D. J. Schuyler, of Three Mile Bay. He very soon became an attorney for the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad, and con- tinued such attorney while he lived, being general counsel of the road at the time of his death. He was a candidate for the office of justice of the Supreme Court in the Fifth district some years ago. Mr. Wynn died February 15, 1892, much lamented, for he was an honest man, an able lawyer, a man of much versatility of attainments, and would have been successful in almost any pursuit calling for enlarged intelligence, perseverance and knowledge of mankind. Perhaps his true calling would have been a journalist, for. he had a natural genius towards literature, art and science. Mr. Wynn was of commanding stature, with a most intelligent and genial face, a man easily approached, and showed his appreciation of friends by being himself friendly. The writer knew him well, and loved him.

Hannibal Smith was born November 29, 1839, at Vermilion, Oswego county, N. Y., and moved with his parents to Bridgewater, Oneida county, when three years old. He pre- pared for college at West Windfield and Cazenovia, entering Hamilton College in the fall of 1860, where he remained one year, when illness compelled him to leave. He returned in the fall of 1863, and graduated with the class of 1866, standing third in his class. The faculty conferred upon him the honor of delivering the head prize oration. The subject was "Alexander Hamilton, as an Expounder of the Constitution." He also received the Hawley medal for excellence in classical culture. Hamilton College confer- red upon him the A. M. and L. L. B. degrees. He was married to Amelia March, September 13, 1866, at Whitesboro. He entered the law department of Michigan University, and for a year had the benefit of the lectures of the eminent faculty of law of that institution, in- cluding Judge Cooley.

In the fall of 1867 he became principal of Little Falls Academy, resigning at the end of the school year, and in 1868 resumed his law studies at Hamilton College, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1870. In February, 1870, he was elected principal of the Watertown

High School, and superintendent of schools for the city of Watertown. He resigned at the end of the school year of 1874, and form- ed a co-partnership in law with Gen. Bradley Winslow, under the firm name of Winslow & Smith, which continued until 1877. He practiced law alone till 1892, when he formed a co-partnership with his son, under the firm name of Smith & Smith. In church relations he is a Presbyterian; in politics a decided and emphatic Republican, and has been a mem- her of the Republican State Convention three times-in 1882, 1888 and in 1894.

His family consists of two sons and two daughters. His eldest son graduated at Hamilton College in 1890, and at the Buffalo Law School in 1892. His eldest daughter is at present a senior in Vassar College.

Mr. Smith is a leading and influential citi- zen of Watertown, and a leader in his party. His patriotism and forceful ability are un- questioned-a man of the people, he under- stands their wants and aspirations, and his life has therefore been devoted to disseminat- ing sound ideas in education, morality, and even in politics. A safe, sound man.

Roswell D. Murray was born in Fairfield, Herkimer county, April 30, 1800. His father's family moved into Lewis county at an early period, and young Roswell was either apprenticed to or voluntarily took up the trade of a brick and stone mason. Among the early jobs on which he was engaged in Jefferson county were the building of the John Felt mansion at Felt's Mills, and the barracks at Sackets Harhor. Of the many historic structures on which the handiwork of Mr. Murray appeared. and still appears, in this city, are the Kirby House, Colwell's carriage factory, on Factory street, now occu- pied by York & Son, the old Jefferson County Bank, the old American Hotel, the Woodruff House, the Knowlton stone dam; besides these his work appeared in many private residences in this city and in the towns of Rutland and Rodman. As old age and rheu- matic infirmities were creeping upon him, Mr. Murray and his son, Leonard R., bought the wholesale crockery store of F. T. Story & Co., in which he was interested the balance of his life. He married a Miss Clarissa Dodge, daughter of a Methodist clergyman, with whom he lived for over 50 years, and to them were born four children, three daughters and one son. Of his four children, Elvira, the oldest, died of consump- tion at about the age of 21. The second daughter, Miranda E., married Hon. L. Ingalls, now residing on Mullin Street, and the third daughter, Alice, married Samuel Adams, the music dealer, of this city, and Leonard R. Murray, his only son, married the daughter of Dr. Ralph Rogers.

Among other writers of considerable prominence and of decided ability in Water- town, we enumerate Mr. R. A. Oakes, a gentleman whom we never had the pleasure of meeting. He is a native of Rutland, but is of so reserved and studious a character that his abilities have not been made generally

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

known. His facile and graceful pen could have made a more enduring impression upon the public mind if he had been more pushing and persistent.

Mr. Zeruah Fish, widow of Merrit A. Fish, who died in 1884, is the daughter of Jenery T. Gotham, who was the son of that John Gotham who lived upon and owned in the thirties a large farm of several hundred acres, now bordering upon the eastern limits of the city of Watertown. He was drowned while crossing from Horse Island to the main shore in a blinding snow storm, the team having deviated from the narrow road of gravel which connected the island to the shore, west of Sackets Harbor. John Gotham came into the Black River country in 1804, being con- temporary with Massey, Coffeen and Cowan. He walked from New Hampshire, carrying his earthly possessions in a handkerchief slung over his shoulder on a stick. John Gotham died in 1840. His son Jenery mar- ried Caroline Hutchinson, and they reared three children-John H., Zeruah and Darwin B., who is now a resident of Watertown, but he does business in Brownville, in the old Lord foundry. Mrs. Fish was married in 1859, and has reared four children, one son and three daughters. One daughter is married to Mr. R. Hall, of Antwerp, and one to Dr. Cramer, of South Rutland, and Miss Bertha is unmarried. Mrs. Fish's son manages the farm in Rutland. John Gotham received from the Jefferson County Agricultural Society a silver pitcher as the premium for the best farm in Jefferson county.

Miss Harriet B. Fairbanks, (daughter of Mr. Andrew Fairbanks, and granddaughter of that Jasan Fairbanks who left a more vivid impression upon his times than any other man in Jefferson county), is one of the few remaining descendants of that important and well remembered family. Like all the descendants of the original Jasan, she has received an excellent education, showing fine artistie capacity. She has an art store in the Smith block, patronized by the best families of the city, who appreciate her skilled em- broidery and needle work and those varied feminine belongings she keeps for sale, and in which that wonderful sex take so much pride. Miss Fairbanks' work is very superior, and her judgment and skill are receiving just recognition.

Charles P. Woodruff, was the son of Simeon and Rosanna (Adams) Woodruff, who came into Watertown in 1799, and were also the parents of Theodore T., sleeping-car in- ventor (see p. 32), and of Jonah, the artist, Charles P. has always resided in Jefferson county, excepting four years in Ohio. He was born December 25, 1814, and remained upon the paternal acres until about 18, when he was apprenticed to George Tripp as a carpenter and joiner. He married Miss Mary Ann Clark, in 1850, and they have reared five children, four of whom are yet living. For many years he was a manufacturer of brick, passing the business, in 1880, over to his son, who now conducts it. Mr. Woodruff

has always been an exemplary citizen, respect- ed by all his neighbors and acquaintances. In his 80th year he is a sufferer from internal disorders, but is bright and cheerful.

SOME CLOSING REMARKS.

The excavation through the Public Square for the great central sewer, which has been so marked a feature of the season of 1894 in Watertown, has developed much discussion relating to that locality, and it may be well to place upon the page of history a general des- cription of that small plot of earth, as ob- served by those who were contemporaneous with the earlier growth of Watertown-at a time when the demands of progressive civili- zation began to shape the earth itself into changed forms, to bring the soil and all its environment under the dominion and control of egoistic MAN, whose greatest function seems to have been, in all ages, to magnify himself, seeking, perhaps, to thereby half forget that he is, after all, essentially an ani- mal, his race perpetuated, largely, even as those we call brutes are perpetuated, and himself only partially a eivilized and Chris- tian creature, delighting, each year, to be- come a nomad, to dwell in tents and cuddle around a camp-fire to toast his legs. even as in darkest Africa the observant traveller sees the same essential habits there as here, marking man's progress towards civilization, and development into a thinking creature, en- dowed with a conscience and a will.

We might still further illustrate man's affinity to the lower animals by some remarks upon his indifference to his ancestry-a trait entirely unknown among brutes-but most strikingly illustrated in its application to inan, observable by any student of history who will go down to the old Trinity Church cemetery, which Mayor Inglehart has developed into an illegal and desecrating wood-yard and general street-scraping depot.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 62

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