The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 79

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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In the exciting bank panic of 1857, when nearly all the banks in the country tem por- arily suspended payments, Mr. Sherman declared publicly his determination to meet every liability which should be demanded of him, offering gold in redemption of his circu- lating notes, and the same country hank notes to his depositors hy which they had made their deposits, or in sight drafts on New York, where he kept a large balance. The

effect was fairly electrical, and but few demands were made.

In 1858, upon the recommendation of Mr. Sherman's Albany correspondent (the New York State Bauk), he made an arrangement with the Phoenix Bank, of Hartford, for an unlimited amount of their circulating notes, on 30 days' time without interest, by which he was enabled to profitably extend accom- modations to his customers; and when William H. Angel, then doing an extensive flouring and distilling business in the present Taggart bag and paper mill, wanted $50,000, he was told by Mr. Paddock that Mr. Sher- man was the only banker in a position to furnish it; and his notes at 60 days were dis- counted for that amount. He also gave large "lines" to other parties-$50,000 to Edwin White for the purchase of butter and cheese; $35,000 to Garret Ives for a cargo of wheat, and $25,000 to Eldridge G. Merick, of Clayton, a heavy dealer in timber, lumber and grain.

The fourth generation of the Sherman family in America was represented by Rev. John Sherman, born in 1613, an eminent New England preacher, who had six children by his first wife and 20 by his second. In a recent correspondence with Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, he states that he has a copy of this family tree which shows him and his brother, Tecumseh, in the same line of descent, claiming the prolific Rev. John as their respected ancestor.

Wooster Sherman is an energetic and thorough-going business man. In his youth he had the entire confidence of such prominent, wealthy and respected citizens as Norris M. Woodruff, Loveland Paddock and John Clarke, the two last named gentlemen offer- ing to join him in establishing the largest bank in the city.

The transactions with the Phoenix Bank, although amounting to several hundred thousand dollars, was promptly closed with- out the loss to either party of a single dollar, thus showing the young banker to be a shrewd and capable financier. Few men of his advanced years are as well preserved or as capable of correct methods of banking. He is a gentleman of the old school, faithfully de- voted to the best interests of the Savings Institution he so ably represents. His services are justly appreciated by his associ- ate trustees and the patrons of the bank.

JEFFERSON W. BROCKWAY.

WHEN the author of this History con- ceived the plan of making composite pictures, showing the faces of the leading men who controlled the business and editorial writing of the two daily newspapers in the city of Watertown, the name of Jefferson W. Brock- way was omitted through an inadvertence, which we are culpable for, if any one is.

The man whose persistency, energy and foresight introduced the first double-cylinder

press, the perfecting press and type-setting machines into Jefferson county, is deserving of more than a passing notice in this History. In the history of printing, the cylinder press superseded the hand press; then came the double-eylinder to meet the wants of the daily papers, and now the perfecting press, which prints from a continuous roll of paper.

Jefferson W. Brockway was born in May- ville, N. Y., November 17, 1840, and may be

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

JEFFERSON. W. BROCKWAY.

said to have been brought up in a printing office, his father, the late Hon. Beman Brock- way, owning the Mayville Sentinel when J. W. was a small boy. He was taught the printer's case at the same time he was learn- ing the alphabet, and when 11 years of age was considered a fair compositor. He came with his father to Oswego county, and was there when the war broke out. He enlisted as a private and served three years under Col. Jacob DeForest, having been promoted to a lieutenancy. After returning from the war he went to Albany to help the State census, and acted as secretary for Franklin B. Hough until the work was completed. Afterwards he was chief clerk for the canal appraisers, a position which he held for five years. He then entered the printing house of Weed, Parsons & Co., where his skill as a printer soon won for him the formanship, a position

he held until he embarked in business for himself. While occupying this position he had charge of the printing of the Constitu- tional Convention, and was openly thanked and praised for the expeditious manner in which the work was performed. A resolu- tion to that effect was spread on the minutes of the session.

He sold his office to the Press and Knicker- bocker people and became foreman of that office, which position he held until his father asked him to come to Watertown and help float the Times. At that time (1874), the Times establishment was in a floundering condition, and was even shown in court to be virtually bankrupt. The superintendency of the office was placed in the hands of Jefferson W., who believed the way to succeed was to deserve success. Instead of curtailing ex- penses, he believed in winning more busi-

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

ness. It was mainly through his efforts that the firm was induced to put in a double- cylinder press to get out a paper quickly with the latest news in it. It was a time-saver. People got their papers earlier, with much later news. It was a stroke of genius, and from that time the Times forged ahead. Then came the enlargement of the paper, the put- ting in of a perfecting press and the introduc- tion of type-setting machines, all the sugges- tions of Mr. J. W. Brockway, who, when he undertook to make a change for the better, persistently advocated it until the other

members of the firm were won to his way of thinking. It was under his supervision that the Times' present model printing house was planned and built.

For several years Mr. Brockway served as a member of the old New York State Associated Press, and when the Brockway Sons Com- pany was organized he was the first presi- dent, and continued in that office until he sold his interests in the establishment in 1893, for which he received $30,000, after having drawn out of the business over $20,000.

J. A. H.

JOHN D. HUNTINGTON

WAS born in the town of Watertown, near Burrville, February 11, 1827. His father, William Huntington, came into the Black River country from Connecticut, in 1804, in company with his father's family, consisting of six brothers and one sister, the late Mrs. Joseph Kimball. The well-known Dyer Huntington was the second son of this family. The grandfather of Dr. Huntington located on a farm on the Gotham road, now known as the Taylor and Ball farms, adjoining the farm of A. P. Sigourney's father. The grandfather, William Huntington, Sr., after the war of 1812, moved to the place now known as Huntingtonville, where he engaged extensively in manufacturing and milling.

In 1835, William Huntington, jr., removed to Geauga county, Ohio, where, in the panic of 1837, he lost his entire property, consisting of a farm and bank stock. In 1838 he re- moved to Caldwell county, Mo., then the extreme Western frontier of civilization. In 1840 they returned to the east side of the Mississippi river, and located at a place called Commerce, 50 miles north of Quincy, Ill. This place being afterwards selected by the Mormons as their future home, the name was changed to Nauvoo.

In July of 1840, the mother died of malaria, and the home being broken up, the subject of this sketch was apprenticed to the proprietor of a country newspaper, where he served an apprenticeship, beginning with the use of the old Ramage press and the "ball- bats " for inking the type.

Through the death of his mother and the sickness of all the other members of the family, during the terrible epidemic which raged at Nauvoo during the summer of 1840, he became a member of the household of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. During a protracted illness and convalescence, an opportunity was afforded for a thorough study of the spiritual and tem- poral workings of that strange delusion known as Mormonism, and afterwards brought young Huntington in contact with most of the first leaders of the Church of Latter Day Saints, such as Joseph and Hiram Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Orson Hyde, John Taylor, Willard Richards, Heber C. Kimball, Brigham Young, and many others of less notoriety.

About 1870 Dr. Huntington's progressive nature induced him to make a thorough in- vestigation of the materializing phenomena of modern spiritualism through some of the most noted mediums of this country, and by a careful comparison of the modus operandi of producing the Joe Smith revelations and our modern spiritual communications, is to bim positive proof that they were all produced through the same, but partially understood, law governing the human mind, by some scientists termed the "psychic force."

At the time of Smith's appearance before the public as a prophet, nothing was known of what is termed spirit manifestations, and all things unaccountable were thought to emanate from either God or the Devil-the latter working through witches, etc.

Smith's methods of writing his Book of Mormon and Book of Revelations, were almost identical with the operations of the modern trance mediums, only that in the case of Smith, this influence said, "I, the Lord thy God, hath chosen you, my servant Joseph, to be my prophet and seer ;" while the modern influence more modestly styles himself the spirit of Andrew Jackson or John Smith.

His father having died of malarial fever in 1846, and having no relatives in that section, John D. returned to Watertown, his native place, in the fall of 1848. After the great fire here in 1849, he assisted the author of this History in relaying and regulating bis new office (the Jefferson County Union) in the Cory block, as also the plant of Smith & Noble (the Northern New York Journal), which was located temporarily in the Wood- ruff block. In 1850 he took charge of the Sackets Harbor Observer, edited by O. H. Harris, and in 1853 he leased the office and changed the name of the paper to the Jeffer- son County Farmer. After publishing it onc year he sold the lease and removed to Water- town, where he engaged in putting names on the streets and numbering the houses of the village of Watertown, preparatory to publish- ing several editions of the business and resi- dence directory of Watertown, between 1854 and 1860.

Having practiced the art of wood-engraving for many years in connection with printing, and having in charge the entire telegraph

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JOHN D. HUNTINGTON.

business of Jefferson county from 1856 to the breaking ont of the Rebellion in 1861, he was compelled. by the great increase in telegraphy incident to the war, to relinquish his charge of telegraph lines, and it was then he took up his present profession of dentistry, in which he has been eminently successful, retaining his first and present location in Washington Hall block for over 32 years.

As early as 1847, Dr. Huntington espoused the temperance cause by uniting with the Sons of Temperance in Quincy, III. During the Maine Law campaign of 1855, which re- sulted in the election of Myron H. Clark as Governor of this State, he took an active part, and he is now best known politically as an

active and uncompromising Prohibitionist. He has been a member of the State Prohi- bition Committee for the past 12 years, and has been a delegate to every National Pro- hibition Convention since 1884. His position with the organization has been of the highest character all through.

He was one of the organizers of the city of Harriman, in East Tennessee, 80 miles north of Chattanooga, and 40 miles west of Knox- ville. This is to be an important and profit- able enterprise.

In 1851 Dr. Huntington was married to Miss Adelaide L. Danks. They have reared two sons, who are both practical dentists, the youngest being a partner with his father,

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

under the firm name of J. D. & J. F. Hunt- ington.

During the Doctor's connection with the Prohibition party, he lias twice been their nominee for mayor of Watertown, and was once their nominee for Congress.

In 1875 Dr. Huntington was president of the 5th judicial district Dental Association, comprising the counties of Jefferson, Herki- mer, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida and Onondaga.

He has always been a progressive, pushing citizen-a hard-worker always, and unusually successful in whatever he has undertaken. His success in his chosen profession, in which he studied and was graduated near middle life, shows his tenacity of purpose-itself almost a sure guaranty of success by its pos- sessor. The Doctor's childhood experience among the Mormons would fill a large book. He knew the men who originated that mon- strous attempt at a religion, and places

a proper estimate upon their machinations. Dr. Huntington has for many years been engaged in Christian-like efforts to benefit society. He was for several years chairman of the room committee, having charge of the property of the Y. M. C. A. in Watertown.

He was president of the Asssociation in 1874. He was the one who, more than any other, influenced the late John A. Sherman to leave the Washington Hall property in per- petnity to the Y. M. C. A., and in a few years it will be entirely under their control, and a source of profit to that philanthropic body. When on his dying bed, Mr. Sherman notified the Doctor that no more rent would be ex- acted, and the opening of the will more fully developed the extent of Mr. Sherman's donation, and indicated the extent to which Dr. Huntington's influence had been instru- mental in procuring a permanent home for the Association.

JOHN HOSE,

THE architect, so well known in Watertown, was the son of Jacob Hose, who came into the Black River country in 1840, from Manheim, Herkimer county. He married Miss Lena Schall, also of Manhcim. They came to the town of Lyme and purchased a farm, residing there until his death, in 1860. His son John did not remove to Watertown until 1841, one year after his father had settled in Lyme. John's first work in Watertown was as an ap- prentice with a Mr. Hougli, a carpenter, with whom he continued until Mr. Hongh's death. John then went into the tool shop of Lorenzo Case, which was soon sold out by the sheriff. That drove Mr. Hose back to his original occupation as an all-around carpenter. By working at coarse jobs, and taking hold of anything that came along, he was enabled to support his family. Step by step he rose from one grade of excellence to another in his calling, until he began to have aspirations that rose above the coarser work of building fences, and the other rough work of carpen- tering. He bought a poor set of draughting tools, and began to make plans and specifi- cations for buildings. Working onward and upward, he was at last employed upon the First Presbyterian Church, which had an un- usually high spire. While engaged upon this church he demonstrated such unusual capa- city that he was retained through the whole job, the very last and most difficult joiner work being given to him. In the Arsenal Street Methodist Church, soon after com- menced, he had further opportunities of demonstrating his ability, and these oppor- tunities he availed himself of to their utmost limit. After completing his work upon the Arsenal Street Church, his life-labor began to develop into that of an architect and con- tractor. He afterwards built the court house on Arsenal street, price $24,000; and the Stone Street Presbyterian Church. He was the architect for the Doolittle & Hall build-

ing; of the Taggart block; of the Agricultu- ral Insurance marble building on Washington street, and of very many other important and costly edifices.

Perhaps the most important work done by Mr. Hose, was in connection with the Con- necticut Asylum for the Insane, at Middle- town. Of this large undertaking he was the superintendent and assistant architect. His labors here were long and arduous, continu- ing until the institution was completed. The great confidence placed in him by the build- ing committee, of which the Governor of the State was an active member, was faithfully earned, and Mr. Hose left that work with the respect of all with whom he had been associ- ated.

In May, 1843, Mr. Hose married Miss Fanny Jones. They have one daughter, Miss Mattie, who is the wife of Mr. Isaac Brint- nall.

Mr. Hose has proved himself equal to all the exigencies of his profession, and that is surely the best test of a man's ability. He began life as thousands of others have, with- out political or personal influence, and has worked his way up to the highest rank in his arduous profession. He was a contemporary of Otis L. Wheelock, who was at one time the favorite and almost the only architect in Watertown. He removed to Chicago in the fifties. But Mr. Hose, when he succeeded Mr. Wheelock, evinced an originality and versatility in his work that proved at once his superiority over any contemporary. He is to-day at the head of his profession in Watertown, and he has all the elements of success, for he was at first a carpenter's ap- prentice, then a journeyman, then a contrac- tor, then an architect-his knowledge cover- ing the whole range of those experiences called for in constructing buildings. The im- portance of architecture upon the develop- ment of a city is something remarkable, and

CITY OF WATERTOWN.

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JOHN HOSE.

is inevitably the best tangible evidence of the refinement of a people. The traveller is at- tracted toward localities where taste and real beauty are exemplified in the buildings. In that way the work of the architect becomes a great public benefit, and he himself riscs almost to the position of a more or less recog- nized benefactor. The European traveller observes this. That is why Paris is more at- tractive than London. Its beautiful architec- ture fills the mind with harmonious aud agreeable sensations, and Louis Napoleon who was such a fearful failure as a soldier, may be called the benefactor of his people, when we remember what he did to embellish the French capital. Those grand streets which

radiate from the Arc de Triomphe, are an enduring memorial to the grand men whose work, as architects, have created these things of beauty that are indeed a joy forever. Bos- ton is facetiously called "the Hub," because the hub of a wheel is the main support and the central influence from which cmanate the diverging spokes-so from her central position are supposed to go out the influences which adorn society and perpetuate learning -go there and note its harmonious styles of building, the massive fronts, the completeness of detail in construction, and by comparing that great attractive city with others, the observer will be able to understand the bene- ficent influence of the architect.

376 b

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

CHARLES AUGUSTUS SHERMAN

WAS the son of Hon. George C. and Mary Ann (Hubbard) Sherman. He was born in 1838. As bis father was a lawyer he bad the benefit of early legal training, and his mind was turned naturally towards the law. IIis scholastic education was superior, and he was a rapid learner-mastering difficult problems of classics, philosophy or law, with equal facility. He was a student at law in Albany, and admitted to practice soon after. He mar- ried, in 1861, Miss Caroline Norton, daughter of Nathaniel and Caroline Norton, of Charlestown, Mass. Miss Norton had also received a superior education, graduating at the Packer Collegiate Institute. They reared six children : George C., who married Miss Alice Taggart, daughter of Hon. W. W. Taggart; Caroline G., wife of Henry Whitte-

more, of New York; Francis A., Charles N., who married Miss Grace Stebbins, daughter of Mr. Stebbins, president of the Agricultu- ral Insurance Company; Nathaniel N. (de- ceased), and Margaret A.

Mr. Sherman was a member of the well- known law firm of Lansing & Sherman, his partner being Hon. Frederick Lansing, formerly member of Congress, who died in 1893, from wounds received in the Civil War. Mr. Sherman held many positions of trust and responsibility, some of them when he was comparatively a youth; he was presi- dent of the Watertown Steam Engine Com- pany for 13 years, and one of its directors from its organization, and a trustee of the Jef- ferson County Savings Bank. He was always efficient in church work, his devoted mother

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

and wife being his contemporaneous workers in all such labors. In Trinity Church he was particularly useful, and ever honored. By the death of Mr. Sherman, on April 25th, 1882, in his 43d year, the city of Watertown lost a high-minded and progressive citizen, the profession be adorned for all the years he gave to it an intelligent, conscientious prac- tioner, and society a courteous and sympa- thetic friend. To the church of his choice, his loss was almost irreparable. In his legal practice he was particularly successful in prosecuting the claims of those who were sufferers from losses upon the river, resulting from the great flood of 1869. But he was an all-round lawyer, ready to aid a client as far as he was able.

Mr. Sherman's widow still survives him, a most interesting and estimable lady.

In order to show the high estimation in which Mr. Sherman was held by his church, as well as his associates in business, we append some extracts from laudatory reso- lutions, passed at the time of his death :

By the death of Charles A. Sherman, Esq., of Water- town, our diocese loses a loyal, devoted and active friend and promoter of its best interests. He has for many years taken a prominent part in the proceed. ings of the Convention, of the Board of Missions and of the Standing Committee, being always ready to serve the church at the cost of time and trouble, manifesting in these public relations the strong con- victions and warm feelings belonging to his nature, but without bitterness or animosity in dehate. His large family and many friends were only in part pre- pared for his departure by a lingering disease .- Gos- pel Messenger.

At a meeting of the trustees of the Watertown Steam Engine Company, held April 26, 1882, the fol- lowing preamble and resolutions were adopted:

Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God in his wis- dom to take from our midst Charles A. Sherman, a member of this hoard from its organization, and for 13 years its president; and whereas, we realize that in his death our company has lost an efficient head, and we ourselves an honored friend and associate; now therefore he it

Resolved, That we, his former associates. express our cordial appreciation of his constant devotion to the interests of our Company, his ready watchfulness, his prompt recognition and thorough performance of every duty, his decision of character and indepen- dence of action, his firm adherance to whatever he believed right and good.

Resolved. That in his death we mourn a friend of ready sympathy, uniform courtesy, thoughtful and considerate, whose memory is made pleasant by fre- quent acts of kind attention and good will, a discreet adviser, a careful and painstaking co-laborer. and efficient officer, a warm friend whose prudent coun- sels and cordial greetings we shall greatly miss.

Resolved, That we tender to the bereaved family our deepest and most sincere sympathies in the great affliction that has come to them; that we publish on our own record and in the daily paper these resolu- tions of respect, and that we attend the funeral in a body.

Just before the noon adjournment at the court house. on the day of Mr. Sherman's death, General Winslow rose and said that as a member of the com- mittee appointed at a meeting of the bar, the sad duty devolved upon him of formally announc- ing to this court the death of the young and heloved member of the profession, Charles A. Sherman. Mr. Winslow read the resolutions which had been prepar- ed, and moved that they be entered on the minutes of the court Remarks were made by Lysander H Brown, Watson M. Rogers and Levi H. Brown, when the court ordered the resolutions entered upon the records, and out of respect to the deceased, after a few touching remarks by Judge Vann, adjourned.

HON. CHARLES R. SKINNER.

AVERY SKINNER came to Watertown from New Hampshire. He began in Watertown hy teaching school. He took the first census ever taken in Jefferson county. Avery Skinner's wife was Charlotte P. Stebbins, daughter of Rufus Stebbins, whose parents came to Pamelia from Connecticut, in 1840. Charles R. Skinner, son of the above, and the subject of this sketch, was born August 4, 1844. He was educated in the district schools, the Mexico Academy, and at the Clinton (Oneida county) Liberal Institute. He came to Jefferson county in 1861, in his 16th year, and accepted a position in the post office under Levi Smith. He remained in Watertown until 1867, when he went to New York to take a position in the house of Walter A. Wood, of the Mowing Machine Company, he having charge of their house for three years. In 1870 he purchased the interest of L. J. Bigelow in the Times and Reformer, where he remained until 1874. In 1876 he was elected to the Assembly, which was repeated for the fifth term, enabling him to sit in the old capital, and the first two years in the new capital. He was chairman of the Committee on Railroads, and of Print- ing, and was an active participant in the ex- citing scenes of the years from 1877 to 1881 -- probably the most peculiar of any during

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 79

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