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CORNELL/ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LimARY 
 
 1910 
 
■ l_ ■ 'v. 
 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 NEW SERIES 
 
 No. 1 
 
 PUBLICATIONS 
 
 . . OF THE . 
 
 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL 
 ASSOCIATION 
 
 AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE VILLAGE OF SYRACUSE, 
 PASSED APRIL 13, 1825-ALSO PAPERS READ AND HIS- 
 TORICAL DATA RECEIVED AT THE MEETING 
 TO COMMEMORATE THE SEVENTY-FIFTH 
 ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORGANIZA- 
 TION OF THE VILLAGE OF 
 SYRACUSE, FRIDAY EVEN- 
 ING, DECEMBER 14, 1900 
 
 PUBLISHED AT SYRACUSE, N. Y„ JANUARY, 1910 
 
 K, M. onOVKR, PRINTKR AND BINDER 
 
PnMicdtion$ of Ononaaaa Bi$torical Jlssociation 
 
 COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION : 
 FRANKLIN H. CHASE 
 
 REV. WILLIAM M. BEAUCHAMP, S. T. D. 
 
 SALEM HYDE 
 
 VOL. I No. 1 
 
 CONTENTS : 
 
 Introductory Note --..-•.- i 
 
 Act to Incorporate Village of Syracuse ... 2 
 "Some Incidents of the Village of Syracuse," by 
 
 George J. Gardner 12 
 
 "Judge Forman. Founder of the Village and Village 
 
 Attorneys," by Hon. A. J. Northrup - - - 13 
 /'Physiciansof the Village," by Dr. H.D.Didama - 15 
 "Press of the Village," by Hon. Carroll E. Smith, D. D. 20 
 "Business Men of the Village," by John T. Roberts - 36 
 "TheClergyof theViUage," by Rev. George B. Spald- 
 ing, D.D. 38 
 
 "The Explosion of 1841," by Nelson Gilbert - - 41 
 
 Reminiscences by Delia Colvin Hatch ... 45 
 
 Reminiscences by Margaret Tredwell Smith - - 51 
 Reminiscences of the late Charles A. Wheaton, by 
 
 Charlotte Birdseye Miller ----- 53 
 
 Reminiscences by M. W. Hanchett - - - - 56 
 
 Reminiscences by Dr. A, R. Morgan - - - - to 
 
 Memoir of the Syracuse Cadets, by M. H. Jacobs - 66 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028832561 
 

 11/^3 
 
 JOSHUA FORMAN 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF THE ONONDAGA 
 HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Vol. 1. JANUARY, 1910. No. 1. 
 
 AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE VILLAGE OE SYRA- 
 CUSE, PASSED APRIL 13, 1825. ALSO PAPERS 
 READ AND HISTORIC DATA RECEIVED AT THE 
 MEETING TO COMMEMORATE THE SEVENTY- 
 FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORGANIZATION 
 OF THE VILLAGE OF SYRACUSE, FRIDAY EVEN- 
 ING, DECEMBER 14, 1900. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 The act creating the Village of Syracuse passed the Legisla- 
 ture of the State of New York on April 13, 1825, and upon May 
 3, 1825, the first village election was held, the following officers 
 being elected: President, Joshua Forman; Trustees, Amos P. 
 Granger, Moses D. Burnet, Herman Walbridge, John Rogers ; 
 Assessors, James Webb, Alfred Northam, Thomas Spencer; 
 Treasurer, James Durnford; Clerk, John Wilkinson; Poundmas- 
 ter, Henry Young; Constables, Jesse D. Rose, Henry W. Durn- 
 ford; Justice of the Peace, Daniel Gilbert. 
 
 Upon the evening of December 14, 1900, in the rooms of the 
 Onondaga Historical Association, then located upon the fifth floor 
 of the Syracuse Savings Bank Building, the seventy-fifth anni- 
 versary of the incorporation of the village was commiemorated by 
 papers read by their authors and letters in a reminiscent vein from 
 former residents of Syracuse. In the absence of President Car- 
 roll E. Smith, Judge Charles Andrews presided at the anniver- 
 sary meeting. 
 
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE VILLAGE OF 
 SYRACUSE. 
 
 (Chap. CXXIV, Laws of New York, 1825.) 
 
 I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, 
 represented in Senate and Assembly, That the district of country 
 contained within the following bounds, that is to say, beginning 
 on the northeast bank of the lateral canal, in the center of Divis- 
 ion street, between the villages of Salina and Syracuse, thence 
 running northeasterly through the center of said street, till it in- 
 tersects a street running southeasterly from the village of Salina 
 to the village of Lodi, thence southeasterly along the center of 
 said street, until it intersects the west line of farm lot number two 
 hundred and forty-two, and thence due south, crossing Foot 
 street, and passing on the east line of blocks number thirty-four, 
 thirty-eight, and forty-three, in the village plot of Syracuse, and 
 passing the Erie canal, and through farm lot number two hun- 
 dred and eleven, and the Walton tract to the northeast comer of 
 farm lot number two hundred and five, and thence on the east 
 line of said lot, and of farm lots number two hundred and four, 
 two hundred and three, two hundred and two-, and one hundred 
 and eighty-five, to the south line of the town of Salina, and thence 
 westerly along the south line of said town, to the west line of the 
 highway, between farm lots number one hundred and eighty-two 
 and one hundred and eighty-three, thenoe northerly in a direct 
 line to the southwest corner of the lands of the Onondaga salt com- 
 pany; thence along the west and north lines of said company's 
 land, to the northeast comer thereof, and from thence in a direct 
 line to the place of beginning, shall hereafter be known and dis- 
 tinguished by the name of the village of Syracuse ; and the free- 
 holders and inhabitants residing within said limits, shall be, and 
 
VrLIvAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 3 
 
 hereby are, ordained, constituted and declared to be from time to 
 time, and forever hereafter, a body politic and corporate, in fact and 
 in name, by the name of the trustees of the village of Syracusie, and 
 by that name they and their successors shall and may haveperpetual 
 succession, and be persons in law capable of suing and being sued, 
 pleading and being impleaded, defending and being defended, in 
 all courts and places whatsoever, and in all actions, complaints 
 and causics whatsoever; and they and their successors may have 
 a common seal, and may alter the same at their pleasure; and 
 shall be in law capable of purchasing, holding, receiving and con- 
 veying any real or personal estate for the use of said village, pro- 
 vided such real estate be situate within the same; and shall have 
 power to erect any public buildings for the use of said village ; to 
 lay out, open and improve the streets and sidewalks in the same ; 
 to purchase and keep in repair one or more fire engines and other 
 apparatus for extinguishing fires ; to construct wharves and basins 
 for boats, under the direction and with the consent of the canal 
 commissioners; to construct and maintain proper aqueducts and 
 reservoirs for supplying the inhabitants of said village with 
 water ; to make any necessary repairs or improvements in said vil- 
 lage; and to raise money by tax to carry into effect the above 
 mentioned powers ; to make reasonable compensation to the offi- 
 cers of the corporation, and to defray the incidental expenses of 
 supporting the several by-laws and regulations of the corpora- 
 tion; which money shall be assessed upon the inhabitants and 
 property in said village, according to law, by three judicious 
 assessors, who shall be freeholders in said village, and collected 
 by the collector of the corporation, who shall be appointed annu- 
 ally by the trustees of said village, in like manner as the taxes of 
 counties and towns are collected, by virtue of a warrant, to him 
 directed by a majority of said trustees: Provided, That no tax 
 shall be levied, or monies raised or assessed for any purpose, and 
 no purchase or sale of any real estate made, and no public build- 
 ing erected or disposed of by the said corporation, without the 
 consent of the freeholders and taxable inhabitants of said village, 
 in open meeting, duly warned, first had and expressed by a ma- 
 
4 VILLAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 
 
 jority of votes then and there given; and in case tbey shall vote 
 to raise any money for the the purposes aforesaid, it shall be speci- 
 fied for what purpose such sum, or any part thereof, shall be 
 appropriated, as far as may be convenient; and the assessors m 
 assessing the same on the inhabitants and property of said village, 
 shall apportion the same in a just and equitable manner, in pro- 
 portion as near as may be, to the advantages which each shall be 
 deemed to have received by the improvements or purchasie to be 
 made with such money when collected : And provided also. That 
 the lands comprehended by the bounds of the village, and which 
 are kept as wood lands, meadow lands, pastures, orchards, and in 
 general all such lands as are kept and improved as farming lands, 
 or salt manufacturing grounds, with their appurtenances, (dwell- 
 ing houses excepted) shall not as long as they are so kept and 
 used, be taxed for the benefit of the village, except in relation to 
 the streets and highways leading through or adjoining the same; 
 and the said assessors when they shall have completed any such 
 assessment, shall give the like notice of the same which assessors 
 of towns are required to do, and any person considering him or 
 herself agrieved thereby, may appeal from the said assessors to 
 the trustees of the village, who shall hear such appeal, and do 
 justice in the premises; and in case either party shall conceive 
 themselves agrieved by such decision, it shall be lawful for him 
 or them to appeal to the next court of common pleas in and for 
 the county of Onondaga, giving three days notice of such appeal, 
 whose decision shall be final in the premises. 
 
 II. And be it further enacted. That it shall and may be law- 
 ful for the inhabitants of said village, authorised to vote at town 
 meetings, to meet on the first Tuesday of May next, at such time 
 and place in said village as shall be appointed by some justice of 
 the peace of the county of Onondaga, and notified to the inhabi- 
 tants of said village at least one week previous thereto, by a notice 
 in the newspaper printed in said village, or posted in three public 
 places in the same, and then and there elect five discreet free- 
 holders of said village to be trustees thereof ; three assessors, one 
 clerk, one treasurer, one pound keeper, one overseer of highways 
 
VILLIAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 5 
 
 for each road district within said village, and two constables for 
 said village, resident within the same; and such justice shall pre- 
 side at such meeting, and declare the persons having the greatest 
 number of votes duly elected to the several offices aforesaid, and 
 in like manner on the first Tuesday of May in each year there- 
 after, there shall be an annual election of the officers of said vil- 
 lage above specified, and the trustees for the time being shall 
 notify the time and place of holding such meetings, and preside 
 at such election, and the several officers aforesaid shall hold their 
 offices until the first Tuesday of May next after their election, and 
 until others are elected in their stead, and have taken their oaths 
 of office required by this act; and in case by any cause whatso- 
 ever, such officers, or any of them shall not be chosen on the day 
 herein appointed for the same, the corporation of said village shall 
 not be dissolved, but it shall be lawful for the inhabitants of said 
 village on some other day, to be notified by the trustees for the 
 time being as aforesaid, to elect any or all the officers aforesaid, 
 not before chosen in manner aforesaid. 
 
 III. And be if further enacted. That it shall be lawful for the 
 trustees of said village, or a majority of them and their successors, 
 to make, ordain, constitute and publish such by-laws, rules and 
 ■regulations, as they from time to time shall deem meet and proper, 
 and such in particular as are relative to the streets, alleys, high- 
 ways, and sidewalks of said village, and the wharves and basins 
 in the same ; relative to slaughter houses and nuisances generally ; 
 relative to firing guns and fireworks in said village; relative to 
 running horses in the same ; relative to a village watch, and light- 
 ing the streets of said village ; relative to restraining geese, swine 
 and cattle of any kind from running at large in the streets, rela- 
 tive to the inspection of weights and measures; relative to the 
 keeping and regulating of hay scales ; relative to public markets ; 
 relative to taverns, groceries, oysters and victualing houses; rela- 
 tive to a common pound ; relative to the aqueducts and reservoirs 
 for supplying the village with water ; relative to keeping fire buck- 
 ets, and assisting to extinguish fires; and generally, relative to 
 every thing whatever, which may concern the public good govern- 
 
6 VILLIAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 
 
 ment of said village: Provided, That the same shall not be con- 
 trary to, or inconsistent with, the constitution or laws of this state 
 or the United States. 
 
 IV. And be it further enacted. That the said trustees, or a 
 majority of them, shall have power so often as they shall make, 
 ordain, and publish any by-laws for the purposes aforesaid, to 
 make, ordain, limit and provide such reasonable fines, penalties 
 and forfeitures, against the offenders of such by-laws, as they 
 may think proper, not exceeding twenty-five dollars for any one 
 offence, to be prosecuted and recovered before any justice of the 
 peace by the trustees of said village, to and for the use of said 
 corporation ; and in all cases it shall be deemed sufficient for such 
 trustees, in any action to be brought for any such fines, penalties 
 or forfeitures, to declare generally that the defendant is indebted 
 to the trustees of the village of Syracuse in the amount of such 
 fine, penalty or forfeiture, to be paid to the trustees for the time 
 being when thereunto required, and under such declaration to 
 give the special matter in evidence; and the freeholders and in- 
 habitants of the said village are hereby declared compatent to give 
 testimony in any cause, and the justices of the peace of the county 
 of Onondaga, resident in said village to try any cause, and the 
 freeholders of said village to serve as jurors in any cause wherein 
 said trustees are a party, notwithstanding any remote interest they 
 may have as members of said corporation. 
 
 V. And be it further enacted. That the said trustees, asses- 
 sors, treasurer, clerk, overseers of highways, pound keepers, con- 
 stables and collector, shall, within ten days after each and every 
 election and appointment, and before they proceed to execute the 
 duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe an oath or 
 aifirmation, before any justice of the peace in said county, for the 
 faithful execution of the trust or office to which they may be sev- 
 erally chosen or appointed; and that the treasurer and collector 
 shall, before they enter on the duties of their offices, respectively 
 give such security for the faithful performanoe of the trust 
 reposed in them, as the majority of the said trustees shall deem 
 sufficient. 
 
VILLAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 7 
 
 VI. And be it further enacted, That the trustees, within ten 
 days after their election every year, or a major part of them, shall, 
 and it is made their duty, to choose and appoint some one suitable 
 person of their body to be president of said board of trustees, 
 whose duty it shall be when present, to preside at the meetings 
 of the trustees; to order extraordinary meetings of the trustees 
 whenever he shall think proper ; to see that all the by-laws, rules 
 and ordinances of the board of trustees are duly executed and 
 observed; to receive complaints of the breach of any of the by- 
 laws, and to prosecute in the name of the trustees, all oifenders 
 against such by-laws; and whose duty it shall be more particu- 
 larly, to see that the public property belonging to said village be 
 suitably taken care of and kept in order, and do such other acts 
 and things as may be proper for him as president of the board of 
 trustees to dO; and in case of the death or disability or refusal to 
 serve of said president, the said trustees shall proceed to choose out 
 of thdr body a successor, in manner above mentioned; and it is 
 hereby made the duty of said trustees, to keep a record of their 
 doings, especially of the passing of by-laws, rules and regulations, 
 and a just and accurate account of their necessary expenses and 
 disbursements, at all reasonable times open to the examination of 
 the inhabitants of said village, and the treasurer shall pay no 
 monies belonging to said village, without the order of the trus- 
 tees, signed by a majority of the board; and such trustees and 
 president shall receive such compensation for their services, as 
 shall be granted and allowed by the inhabitants of said village, 
 at their annual meetings, and the said treasurer, clerk, assessor 
 and collector shall be paid such compensation as a majority of 
 the said trustees shall provide by a by-law for that purpose. 
 
 VII. And he it further enacted. That the said village of Syra- 
 cuse be and the same is hereby constituted a road district, subject 
 to be divided by the said trustees, and that the same be exempt 
 from the superintendenice of the commissioners of highways of 
 the town of Salina ; and the said trustees of the village of Syra- 
 cuse shall have the same powers over the said road district, and 
 discharge all the duties wBch by law are given to and enjoined 
 
8 VILLAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 
 
 upon the commissioners of highways, and subject to the like re- 
 strictions and appeals ; and the overseers of highways elected under 
 this act, shall have all the powers and discharge all the duties in 
 their several districts, which by law are given to or enjoined upon 
 other overseers of highways, giving in their lists and being ac- 
 countable to said trustees in the same manner as other overseers 
 of highways are bound by law to do, to the town clerk and to the 
 commissioners of highways. 
 
 VIII. And be it further enacted, That the collector shall, 
 within the time specified in the by-laws of said corporation, next 
 after the receipt of the warrant for the collection of any tax that 
 may have been ordered to be raised, collect and pay over the same 
 to the treasurer ; and the person in possession of any real property 
 in the village of Syracuse at the time any tax is assessed, shall be 
 liable to pay such tax; and in case such person is not bound by 
 contract or otherwise, to pay such tax or any part thereof, he or 
 she shall and may recover the same from the owner of such real 
 estate or person, whose duty it was to have paid the same; and 
 all taxes on any real estate within said village, shall be a lein 
 thereon, and if the same cannot be collected by the collector 
 within the time provided by the by-laws of the corporation, he 
 shall make return thereof to the trustees of said village; and it 
 shall be lawful for the said trustees to advertise such lands for 
 six months in some newspaper printed in said village, requiring 
 the owner or owners to pay the sums assessed thereon to the treas- 
 urer of the corporation ; and that in case default shall be made in 
 such payment at a day and place therein to be subscribed, that all 
 such lands will be sold at public auction to the person who will ad- 
 vance the amount of such assessment, with ten per cent, interest 
 thereon, and the cost of such advertisement, for the shortest term of 
 years ; and if, at the expiration of such notice, such owner shall 
 neglect or refuse to pay such tax, expense and interest, it shall be 
 lawful for said trustees, or a majority of them, to cause such land 
 to be sold at public auction, for a term of years, for the purposes 
 and in the manner expres'sed in such advertisement, and to give 
 a certificate of such sale under their corporate seal to the pur- 
 
VILLAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 9 
 
 thaser thereof; and such purchaser, his executors, ad- 
 ministrators and assigns, shall by virtue thereof, and of 
 this act, lawfully hold and enjoy the same, for his and 
 their own use, against the owner thereof, and all 
 claiming under him, until the expiration of the term for which 
 such sale was made, and shall be entitled to remove from such 
 land any buildings or materials erected or put on by them after 
 such purchase: Provided, He shall have paid the taxes assessed 
 on such lands during the time he shall have held the same under 
 such purchase. 
 
 IX. And be it further enacted. That it shall be the duty of 
 such clerk to keep a faithful record of all the doings and votes 
 of the inhabitants, at their annual and other legal meetings, in a 
 book to be provided by him for that purpose; and in case of a 
 vacancy by death, removal, or refusal to serve, of any trustee, 
 assessor, clerk, treasurer, constable, overseer of highways, or 
 pound keeper, it shall be the duty of the board of trustees, by a 
 iivarrant under the hands of a majority of them, to appoint some 
 suitable person to fill such vacancy; and the person so appointed 
 shall have like powers, and be subject to the same restrictions, as 
 if elected in the manner aforesaid. 
 
 X. And be it further enacted. That it shall be lawful for the 
 trustees of said village to regulate the number and determine the 
 qualifications of persons to be licensed to keep taverns within the 
 same ; and the commissioners of excise of the town of Salina are 
 hereby inhibited from granting any license to any person to keep a 
 tavern within said village, without such person first having had 
 and obtained a certificate from said trustees of his fitness to 
 receive such license ; and it shall and' may be lawful for said trus- 
 tees, by writing under the seal of the corporation, to grant license 
 to so many persons as they shall think proper, to keep groceries, 
 victualing housies, oyster houses, or other shops or houses where 
 spirituous liquors are intended to be sold, to be drank in such 
 groceries, victualing houses, oyster houses, or other houses or 
 shops as aforesaid, and to retail spirituous liquors to be drank 
 
10 VIIvLAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 
 
 therein, and to receive for each license such sum as they thall 
 think proper, from five to fifty dollars for each license; and on 
 granting such license, to require such person to enter into a bond 
 to the trustees of said village in the sum of one hundred dollars, 
 conditioned that such person will not, during the time he shall 
 sell spirituous liquors as aforesaid, keep a disorderly house or 
 shop, or suffer any gaming or raffling or playing with cards or 
 dice, or keep a gaming table within such grocery or shop ; and in 
 case such person shall, during the time for which such license 
 was granted, be convicted of any offence contrary to the condition 
 of such bond, it shall be lawful for said trustees to revoke such 
 license ; and on notice thereof, it shall not be lawful for such per- 
 son any longer to sell any spirituous liquors in manner aforesaid 
 by virtue of such license. 
 
 XL And be it further enacted, That all the rights, property 
 and powers of the trustees of the Syracuse water works, be and 
 are hereby vested in said corporation, subject to the obliga- 
 tions of the said trustees; and the several duties enjoined on said 
 trustees in and by the act, lentitled " an act to supply the village 
 of Syracuse with wholesome water," passed 27th March, 1821, 
 shall hereafter be exercised by the trustees of said village. 
 
 XII. And be it further enacted. That the constables hereafter 
 to be chosen under this act, shall have the same powers, and be 
 subjected to the same duties in all cases, civil and criminal, within 
 the county of Onondaga, as constables elected by the town of Sa- 
 lina, at the annual town mieeting ; and it shall be their special duty 
 to give notice to the trustees of said village of such breaches of 
 any of the by-laws and ordinances of said village, as shall come to 
 their knowledge ; and the pound keeper hereafter to be chosen in 
 and for said village, shall have the same power and authority, and 
 be subjected to the same duties within said village, as by law 
 appertain to and belong to pound keepers chosen for the said 
 town of Salina. 
 
 XIII. And be it further enacted. That it shall and may be 
 lawful for said trustees, or a majority of them, to appoint under 
 
VILLAGE INCORPORATING ACT. 1 1 
 
 their corporate seal any number of firemen not exceeding twenty 
 to each fire engine kept in repair for the use of said village, anci 
 the whole, or any part of them, to remove at their pleasure, whose 
 duty it shall be to have the management, working and use ol 
 the engines belonging to said village, and the other implements 
 for extinguishing fires, under the orders of the trustees acting as 
 fire-wardens. 
 
 XIV. And be it further enacted. That this act is hereby de- 
 clared a public act, and that the same be construed favorably anc 
 benignly for every beneficial purpose therein contained, and thai 
 all the rights and privileges hereby granted, be taken and granted 
 subject to a right in the legislature to amend, alter or repeal th« 
 same at their pleasure. 
 
"SOME INCIDENTS OE THE VILLAGE OF SYRACUSE." 
 
 (Notes from the Address of George J. Gardner.) 
 
 In the course of his address George J. Gardner referred to the 
 epidemic of Asiatic cholera in 1832, " which killed hundreds of 
 people, prominent among whom were Elder N. J. Gilbert, first 
 pastor of the First Baptist Society; Dr. Jonathan Day and Dr. 
 William Kirkpatrick. The latter was for twenty years superin- 
 tendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, which was at that time a 
 prominent position. There was almost a famine as a result of the 
 cholera, and messengers had to be sent out for the necessities of 
 life. There were many burials at the .time in the cemetery oppo- 
 site the Greenway Malt House. The consternation brought on 
 by that 'epidemic was almost unimaginable. After cold weather 
 set in the prominent citizens returned from their various exiles 
 and business was resumed." 
 
 " Scarcely eighteen months had elapsed," the speaker said, 
 " when a fire threatened the village and destroyed all property on 
 both sides of the Erie canal between Warren and Salina streets. 
 It was in the burning of the village's first museum that I saw 
 many shams exposed by the throwing out of the objects of inter- 
 est which had been gathered there. The animals supposed, to 
 have been brought from the four corners of the earth, turned out 
 to be home made from wool and painted cloth and leather." 
 
 Mr. Gardner recalled the time when Armory Park was known 
 as Franklin Square, with a spring in the center, which was used 
 as a skating rink in winter. Another event of importance was the 
 convention of 1840, seven years before the village was incorpor- 
 ated as a city. 
 
JUDGE FORMAN, FOUNDER OF THE VILLAGE AND 
 THE VILLAGE ATTORNEYS. 
 
 (By Hon. A. J. Northrup.) 
 
 "Joshua Forman was born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess 
 County, N. Y., September 6th, 1777. He was educated at Union 
 College and studied law in Poughkeepsie and New York. He 
 came to Onondaga Valley in the spring of 1800 aind opened a law 
 office. He formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, William 
 H. Sabine, in 1803. He was elected to the Legislature in 1807; 
 made judge of Onondaga County in 1813, and held the office ten 
 years. He was the first president of the village of Syracuse. 
 
 " Joshua Forman was active in the organization of the first 
 church of Onondaga Hill (1806), and that at the valley (1809), 
 and had a conspicuous part in the founding of Onondaga Acad- 
 emy (1813). He became a large land owner, possessing a large 
 share of the territory between the Valley and SaHna, much of 
 which, however, he lost. He was one of the most earnest pro- 
 motors of the Erie canal. 
 
 " In 1819, when the ultimate success of the canal (begun in 
 1817) was assured, he removed to Syracuse, and he may be said 
 to be its founder. He was active in organizing the First Presby- 
 terian Church in 1824. The village was incorporated in 1825, 
 Judge Forman being its first president. The city was incorpo- 
 rated in 1848. 
 
 " Upon November ist, 1825, upon the occasion of the grand 
 celebration of the canal completion, he spoke the address to Gov- 
 ernor Clinton and his suite. In 1826 he removed to New Jersey, 
 lived there until 1829, and then removed to North Carolina, 
 dying there in 1848. While in New Jersey Judge Forman drew 
 the safety fund law for. New York. He was a man of great but 
 quiet force and wisdom ; engaged in large enterprises, and his 
 life was fruitful in great and good works." 
 
 Of the village attorneys Judge Northrup had compiled an inter- 
 esting historical table. The only one living at present ( 1900) is 
 James L. Bagg. The list, with the dates of their coming to Syra- 
 cuse, is as follows: — 
 John Wilkinson, from Skaneateles 1819 
 
14 JUDGE FORMAN AND VILLAGE ATTORNEYS. 
 
 Joshua Forman, from Onondaga Valley 1^19 
 
 Alfred Northam ^°^ 
 
 Harvey Baldwin ^°26 
 
 Charles A. Baker, about ^826 
 
 Schuyler Strong ^^26 
 
 Henry Wheaton (& Davis) , Pompey 
 
 Elias W. Iveaveniworth ^^^7 
 
 B. Davis Noxon, from Onondaga Hill 1829 
 
 Thomas T. Davis, from Clinton, N. Y., about 1831 
 
 Henry Davis, brother of T. T. Davis, about 1831 
 
 James S. Leach, (long partner T. T. Davis) 1831 
 
 George F. Comstock 1835 
 
 David Duncan Hillis, from Camillus 1837 
 
 James L. Bagg, from Berkshire County, Mass 1838 
 
 Nehemiah H. Earll, from Onondaga Hill 1838 
 
 Joseph F. Sabine, from Camillus 1839 
 
 James R. Lawrence, from Camillus 1840 
 
 Grove Lawrence (?) 1840 
 
 Charles B. Sedgwick, from Pompey 1842 
 
 Peter Outwater (?) 1842 
 
 Richard M. Woolworth (?) 
 
 Daniel Pratt, from Camillus, about 1843 
 
 Hamilton Burdick, from Otsego County 1843 
 
 Rowland H. Gardner, from Otsego County 1843 
 
 James Noxon, son of B. Davis Noxon, about 1843 
 
 B. Davis Noxon, Jr., about 1843 
 
 Israel S. Spencer, from Canastota 1845 
 
 Daniel P. Wood, from Pompey 1846 
 
 George W. Noxon, practicing in 1846 
 
 John Wilkinson was the first lawyer and first postmaster. 
 Joshua Forman's offices have been referred to above. Harvey 
 Baldwin was the first Mayor. Elias Leavenworth was Mayor, 
 Member of Congress and Secretary of State, besides holding 
 many other offices. Thomas T. Davis was m^ember of Congress. 
 George F. Comstock was Judge of the Court of Appeals. Nehe- 
 miah H. Earll was County Judge. Joseph F. Sabine was United 
 States Commissioner, and before him came the famous Jerry 
 Rescue case. James R. Lawrence was the United States attorney 
 who presented the case, and was also County Judge. Grove Law- 
 rence was County Judge. Richard Woolworth was County Judge. 
 Daniel Pratt was Justice of the Supreme Court. James Noxon 
 held a similar position. Israel S. Spencer was County Judge, and 
 Daniel P. Wood, State Senator. 
 
PHYSICIANS OF THE VILLAGE OF SYRACUSE. 
 
 (By Dr. H. D. Didama.) 
 
 The official decrees of the Onondaga Historical Society, like 
 the statutes of the Medes and Persians, seem to be irrevocable 
 and unalterable. 
 
 The President, following the example of the centurion in the 
 Scripture, says to his S'ervant, " do this and he doeth it," what- 
 ever may be his conflicting engagements or sense of incompetence. 
 
 So, whatever imperfections and failures — and they are multi- 
 tudinous^ — are specially prominent in my brief notices of certain 
 medical practitioners, they should be charged to the amiable but 
 inexorable czar of this Association. 
 
 * * * 
 
 During the evolution of the Village of Syracuse, as you all 
 know, it passed through a variety of appellations : Bogardus Cor- 
 ners in 1808; Milan, 1809; South Salina, 181 2; Cossitts Corners, 
 1815; Corinth, 1818; till it reached its final nominal resting place 
 in 1820 — this last name suggested by John Wilkinson, the first 
 postmaster, because, as tradition informs us, it was located, like 
 its Sicilian ancestor, near a place called Salina where salt 
 abounded. 
 
 The village — as you also kniow — was not incorporated till 
 1825. It remained in this condition for twenty-three years, be- 
 coming a city with a Mayor and four wards in 1848. 
 
 Dr. Swan was the first physician who located in this region. 
 
 * * * 
 
 During the digging of the Erie canal from 1817 to 1820 the 
 amount of sickness, suffering and distress in the swampy region 
 about Syracuse is declared by the historian to have been " almost 
 
 beyond conception." 
 
 * * * 
 
 Dr. Bassett, a prominent and faithful physician at this time, 
 
 was succeeded by Drs. Colvin and Jonathan Day. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The Onondaga Medical Society was organized in 1806. 
 
i6 PHYSICIANS o^ vii,i<age;. 
 
 I have a list of all the members who at some period resided 
 in the Village of Syracuse. For all, or nearly all, the names and 
 dates in. the list, I am indebted to the volumes of Onondaga's 
 Centennial prepared by General D.H. Bruce. It will be impossible 
 for roe to give even a passing notice of the forty physicians who 
 joined the Society while residing in the village. Want of time 
 and lack of material facts restrain me. I shall refer briefly to a 
 few whom I knew personally or from reliable information. 
 
 In 1823 a prize was offered by the Society for the best disser- 
 tation on "some chronic disease." Dr. Jonathan Day was the 
 successful competitor. At the time of the prevailing alarm in 
 1832 concerning Asiatic cholera Dr. Day was one oi a committee 
 appointed by the Society to prepare resolutions and advice calcu- 
 lated to allay the fears of the public and to guard against attacks 
 of the dreadful disease. But the doctor himself, prudent, courage- 
 ous and fearless, was one of its first victims. His associate on the 
 committee, Dr. layman Clary, escaped. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Dr. J. C. Hanchett and Dr. Clary united with the Society in 
 1830. In the same year resolutions were adopted condemning 
 the use of ardent spirits as a beverage, and declaring that for 
 medical purposes alcohol in any form should not be prescribed to 
 an extent to endanger the temperate habits of patients. Some 
 of us can remember that at this very time the habitual use of 
 intoxicating drinks was almost universal. Travelers fortified 
 themselves against the cold of winter by drinking hot toddy when 
 leaving home or hotel. Farmers could not secure harvesters un- 
 less a liberal supply of whisky was provided in advance. No bam 
 could be erected without a pailful of milk punch. 
 
 Some of the most distinguished members of Congress never 
 attempted to orate unless a large glass of brandy rested within 
 easy reach on the desk — and the glass was always empty when the 
 harangue ended. Eminent and even pious poets drew their inspir- 
 ation from the cup which cheers inebriates. And now and then, 
 
PHYSICIANS OF VILLAGE. 1 7 
 
 a minister of- the Gospel prepared his sermon and preached it 
 under the influence of that mocker which biteth like a serpent and 
 stingeth like an adder. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The times and practices of seventy years ago have changed 
 somewhat and are still changing — slowly but surely. The people 
 are learning that intoxicating beverages are useless, expensive, 
 harmful and dangerous. And the number of physicians is increas- 
 ing every day who not only endorse the resolutions of their 
 worthy brothers of 1830, but who go still farther and do not pre- 
 scribe alcohol in any circumstances whatever. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Dr. John W. Hanchett joined the Society in 1824 although 
 he did not settle in Syracuse till two years later. He was the son 
 of Captain Oliver Hanchett of the Revolutionary Army. For a 
 short time Dr. Hanchett was associated with Dr. Mather Wil- 
 liams. These were the days when malarial diseases prevailed, for 
 which quinine was, as it is now, the chief remedy. And nearly 
 every well-regulated family had — as it has not now — on hand for 
 almost every emergency, blue pills and a bottle of picra. But Dr. 
 Hanchett had the axiom, " Little medicine but much good nurs- 
 ing." From a brief biography we learn that he was habitually 
 quiet and unobtrusive but clear in thought and ready in repartee. 
 Once when a loud-mouthed neighbor stalked into his office and 
 bellowed, " Doctor, what is good to give my little girl ? " The 
 instantaneous answer was, "hasty pudding and milk." " Hasty 
 pudden and milk? Yes, but she's sick." "Oh," said the Doctor, 
 " that makes a difference ; you didn't say she was sick." 
 
 The Doctor was one of the charter m'cmbers of the First Pres- 
 byterian Church of Syracuse village and discharged his duties 
 modestly and faithfully. He left two sons — ^one, John C. Han- 
 chett, who united with the Society in 1830 and was the father of 
 the accomplished Dr. Juliet Hanchett of our city. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The eminent Dr. Clary was specially active and efficient in 
 
1 8 PHYSICIANS OF VII,LAGE. 
 
 all matters pertaining to the preservation of public health. He 
 was the president of the Society in 1846 and was the first presi- 
 dent of the Homoepathic County Society which was organized in 
 1863. He lived respected and esteemed by all who knew him in- 
 timately. Ripe in years and experience he died in May, 1876. 
 
 Dr. Azariah B. Shipman, well known as an eminent surgeon 
 and employed even in distant parts of the State, left in his will, 
 subject to the use by his wife during her lifetime, a bequest of 
 $500 for a medical library. The money has been received, but for 
 want of a suitable and safe library-room it has not yet been in- 
 vested in books. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Dr. Proctor Caleb Samson, born in 1804, was the grandson 
 of Caleb Samson a direct descendant of Henry Samson, who came 
 to America in the Mayflower in 1620. Many citizens of Syra- 
 cuse remember this gienial, versatile, sympathetic and handsome 
 doctor, who was president of the Society in 1847 ^^'^ who added to 
 his medical acquirements the gifts of an able musician. " He was 
 an exquisite player on the flute and a singer of rare sweetness." 
 It was said of him that his visits to the sick-room were like "bursts 
 of sunshine to the weary sufferers." His patients might and prob- 
 ably did say to him, your visits do us a world of good if you don't 
 leave any medicine. This remark if emphasized differently might 
 not have seemed so complimentary, viz: your visits do a world 
 of good — if you don't leave any medicine. Dr. Samson passed on 
 in 1865, dearly beloved and lamented. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Dr. James Foran was known throughout the village and city 
 —especially in the First Ward— as an instrumental accoucher. 
 He was observing and active during the cholera epidemic of 1832. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The scholarly and briUiant Dr. James C. Stuart and Dr. 
 Thomas Spencer, formerly professor in Geneva Medical College, 
 
PHYSICIANS OP VII.LAGE. I9 
 
 joined the Society in 1839. Dr. Spenoer removed to Philadelphia. 
 Dr. Stuart passed away in 1870. 
 
 * * * 
 
 In 1844 Dr. Amos Westcott, one of the most eminent dentists 
 in the country, was admitted. He was a professor in, if not the 
 founder of, a Southern dental college. He held the offices of 
 Alderman and Mayor, and died in 1873. 
 
 Drs. John F. Trowbridge and Joseph P. Dunlap were ad- 
 mitted the year Syracuse was about to doflf its village garments 
 and don its city regalia, 1848. Dr. Trowbridge who was a promi- 
 nent citizen and a physician specially admired by his numerous 
 patients, died in 1872. 
 
 Dr. Dunlap was a faithful, gentle, sympathetic physician, 
 greatly beloved. His consistent, exemplary conduct and conver- 
 sation and his scrupulous attention to religious duties commanded 
 the respect of all who knew him and were a constant benediction 
 and benefaction to the whole community. He was bom in 1809 
 and had passed his four score years when he was called to the 
 loved ones gone before. 
 
PRESS OF THE VILLAGE. 
 
 (By Hon. Carroll E. Smith, LL. D.) 
 
 An active, alert and public spirited place like the Syracuse 
 from 1820 to 1848, naturally produces marked characters and de- 
 velops striking characteristics. The village was an excellent field 
 for individual ambition and the time for the gaining of promi- 
 nence. It was so with the clergymen, the lawyers, the physicians, 
 the business men and also the journalists. The conductor of the 
 weekly newspaper was a man of mark, and when a man of brains 
 and character, he was an influential personage. It was my for- 
 tune to know, and with some degree of intimacy, all the leading 
 Syracuse journalists of the village period, and I may be permitted 
 briefly to trace some of their characteristics. 
 
 First, I may note that there were in the larger towns of Onon- 
 daga County, in the early years of the century, weekly news- 
 papers of ability and character, which made their mark upon the 
 times. Not less than a dozen of these papers existed before any 
 press was established in the settlement or village which later be- 
 came Syracuse. Manlius had the first newspapers in the county, 
 and from 1806 to 1830 they were conducted by strong men, the 
 ablest being the late Thurlow Weed, who later made a great 
 reputation as journalist and politician. Onondaga Hollow had its 
 first newspaper in 181 1, published by Thomas C. Fay, with Thur- 
 low Weed as its practical printer. In 1814 Lewis H. Redfield 
 established his Register at the Hollow, commanding the literary 
 service of Lewis Gaylord and Willis Gaylord Clark, and he con- 
 tinued it until 1829 when it was merged with the Syracuse 
 Gazette, the first paper here. Onondaga Hill had its first paper 
 in 1 816, Evander Morse, publisher, and the poet-author, William 
 Ray, its editor. This paper became the Onondaga Journal, under 
 Vivus W. Smith, in 1827, and in 1829, when the county seat was 
 located at Syracuse, The Journal was merged with the Syracuse 
 Advertiser in the Onondaga Standard. 
 
 The first newspaper issued in Syracuse was The Gazette, 
 started by John Durnford in April, 1823, and continued in union 
 
PRESS OP VILLAGE. 21 
 
 with the Syracuse Advertiser for six years. The first paper pub- 
 lished in the village of Salina was The Sentinel, started by Reu- 
 ben St. John, in 1826, and afterwards as the Salina Herald con- 
 tinued about two years. The first daily paper in Syracuse was 
 The Evening Mail, published by Vivus W. Smith for three 
 months in 1833, and the next was The Morning Sentinel, by N. 
 M. D. Lathrop, in 1843, which was continued about a year, when 
 it became a weekly and as such was published for seven years. 
 
 During the village estate of Syracuse many newspapers were 
 started, most of them running brief careers and going out. The 
 Onondaga Standard, established September loth, 1829, and The 
 Daily Standard, started in June, 1846, have been continued ever 
 since, with a brief stoppage of the daily, and the papers being 
 finally merged in The Post-Standard. Connected with The 
 Standard in its earlier days were Vivus W. Smith, Silas F., 
 Thomas A. and Asahel L,. Smith, a family of newspaper men who 
 spent their lives in that pursuit. Other conductors were John F. 
 Wyman, William L. Crandall, Maroellus Farmer, P. H. Agan, 
 Moses and William Summers. The Western State Journal, start- 
 ed March 20th, 1839, by V. W. and S. F. Smith, who for politi- 
 cal reasons had separated from The Standard, and it later became 
 The Weekly Journal and The Daily Journal, the latter established 
 July 4th, 1844, the first successful daily here. Later conductors 
 of these papers were Henry Barnes, Augustus S. Smith, Seth 
 Haight, T. S. and J. G. K. Truair, with V. W. Smith, Edward 
 Cooper, George Terwilliger, Andrew Shuman, Anson G. Chester, 
 Rodney L. Adams and others as its editors. 
 
 The Syracuse Star was an independent daily from 1846 until 
 1853, and passed through many vicissitudes and sensations. 
 James Kinney, Francis A. Marsh, George F. Comstock, Winslow 
 M. Watson, S. Corning Judd and Edward Hoagland were its 
 conductors. Out of The Star came The Syracuse Courier, Daily 
 and Weekly, which flourished in the city period. Its successor is 
 The Evening Telegram. In the city period also came The Syra- 
 cuse Evening Herald, founded January 15th, 1877, by Arthur 
 Jenkins, and it has continued under his management at the head 
 
22 PRESS OF VILLAGE. 
 
 of the Herald Company ever since and has won a phenomenal 
 success. It is an independent journal, which by the aid of pic- 
 torial illustrations, which it introduced in its field, and by numer- 
 ous expedients of sensational enterprise has become a leading 
 newspaper in Central New York. The starting of The Morning 
 Post and the consolidation with it of The Standard have fur- 
 nished an able and enterprising newspaper in the morning field. 
 
 In national campaigns of former years special political publi- 
 cations of high merit were issued. The Bugle Blast, 1844, and 
 The Clay Banner, 1848, were Whig campaign papers, issued by 
 S. F. Smith; and Young Hickory by Smith and Farmer, 1844, 
 The Free Soil Campaigner by Agan and Smith in 1848, were the 
 principal of these. 
 
 These were the principal newspapers issued in Syracuse dur- 
 ing its history as a village, and some of them continued into its 
 cityhood, but in the course of half a century there were numerous 
 weekly and daily newspapers started, the memory of which has 
 mainly faded out from the public mind. There were many ex- 
 periments in political, literary, educational, religious and miscel- 
 laneous publications, which had temporary purposes and having 
 done their work or failed in it, they were discontinued. 
 
 There were unique publications in the early journalism in this 
 place. Gerrit Smith was the actual editorial writer for The Lib- 
 erty Party Paper, which he supported and circulated in the anti- 
 slavery crusade in 1848-50. The distinguished lawyer, George F. 
 Comstock, was the real editor of the Syracuse Star in the same 
 period, when that paper espoused the pro-slavery cause and de- 
 fended the fugitive slave law. Judge Daniel Pratt and Judge 
 William C. Ruger were interested in The Courier and contributed 
 to its columns. 
 
 One of the earliest of the local newspaper men was Joseph B. 
 Clark, best known as "Veto" Clark, from his habit of carrying in 
 his pocket copies of President Jackson's veto messages, on which 
 he based heated political discussions at the street corners. He was 
 peculiar in appearance and manner, and he alternated his news- 
 paper work with that of the volunteer and silent mourner who fol- 
 
PRESS OF VII^LAGE. 23 
 
 lowed cholera victims to their burial in the midnight hour during 
 the terrible seasons of that epidemic, 1832-34. 
 
 John Durnford, the -first Syracuse publisher, was a stalwart 
 personage, a native of the West Indies. His newspaper antedated 
 the village corporation. Its first issue contained one mercantile 
 advertisement and half a dozen patent medicine advertisements. 
 He was a practical philanthropist and served as Overseer of the 
 Poor as much for the love of doing good as for the compensation 
 of the office. He was the first Village Treasurer and filled other 
 offices of trust. He lived to a good old age and saw the early 
 predictions of a large city fulfilled. 
 
 Hiram Cummings was an eccentric personage, who delighted 
 in lofty titles and exalted personal airs. He called his paper The 
 Empire State Democrat and Onondaga County Review, a stag- 
 gering name for a commonplace weekly. When John Tyler as 
 President lost all his former-time friends, Cummings in his paper 
 spoke for him here, and in return he was made distributor of offi- 
 cial patronage, which he dispensed with a lofty hand. This was 
 a ludicrous side of politics. 
 
 Quite different but on similar lines S. Corning Judd, as con- 
 ductor of the Star, became the Fillmore agent and dispenser of 
 federal offices in this county. He it was who went into local his- 
 tory by issuing daily bulletins as clerk of the Health Board in a 
 cholera season, in these words : " No more cholera by order 
 of the Board. S. Coming Judd, clerk." In his time the post- 
 offioe was in the east wing of the old Syracuse House, and it was 
 Judd's every morning habit to appear at the delivery window and 
 shout: "Anything from Washington this morning?" If an- 
 swered in the negative he would add : " Wonder what in Hades 
 the administration is doing." Judd removed to Illinois and be- 
 came a high churchman of influence. 
 
 Washington Van Zandt, a retired clergyman of great brilli- 
 ancy, edited the Star and the Transcript in late village days. He 
 was a polished writer and indited poetical editorials. His career 
 as journalist, like that of clergyman, was brief and unsatisfactory 
 because of the lack of moral stamina. 
 
24 PRESS 0^ VILLAGE. 
 
 John Newland Moffit, also a brilliant but erratic preacher, 
 essayed journalism with meteoric and startling effects. He later 
 went to Mobile, and in the war of the Rebellion commanded a 
 famous rebel privateer. 
 
 Robert R. Raymond was another brilliant preacher and writer. 
 He had an attractive personality and was successful both in the 
 pulpit and on the tripod. He was an advanced abolitionist, and 
 when " Jerry " was in the custody of the United States Marshals 
 he openly advocated the rescue of the fugitive and denounced 
 the fugitive slave law as an iniquitous enactment which should be 
 disregarded. He became the foremost Shaksperean scholar and 
 interpreter in the country. While editor of the Evening Chronicle 
 he exhibited a peculiarity in writing editorials continued from day 
 to day like a serial story. But he always wrote well. 
 
 William L. Crandall had been an old Hunker, Pro-Slavery 
 editor, but when " Jerry " was in captivity as a fugitive from slav- 
 ery he could no longer restrain his liberty-loving feeling, and gave 
 evidence of it by breaking into the First Presbyterian Church, 
 climbing into the steeple, and standing upon the trap door so as 
 to prevent interference, be caused the bell to ring out liberty 
 peals which called the people together to asseit the right of indi- 
 vidual liberty. He also was a foremost advocate of the free 
 school system and published educational books. 
 
 Thomas L. Carson was the conductor of the State League, 
 a temperance publication, and the originator of the Carson league, 
 whose purpose was the suppression by moral suasion of the bar 
 and the saloon. He spent a moderate fortune in furthering the 
 reform of evils which he himself had experienced. 
 
 Levi W. Hall was the editor for several years of the District 
 School Journal, the organ of the State School Department; he 
 published several literary papers and conducted a successful fam- 
 ily journal. He gave to the world Fremont's expedition in the 
 Rocky Mountains in book form. He it was who got the word 
 " Skedaddle" recognized in Webster's dictionary. 
 
 Winslow M. Watson, a former Washington correspondent, 
 distinguished himself in the Star by elaborate biographies of pub- 
 
PRESS OF VILLAGE. 2$ 
 
 lie men. He had a faculty of knowing everybody and of telling 
 a great deal about them. 
 
 General William H. Mo&eley conducted the Syracusean and 
 Onondaga County Review, which was published early in the vil- 
 lage's existence and occasionally in later times. His little weekly 
 was as eccentric as its publisher. He had been a general of mili- 
 tia down East, and that and the fact' that he was the first store- 
 keeper on the site of the Wieting Opera House formed the capital 
 stock on which he subsisted. He might have been the model of 
 Dickens' " Turveydrop " or " Micawber." In his genial, hopeful 
 good nature the courtly old General always was looking for 
 something to turn up to his advantage. 
 
 John F. Wyman was a sterling citizen and successful pub- 
 lisher, who had an active part in launching newspapers with per- 
 manent careers. In his heyday there was a local social division 
 on the lines of aristocracy and the common people. The issue 
 came to a climax at a ball held in the Mansion House Hall. The 
 company divided, each faction taking a side of the house. Wy- 
 man was left standing in the middle, alone. Being asked why he 
 did not go to one side or the other, he declared that he belonged 
 to neither ; that he was neither patrician nor plebeian ; that in fact 
 he was an artisan. This was his notion of the journalist's rank 
 in society. 
 
 In a like division John K. Barlow, a kindly man and a good 
 newspaper worker, went to the aristocratic side, and one day, 
 dressed in the height of fashion, as he was passing along Genesee 
 street, in front of the Franklin Building he encountered a house 
 painter on a ladder, whom he ordered out of his way, whereupon 
 the painter, possibly by accident, upset his paint pot over Barlow, 
 smearing his tall hat and broadcloth clothes with the paint. The 
 incident created an amusing sensation. 
 
 Patrick H. Agan, for twenty years the Standard's editor, wasi 
 conservative and moderate. He was prominent in affairs and held 
 offices of trust. In late years he wrote elaborately on the early 
 history of county and city. 
 
 Judge William C. Ruger had a fondness for newspaper con- 
 
26 PRESS OF VII^IvAGE. 
 
 troversy and was the author of an exhaustive series of articles 
 with the object of proving that the Cardiff giant was a petrified 
 man. He made a clear and positive lawyer-like argument. 
 
 Joshua Forman, the founder of Syracuse, was a frequent con- 
 tributor to the local press. He wrote the ablest series of news- 
 paper articles published, in advocacy of the Erie canal project, 
 its feasibility and prospective value. He also clearly foreshad- 
 owed the future of Syracuse, in which he had an abounding faith. 
 
 John Wilkinson, who was Forman's associate in laying out 
 Syracuse as a village, and suggested its name, also was a frequent 
 newspaper contributor, and he published a series of strong arti- 
 cles favoring the sale by the State of its canal properties. He also 
 wrote forcibly on railroad topics. 
 
 A family of Smiths produced journalists in three generations. 
 Five brothers, Vivus W., Thomas A., Asahel L., Silas F. and Au- 
 gustus S. Smith, came here from Berkshire County, Mass., and 
 were conspicuous in the journalism of both village and city for 
 more than half a century. Vivus W., it is agreed, was the strong- 
 est political writer this locality ever had. Thomas A. was a stu- 
 dent of literature and a poet of merit. The others were practical- 
 newspaper managers, and to Silas F. is due the credit of first 
 introducing the distinct local news department into daily news- 
 papers. Of this family the second and third generations have fol- 
 lowed in journalistic footsteps. 
 
 George J. Gardner came here in 1829, when L. H. Redfield 
 bought his Register, and was with him for several years in that 
 paper. He then graduated into the book trade, became a fireman 
 and militiaman in the early village, a banker, an Alderman of the 
 city, an Odd Fellow and Mason of national renown and a local 
 historian. 
 
 Maroellus Farmer, was from the South, and in a brief career 
 here made his mark. He managed the Standard and then the 
 Journal. He was a shrewd business man, a good journalist. Go- 
 ing to California with the argonauts, he accumulated wealth, and 
 on a sea voyage went down with the Central America steamship 
 off Hatteras. 
 
PRESS OF VILLAGE. 27 
 
 William H. Burkigh, author, orator, poet and reformer, one of 
 the brilliant Burkigh brothers, who so ably advanced anti-slavery 
 discussion, conducted the Temperance Protector, and was an in- 
 tellectuail influence in the community. 
 
 Other names of prominence occurring to me are those of Luth- 
 er Lee, Joseph Barber, Seth Hawley, J. M. Patterson, Gen. John 
 A. Green and Gen. John J. Peck, each of whom at some time 
 years ago had journalistic relations. On this side of the date of 
 city organization is a long list of able men who have been actively 
 or tentatively concerned in journalism in Syracuse and have done 
 strong and useful work in the local press. 
 
 Scores of other persons, many of them of marked characteris- 
 tic, took a part in local journalism, and although their careers were 
 brief in this relation, many bright though transitory records were 
 made. One of the best of the purely literary publications was 
 The Literary Union, issued for a year and a half about the time 
 of the change from village to city, by James M. Winchell, later 
 United States Senator from Kansas, James Johonnot and W. W. 
 Newman, all well known school teachers, the last named sur- 
 viving. 
 
 The German political press was able and influential. Its 
 pioneer was George Saul, with the Onondaga Democrat, and 
 later the Syracuse Democrat ; which became the Syracuse Union ; 
 and the Syracuse Central Demokrat, started by Joseph A. Hoff- 
 man. 
 
 The religious press has at times had strong representatives 
 here. The Religious Recorder, The Weskyan, The Evangelical 
 Pulpit, The Northern Christian Advocate, The Gospel Messenger 
 and The Catholic Sun have been the principal of these in the vil- 
 lage and city periods. 
 
 In these brief references to the newspapers and newspaper 
 makers in Syracuse, necessarily the line between village and city* 
 has been crossed; but I do not attempt to treat, even cursorily, 
 the press since the city's organization. 
 
 There was an occasional feature in the early village newspaper 
 field, viz., the "switch" that happily passed out of existence on 
 
28 PRESS O]? VILLAGE. 
 
 journalism taking on higher character. The afterwards distin- 
 guished critic of writers and their works, Rufus W. Griswold, is- 
 sued the spicy little weekly,The Porcupine, when he was just com- 
 ing into manhood. It dealt mainly in personal scandals and vitri- 
 olic attacks upon prominent people. Later on, A. B. F. Ormsby 
 issued The Spy, which was a sensation monger that performed 
 no good object. " Long John " Abbott for a year or two edited 
 The Archimedian, a paper of the same class. Abbott, tall, lank 
 and cadaverous, was an original and unique personage, of genial 
 and happy disposition, whose sensation mongering had no trace 
 of bitterness. 
 
 The Impartial Citizen was issued during the period of intensest 
 Abolition agitation, by Samuel R. Ward, a genuine negro of 
 marked ability and attic wit. He had been a slave and was a fugi- 
 tive. He was a magnetic preacher and a forceful newspaper 
 writer. His paper was able and serviceable. 
 
 There were in that epoch of journalism very bitter political 
 rivalries, and intense personal feeling was often manifested by 
 editors of opposing faiths and interests. It was an era of personal 
 controversy and not infrequently abuse and billingsgate usurped 
 the place of legitimate argument. This feature gradually wore 
 away, and gave place to the amenities and courtesies which far bet- 
 ter grace a lofty and influential profession, whose functions bear 
 close relationship with the great public and should be conducted 
 upon the highest plane of dignity, integrity and honor. 
 
 The weekly issue answered for those times. Its production 
 was in few hands. I have seen the distinguished editor who had 
 put powerful effort into the columns of his paper, operate labori- 
 ously the hand press that printed the weekly edition. And the 
 publisher and business man engaged in mailing the copies. It was 
 only two years before Syracuse was made a city that the first 
 steam power press was set up here, and that press was a marvel 
 in that it printed 1,200 copies in an hour. 
 
 Now the steam press produces 20,000 copies or more per hour, 
 and electricity does the mailing. In the '30s there was no tele- 
 graph, the railroads were just coming in, and the slow mail and 
 
PRESS OF VILLAGE. 29 
 
 faster postrider carried news from town to town and the printed 
 sheets were likewise circulated. It was at just the time that the 
 steam press came into use that telegraph bulletins began to be 
 transmitted. Before that the news heading in the paper was " By 
 Post," with a postman on horseback pictured. Then came the 
 heading " By Telegraph," and poles and wires and forked light- 
 ning constituted the picture. President's and Governor's mes- 
 sages were transmitted by horseback riders, with relays along the 
 route, and in an early Syracuse instance, vividly recalled, the 
 rider, who had outdistanced competition, brought hither the mes- 
 sage in triumph, he astride a cannon, which had announced his 
 coming. In those days the first newspaper page was filled with 
 foreign intelligence a fortnight old. Congressional proceedings a 
 week old, and on other pages were the " Poet's Corner," a story 
 column, and a few news paragraphs, while the editorial leader 
 discussed a single prominent topic in from one to three columns, 
 and perhaps there followed two or three paragraphs of general or 
 local news. The advertisements of those times are even now 
 especially interesting; they were original, unique and often fan- 
 tastic. Nevertheless, in the slower times, before railroads and 
 telegraphs and telephones, the people were newspaper readers 
 and they were intelligent and well informed. Public questions 
 were well considered and wisely acted upon. In these more rapid 
 times of steam and electricity, there is more elaborateness and 
 more speed, and the news of the world is in detail spread out in 
 the printed sheet at breakfast and at tea time. The printed sheet 
 has superceded the platform and the orator, and it fills the place 
 of the pulpit and preacher. What was a luxury in the earlier 
 times is now a neoessity of daily life. 
 
BUSINESS MEN OF THE VILLAGE. 
 
 (By John T. Roberts.) 
 
 The beginnings of history, like the edges of that dear old coat, 
 or the outskirts of even our very tidy towns, are apt to be ragged. 
 History overtakes us unawares. We are in it without warning 
 and without intention of our own ; and we are out of it when we 
 most desire to be counted as factors. If people could only know, 
 when they enter into relations or enter upon undertakings, if they 
 could comprehend that they are beginning to be pioneers and are 
 making of themselves som^ebody's ancestors, surely then they vTOuld 
 dress up their conduct and prepare for shapely fortunes. As it 
 is we find that the beginnings of great things are often of the 
 meanest type, and much of the story has to be suppressed or told 
 in whispers on anniversary days. 
 
 Our Onondaga Herodotus tells us that the first Syracuse mer- 
 chant was one Dole, — a name that probably described his case and 
 his surroundings. We know him only in name. The location of 
 his store was undoubtedly on the North Side, but the evidence on 
 which I base this conclusion I must not here examine. Let the 
 North Side have Dole without another word. 
 
 Of General Granger's store, on the site of the present Gridley 
 Block, there is little recorded information, though the perma- 
 nence of proprietorship in his case gave the store unwritten fame 
 down to quite recent times. General Granger either spurned the 
 advantages of advertising or else his political bias kept him from 
 relations with the village printer, Mr. John Durnford. 
 
 It would be impossible in this brief exercise to even call the 
 roll of the men who at the outset constituted the business frater- 
 nity and made the town what it was by their faith and their works, 
 and I shall limit my attempts to the mentioning of a few of those 
 who, while wisely seeking trade, embalmed their memories in 
 printer's ink. 
 
 A complete and well preserved set of Mr. Durnford's Syra- 
 cuse Gazette is on file in these rooms, and these old sheets tell us 
 about all that is easily discoverable about most of the business 
 men of the earliest Syracuse. To be sure the news columns of 
 
BUSINESS MEN OF VILLAGE. 3 1 
 
 the paper are absolutely silent on local affairs. Even so moment- 
 ous an event as that which we commemorate to-night was men- 
 tioned at the time only in three lines of print, (April 13, 1825), 
 and was never afterwards referred to. But the business adver- 
 tising of that time was most instructive. Every merchant or 
 mechanic or professional man, who paid the editor for announcing 
 to the public where he was to be found and what be had to sell, 
 was contributing important material for the construction of Onon- 
 daga County's ancient history. They took the greatest pains, 
 sometimes extending the effort through a half dozen lines, to ex- 
 actly locate their places of business. This is partly explainable 
 from the fact that the place was new, and each new comer feared 
 to be overlooked. Two or three leading stores and the two hotels 
 were used as starting points. Kasson & Heermans' general store 
 and Mr. Williston's Mansion House on the North Side and Dr. 
 Day's drug store and Mr. Mann's Syracuse House got the benefit 
 of gratuitous mention in fully one half the local business adver- 
 tisements for at least the first five years of the publication of the 
 Gazette. 
 
 Judged by space occupied in the ad. columns the Syracuse 
 Book Store was the most important concern in the village. One 
 needs to know .that these ads. were inserted free, the editor being 
 the book merchant. Both under Mr. Durnford's and afterwards 
 under Mr. Redfield's management this was a really great business 
 and the store was the headquarters for the better class of village 
 loungers, the intellectual folks in their idleness. Its location, as 
 I figure it out, was a little east from General Granger's. The 
 remnant of it remained down to war times in the well remem- 
 bered store of Mr. Edwards, the predecessor of T. W. Durston. 
 But Mr. Durnford's was more than a book store. Along with 
 the most astounding array of book titles, solemn and stately, he 
 announced the latest liver pills, the great Dr. Pomeroy's razor 
 strop, glassware, an occasional piece of real estate and always 
 his ad. ended with a strong appeal for linen and cotton rags. 
 
 Kasson & Heermans have been especially celebrated by men- 
 tion in Clark's memoirs. They were a bold, steady-going firm. 
 
32 BUSINESS MEN O^ VII^I^AGE. 
 
 carrying an immense stock of every sort of goods and doing a big 
 business in forwarding. Every new man apparently regarded this 
 old firm with respectful envy. 
 
 Another member of the family, Archie Kasson, did a large 
 business in hardware as early as 1823, and his account books, on 
 file in these rooms, contain a vast amount of business history, 
 much of it painful to unfold. His store was on the South Side 
 and so well known that he seldom attempted to fix location. 
 
 Herman Walbridge was a good advertiser in 1824. He kept 
 a general store about where the Court House stands. His brother 
 Chester did an apparently vacillating business for a number of 
 years and in 1828 announced the establishment of the Globe Fac- 
 tory on the margin of the Erie canal at the first lock east from the 
 village. He boasted of his great waterpower and described an 
 assortment of things made that rivaled the creation described in 
 Genesis. 
 
 V. Cook & Co. did a dry goods business for at least two years 
 between the Mansion House (Empire) and the Court House. 
 Their adroit announcement of no trusting takes this form : "Those 
 who wish to pay cash for goods are invited to call." 
 
 Davison & Blackman started a new store in that row, next 
 to the hotel, in 1826. They sold dry goods and wet goods, and 
 tavern keepers were particularly invited to call. 
 
 Somewhere in that block, Theodore Ashley in 1826 opened a 
 cabinet shop and store and called for large amounts of basswood 
 lumber. Probably on the north side of Church street, where the 
 Farmers' Exchange is located, a Mr. Beebee opened a store in 
 1826 for " fancy and staple dry goods," and he made a specialty 
 of " medicated oiled silk for infallible cure of gout, rheumatism, 
 colds, etc., approved by all the most eminent physicians in the 
 United States." 
 
 Mat. W. & G. Davis restricted their efforts to selling stoves 
 and to writing fire insurance. They were probably on the site of 
 the County Clerk's Ofiioe, and on the Court House corner or pos- 
 sibly on the Clinton Block site, was the store of George B. Mor- 
 gan, a rival to Mr. Durnford in the book trade. Probably on 
 
BUSINESS MEN OP VILIyAGE. 33 
 
 Church street, between Salina and Clinton, was Russell Hibbard's 
 harness shop. He was willing to take in trade any quantity of 
 farm produce or salt. Eleazar Hibbard, presumably his brother, 
 had a dyeing establishment almost cross Salina street from the 
 Mansion House, either on the site of this building or a little 
 farther north. He announced his ability to color farmers' fleeces 
 or merchants' damaged calicoes and make them saleable. 
 
 Somewhere on this side, and near the corners, was in 1826, 
 the merchant tailor shop of R. Holmes, and in his ad. is found 
 the first mention of reaidy-made garments. If I am correctly in- 
 formed that shop was continued under various names until it be- 
 came the original Yates clothing house. 
 
 R. & S. Stewart, somewhere west from the Mansion House, 
 and probably beyond Clinton street, for a number of years con- 
 ducted a large store for the sale of dry goods, crockery, groceries 
 and wall paper. They advertised freely and frankly. A post- 
 script was frequently added to their general announcement such 
 as this : " The subscribers would barely mention to those in- 
 debted to them that their patience is nearly exhausted." 
 
 There was a barber shop in 1825 probably on the site of this 
 building, (Syracuse Savings Bank), for early in 1826 we read 
 the announcement that "Wm. Reynolds, Barber and Hair Dress- 
 er, continues business at his old stand * * * where with the 
 aid of keen razors, sharp scissors and a knowledge of the fash- 
 ions as they vary, he has no doubt but that he will be able to 
 render perfect satisfaction to all who apply for his professional 
 services. He has on hand a general assortment of perfumes at 
 wholesale and retail and the best Spanish segars that the village 
 of Syracuse affords. 
 
 " He will attend to his profession on Sunday mornings until 
 ID o'clock, after which his shop will be closed. No hair cutting 
 on Sundays. A liberal price paid for human hair." 
 
 In 1826 a new chair factory was announced by Holcomb & 
 Sackett on the west side of Salina street in the Empire House 
 Block, where large quantities of bass wood lumber would be paid 
 for in cash. 
 
34 
 
 BUSINESS MEN OF VILLAGE. 
 
 Over on the South Side Dr. Jona Day's drug store was called 
 in 1826 an "old establishment." It was just south from the Syra- 
 cuse House, and everybody knew about it. The most wonderful 
 medicines were sold there through a long term of years. Over it 
 was Mr. Seaman's school, vouched for by its trustees, A. Kasson, 
 J. W. Hanchett and G. Hooker. In the same ad. the same trus- 
 tees announced Mr. Ostrander's school at the school house in 
 Church street. 
 
 On the north side of Hanover Square N. & A. Tupper sold 
 agricultural machinery. They expended several inches in a col- 
 umn describing a macine for cutting up hay and straw and ex- 
 patiating upon the added nutritive value from cutting. Some- 
 where in that row Stillson & Grover had their painting and paper- 
 ing shop, and there also was the grain store of Mann & Millen, 
 a business that was continued to the war time and that caused 
 Hanover Square to become the regular grain market. 
 
 I can only mention the first advertised blacksmith shop, that 
 of Van Heusen & Moshell on the corner of Warren and Genesee 
 streets, and the first livery stable, Bacon & Woodruff, on Warren 
 street. 
 
 The first announcement of seeds and nursery stock appears in 
 1828: "Garden seeds, flower seeds and English strawberry 
 plants for sale at the, Syracuse Village Gardens by John Boyd." 
 
 The first marble yard was announced in 1827. Isaac Stanton 
 had moved from Salina village to the comer of Salina and Church 
 streets, and would cheerfully take orders for all styles of grave 
 stones. 
 
 A very early milliner was Miss Perkins, who had every sort of 
 fashionable beadwear and would receive in payment for hats 
 many kinds of country produce. 
 
 A. Daumas & Co., profuse advertisers, had a drug store where 
 the Bank of Syracuse is now. Among their innumerable special- 
 ties were "loadstone files for the perfect eradication of corns." 
 Perhaps the most perfect representation of the miscellaneous store 
 was that of Mann & Dickinson, who sold dry goods, groceries, 
 crockery, glassware, nails, steel axes, hardware, codfish, women's 
 
BUSINESS MEN OF VILI^AGE. 35 
 
 leather and prunell shoes, mackerel, salt, shingles and pine lumber, 
 and were anxious to buy good house ashes ; while Samuel Mead 
 announced fall and winter dry goods, crockery and glassware, 
 codfish, plug tobacco, spices and fanning mills. 
 
 I must not entirely omit that most rushing business of all, the 
 lottery. Many of our stores were agencies for the great lottery 
 schemes, but two merchants in particular looked after that line. 
 S. C. Brewster, who kept the " Mint & Mine Office," filled column 
 after column with his enticing offers of wealth for a trifle in- 
 vested; but be was more than matched by Norton, who always 
 employed rhyme in his glowing ads. Here are a couple of his 
 stanzas : 
 
 " There are moments in life which may sadden us, 
 
 Which a man of true merit despises; 
 The goddess Dame Fortune will gladden us. 
 
 And Norton sells lots of rich prizes." 
 
 And the closing one: 
 
 " Then no longer your sorrows be telling. 
 
 Nor blubber and whine like a dunce. 
 Go to Norton's, where prizes are selling, 
 
 And end all your troubles at once." 
 
 Postmaster John Wilkinson's first list of advertised letters 
 gives us these names: Wm. L.Burk, Joseph Doty and Wife, Jona- 
 than Johnson, Samuel Milks, Henry Newton, John G. Sterns, 
 Seth Spencer, Thomas Spencer. 
 
 The early auctioneer should claim a moment's attention. 
 Jewelry, notions and even dry goods were regularly offered dur- 
 ing a certain part of the day at auction in the various stores, a 
 custom which lingered until after the Civil War and is still occa- 
 sionally resorted to. The auctioneer was always an amusing man. 
 Sometimes an accomplished singer. Most of his exhortation was 
 given forth in sing song. An old friend once taught me a well 
 remembered lingo from the village days : 
 
 "Here's your nice India rubber suspenders! Long enough 
 for any man, short enough for any boy; give and stretch like a 
 
36 RUSINESS MEN O? VILIvAGE. 
 
 lawyer's conscience ; pull a man out of debt, jerk a man out of 
 jail; jerk a lazy man's breeches right over his head: All for a 
 quarter of a dollar ! " 
 
 Many of the special ads. throw a side light on persons and 
 events. For instance, it is shown that a theater was in existence 
 in 1826, long before the West Genesee street theater was started. 
 The notices of " Elopement " and warning to the public that the 
 departing wife must not be trusted tell their pitiful tale, and gen- 
 erally, no doubt, a one side telling of it. But here is the most 
 curious notice of all, entitled: 
 
 "Hold Up!" 
 
 Those persons having demands against the subscriber are re- 
 spectfully requested to hold up until the first of July, when they 
 shall have their pay. I am now doing a good business after a long 
 calm, and as my debts are neither numerous nor large, I am confi- 
 dent that I shall be able to cancel them unless disturbed before I 
 get through my jobs. If pressed now I shall be obliged to return 
 to the " long farm." 
 
 THOMAS P. PIPER. 
 
 Aprii. 10, 1827. 
 
 Whether or not this candid appeal of poor Peter Piper touched 
 his heartless creditors and averted collapse we know not, but the 
 docket of Justice Kasson shows a good many judgments entered 
 against him, and we have grave fears that he is still sojourning 
 on the " long farm," with many another luckless business man of 
 his day. 
 
BUSINESS MEN OF VILLAGE. 
 
 37 
 
 THE ORIGINAL SYRACUSK HOUSE IN 1820. 
 
 OLD SYRACUSE HOUSE. 
 
 " Rufus Stanton had continued on the land east of SaUna 
 street, and in 1815 had a field of twenty acres of grain, at the 
 northeast corner of which was erected the Syracuse House. The 
 tract was afterwards sowed with grass seed, enclosed with a rail 
 fence, and in 1820 was bought by Luther Buell (brother of the 
 grandfather of H. B. Buell, of McCarthy's wholesale house) and 
 Shubael Saflford, (grandfather of John D. Safford of Syracuse), 
 who began the erection of a brick hotel fifty feet square, two 
 stories high with basement. * * * The building was finished 
 by Henry Eckford in 1822, after his purchase of the tract. It 
 was called the Syracuse Hotel, but in 1827, after the accession of 
 the Syracuse Company, was rebuilt in an enlarged and improved 
 style, and remained the Syracuse Hon&e."— Onondaga Centennial, 
 p. 411. 
 
THE CLERGY OF THE VILLAGE. 
 
 (By Rev. George B. Spalding, D. D.) 
 
 It is a most significant fact that the religious enterprise kept 
 step with the material at the very beginning of our village life. 
 The church headed the onward movement with a spirit as coura- 
 geous and hopeful as that which filled its business, and her leaders 
 were as strong in intellect and as large in wisdom as the very 
 ablest in any other sphere of professional and public life. The 
 moulding hand of the early ministers of the half century of this 
 village was most powerful upon those institutions and influences 
 and individuals, the most essential, the most beneficent, the most 
 lasting in any community. In the very brief space alloted me I 
 can mention but a very few, those who by length of service and 
 pre-eminent character impressed themselves deepest and most in- 
 effacably upon the Syracuse of the past and of the future. • 
 
 In this noble list I name first. Rev. John Watson Adams, 
 D. D. His ministry over the First Presbyterian Church covered 
 almost the entire period of the existence of the village of Syracuse. 
 He was pastor here soon after the village was born and pastor still 
 when the city came to life. He began his ministry here, and he 
 ended his only ministry here, rounding it out to a quarter of a 
 century with a character, an example, a work of imperishable 
 strength and beauty. He was a man of great dignity and of 
 equal modesty, who first won men's respect and then their love; 
 a preacher of unusual intellectual clearness and force, strong in 
 logic, persuasive in appeal and a rich and yet chastened imagina- 
 tion, and a command of words felicitous and virile. With all his 
 love of books and relish for solitary meditation, he was intensely 
 practical, and mingled freely in the every day affairs of the town 
 life, impressing every one and everything with his large, pure, 
 upright views of what the church and the home, and the schools 
 and the whole civic life might become. None worthier, none 
 grander has lived among us. 
 
 The Baptist Church was first in our village. It really ante- 
 dated its existence. 
 
 As early as 1819 students at the Theological Seminary at 
 
ci.e;rgy op vii:,i,agb;. 39 
 
 Hamilton preached here in the little school house in Church street 
 where so many of our churches drew their first breath. Among 
 these youthful preachers was Jonathan Wade, who before the 
 church was organized consecrated himself as a foreign mission- 
 ary, and sailed away to do his splendid work in Burma. 
 
 Perhaps the most prominent among the early Baptist minis- 
 ters in our village was Rev. N. J. Gilbert, who came here from 
 North Norwich, Chenango County, in the spring of 1823. He 
 was a man, I would judge, of unfeigned faith, ardent zeal, count- 
 less labors. It was by his tireless eflEorts that the first Baptist 
 Church was built. It was upon the site now occupied by the Uni- 
 versalist Church. I love to think that the Episcopalians and Pres- 
 byterians largely joined in building this Baptist Church, and 
 largely worshipped there under Pastor Gilbert, and each occupy- 
 ing the sacred room for each one's services when unused by an- 
 other. When these early christians of various church names had 
 hoisted with united hands the beams of the building, we are told 
 that the Baptist minister prayed with an unwonted earnestness 
 that God, the Father of them all, would bless them altogether in 
 every labor of love. May the fragrance of that early prayer 
 linger with its unspent sweetness in all our churches. 
 
 In the great scourge of cholera which swept this village in 
 1832, this good man was its third victim. He was seized while 
 attending the funeral of the second, when the physician came to 
 him, the dying man said : " Doctor, see a man who has nothing 
 to do but die." And so he went home. 
 
 The first resident missionary of the Episcopal Church in the 
 village was Rev. William^ Barlow. He came in 1828. Under his 
 ministry which was of two years the church edifice erected on 
 the present site of the Granger Block was finished. The church 
 was consecrated by Bishop Hobart, and for the first time the 
 Holy Communion was administered according to the ritual of the 
 church. The clergyman of longest service in the Episcopal 
 Church during this village life was the Rev. Henry Gregory, 
 D. D., for nearly eight years Rector of St. Paul's Church and for 
 some years after Rector of St. James. His name has been entered 
 
40 CLERGY OP VILLAGE. 
 
 into the history of the Episcopal Church here as the " Father of 
 the Church in Syracuse," "a presbyter for twenty and five years, 
 fulfilling the pattern of all that 'is pure, peaceable, gentle and easy 
 to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, 
 and without hypocrisy.' " 
 
 The Roman Catholics were very few in number in our village, 
 and yet as early as 1842 they bought the wooden church building 
 of the St. Paul's Episcopal Society and removed it to the corner of 
 Madison and Montgomery streets. No longer a church but used for 
 church purposes the old building is in symmetry and proportions 
 among the most beautiful of our public structures. Its first pastor 
 was Rev. Michael Haes, who labored with great fidelity for seven- 
 teen, years, being succeeded by Rev. James A. O'Hara, whose 
 pastorate of thirty years was so full of tender solicitude for his 
 own great flock, and of exceeding love to all men that he was 
 called by all, Protestants and Catholics, with an unusual esteem 
 "Father O'Hara." 
 
 It was in 1845 that Rev. Samuel Joseph May began his nnnis- 
 try to the Unitarian Church. But while this noble man served 
 his own congregation with every grace of a good pastor, be served 
 the people at large and the whole kingdom of humanity with a 
 ministry of righteousness and love which no generation can for- 
 get. 
 
 His personality must have been his mightiest power. His 
 sense of justice was supreme. His love and hope were as broad 
 as mankind. He was a woman in gentleness. He was a hero in 
 courage. He was a saint in purity. His name is immortal among 
 us. Eet his goodness also be. 
 
 And so they stand before us to-night representatives of differ- 
 ent denominations, and varying forms of belief and worship, but 
 all saying forth the one Christly love, and all calling to us as 
 with trumpet tones out of their devotion and s.elf sacrifice to hu- 
 manity for a like service. 
 
OLD ST. PAUL'S CHURCH 
 
 "In 1825 THE Syracuse Companv donated to the society the triangular lot 
 
 ON WHICH stands THE GRANGER BLOCK, (S., A. & Iv. BUILDING,) AND IN 1S2S A WOODEN 
 EDIFICE WAS FINISHED FACING THE EAST, THE REAR STANDING CLOSE TO WARREN STJiEET. 
 
 ■jr ^ ir On THE 12th of July, 1S4-1, the corner stone of a stone edifice was laiiI 
 ON A new lot on Warren street, on the site of the present Government Build- 
 ing. * * ^^ In 184.4; the old wooden church was sold and removed to the corner 
 OF Madison and Montgomery streets, where it now stands unoccupied." 
 
 \_Onondaga.'s Centennial, p. 527, 
 
THE EXPLOSION OF 1841. 
 
 (By Nelson Gilbert.) 
 
 Many notable events, now historic, occurred during the time 
 when Syracuse was a village. Scenes of rejoicing and of mourn- 
 ing. Among the latter, the dread Asiatic cholera, which in 1832 
 — and for some years after, cut down humanity as grass before 
 the scythe. Many of the best known citizens of our village fell 
 before it. But in dreadful horror and instant destruction of life, 
 " The Powder Explosion" on the evening of August 20th, 1841, 
 surpassed anything before or since. 
 
 As the alarm of fire rang out between eight and nine, on that 
 fated evening, men rushed out to join the crowd as the three 
 hand engines went hurrying along the street, drawn by their am- 
 bitious companies. "And with more demonstration than do our 
 effective steamers of to-day," to their places on towing path of the 
 Oswego canal. 
 
 The fire was in a carpenter shop, occupied by Charles Goings, 
 a plain low building, some thirty feet north of the Old Circus 
 Building, then standing on ground fronting West Willow street, 
 with side to the Oswego canal, and cornering the bridge. The 
 site is now occupied by Mr. Bell as a yard attached to bis bam. 
 
 A short time previous to this Messrs. Malcom and Hudson, 
 hardware merchants, had obtained permission for temporary 
 storage of kegs of powder, which were placed upon an overhead 
 floor of the shop. Outside and around the building were piles of 
 lumber, which on this occasion were largely occupied by on 
 lookers. 
 
 Soon after breaking out of the fire, word was passed through 
 the crowd, that " Powder was there." This was denied by others, 
 and some, who had started to retire, were reassured, and turned 
 back to their death. 
 
 In front of the fire, was noise and earnest emulation on part 
 of the firemen, in their legitimate work. When, — ^the awful 
 "Taps" was soundted, and the "Lights put out of twenty-five 
 lives." 
 
42 EXPIvOSION OF 1 841. 
 
 All was done in an instant of time. There were two distinct 
 reports — ^though one in eflfect. 
 
 The instantaneous transition from light to darkness ; for the 
 powder put out the fire, — and the turmoil going on, — to deathlike 
 stillness that followed, can scarce be appreciated by those not 
 there. The first audible sound was from the man perched upon 
 a displaced stick of timber on inside the Circus Building; — ^the 
 north end of which had been blown in ; — as he exclaimed, "Where 
 am I ! " And repeating the interrogation. For the moment, he 
 knew not his status, whether it was earth, or eternity. 
 
 Cries of the wounded for help, and others for light, now filled 
 the air. The sickening duty of gathering the dead; some in the 
 canal with headless bodies, and some across, whither the explosion 
 had carried them. The agonizing cries of relatives and friends, 
 who with lanterns sought the dead and wounded, were experi- 
 ences without a parallel, except that on a battlefield at night. 
 
 Desolation and death now filled many a home. The following 
 Sabbath was one great funeral day. Most of the churches held 
 services for their dead, and in general sympathy, appropriate to 
 the occasion, beside the many at private homes. 
 
 In this great calamity, there was mingled mercy. Had the 
 powder been upon the ground floor, it is probable hundreds would 
 have been swept away; beside, the exceeding hot weather pre- 
 ceding ; cooled, thus favoring to recovery the wounded. Of these, 
 three survive. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Hurst still keeps his feet under the weight of 87 
 years. His experiences on that occasion are interestingly told in 
 the Herald columns of August 26th. As are also those of Paul 
 Shaw, now in his 90th year. The powder marks then received 
 on his face have been in evidence during the years since. 
 
 The third, myself, stood at the north end of the Circus Build- 
 ing with others, facing the fire some thirty feet distant. The time 
 from standing there until lying upon the ground with an arm 
 nearly broken, and badly bruised head, was too short for thought, 
 but the days of thanksgiving to Almighty God for his saving 
 
EXPLOSION oif 1841. 43 
 
 hand have been many. Verily, " There was but a step between 
 us and death." 
 
 The results of this calamity weighed heavily upon Mr. Mal- 
 com, senior partner of the hardware firm. He sought to do all in 
 his power in assisting the injured and aiiflicted ones, but the blow 
 was too heavy for his years, and his head was, — not long after, 
 " brought down with sorrow to the grave." 
 
 Standing upon the memorable site to-day, I find it difficult to 
 realize the dreadful scene of fifty-nine years ago, but knowing 
 this: That soon the sad fact and those yet surviving, will scarce 
 exist even in the memory of any. 
 
 While in possession of the floor there is a strong inclination 
 to save for both the present and future another day which brought 
 both sorrow and death to some. 
 
 It is quite possible there may not be another person present 
 who remembers or even has knowledge of the event. 
 
 The writer well remembers standing a little west of the old 
 Mansion House early one Fourth of July morning as John 
 Courtney, at that time a well known townsman, with two assist- 
 ants bringing over the Clinton street bridge the brass six-pound- 
 er cannon for firing the sunrise salute. Near as memory serves 
 this was about 1836. The gun was located near the towpath in 
 front of the Empire House wing and on ground of the small new 
 park. 
 
 This was in the days of old time Fourth of July celebrations. 
 An imposing parade, oration, reading the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, public dinner, etc. 
 
 On this occasion the procession was on its route to the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church, where the services were to be held, and 
 with discharges from the cannon as accompaniment. 
 
 During this and while loading the gun, Mr. Courtney failed 
 to properly thumb the piece, premature discharge followed. One 
 of the gunners received so much of the load in chest, face and 
 eyes, that after some two days of excruciating agony he died, 
 leaving his family destitute. The other escaped with loss of 
 
44 EXPLOSION oic 1841. 
 
 an arm. With remaining arm, he for many years carried a 
 basket of apples, etc., about the streets as merchandise. 
 
 In connection with the brass gun it is in line to speak of the 
 Old Artillery Company. The first military organization here. It 
 flourished along the '30s. General E. W. Leavenworth was at 
 one time commandant. The roster of the company was for years 
 in my possession, but turned the same over to Mr. I^eavenworth 
 a year or more prior to his death. 
 
 The company, in its neat uniform, with John Cook, its fifer 
 at the head and the bright six-pounder drawn in its ranks made 
 quite an imposing appearance, both for those of mature years, 
 and especially the younger who followed, but with less care as 
 to the " order of their going." 
 
REMINISCENCES BY DELIA COLVIN HATCH. 
 
 It is well for you that I can only comply by pen ; were I where 
 I would love dearly to be to-night — one among you — the well in- 
 formed Syracuse historians would have a small chance were I 
 first upon the platform; "Out of the fulness of the heart the 
 mouth would speak," and memory would take me back to my 
 first impressions of Syracuse when neither village or myself had 
 reached our teens, tracing through many years of great changes, 
 leading on to my identity with this old city, which has been to me 
 a source of such interest, making a grand closing of a life, which 
 has from childhood, been loyal to all that worked for the good of 
 my Syracuse home. 
 
 If I grow prosy or too diffuse and tiresome, lay the document 
 aside; I will be the first to say, " On with the danoe, let joy be 
 unconfined." 
 
 My first visit in 1835 was short; in 1836 it became my home 
 for many happy years, with my uncle, Dr. D. T. Colvin. His 
 house, just finished, was on the lot where St. James Church now 
 stands, on James street, then called Foot street. On a rise of 
 ground just opposite, was a square frame house built by Major 
 Burnet ; he was then living just west of the creek on West Gene- 
 see street. The little hill has been mostly leveled and the house 
 let down ; many a summer eve have I sat upon the piazza of our 
 home and enjoyed the bugle played upon the packet boats as they 
 passed through the village ; far more agreeable than steam whistle 
 and shriek of the engine of the railroad now crossing the street. 
 
 On the comer of Foot and Townsend streets was the home of 
 J. G. Forbes (now of Allen Butler) ; on the west comer, that of 
 P. D. Mickles ; on the corner of James and Catherine, the home 
 of B. F. Colvin; just opposite, a small house and two small one- 
 story houses on Foot street, were all the buildings at that time 
 from Lock street, to the top of the hill ; one on the farm of J. H. 
 Colvin, west of the Holcomb place, then the farm of B. F. Colvin. 
 All the land from Lock street, taking which is now Rosehill 
 Cemetery, was owned by my uncle, Jasper H. Colvin, over the hill 
 to the east, and joining B. F. Colvin's farm of 200 acres (on both 
 
46 DEI,IA COI^VIN HATCH REMINISCENCES. 
 
 sides of the street) . In Danforth a Dr. D. T. Colvin had a farm, 
 so it is true, the Colvins had a foothold beside that which all early 
 settlers had; of mud and mire on the streets. 
 
 The State Fair of 1849, was on the land of J. H. Colvin back 
 of the grove which is now Highland street. 
 
 My first school was on Church street, to my cousin Wealthy 
 Ann Lathrop, who drilled us well in syntax, in accent, spelling 
 and definition, and Oh! the real estate I have carried on rainy 
 days from Robbers Row next to the Syracuse Academy (from the 
 corner of Mulberry and Fayette streets), to the school (now 
 Orphan Asylum), then a brick house owned and occupied by Mr. 
 Tousley (his wife, a daughter of Asa Danforth) ; on the comer 
 of Fayette and Grape, the home of Charles Leonard, and two 
 small red houses near Orange street. 
 
 The principal of the school was Oren Root, father of Elihu, 
 who has his Root firmly imbedded in the hearts of his country- 
 men — our present efficient Secretary of War; his aunt, Miss 
 Charlotte Butrick (mother of Mrs. Charles L. Stone), was assist- 
 ant in the female department; not as old as some of her pupils, 
 and but little beyond the years of any of us, but Oh ! how we did 
 love and cling to her — our wise counsellor, teacher, companion 
 and friend. 
 
 Then to the Syracuse Seminary ; Mr. Thomas Williams and 
 Miss Parrott (afterward Mrs. Williams) were principals (while 
 she was Miss Parrott) ; in writing to my sister I put in some lines 
 written backward, and could only be read before a looking-glass ; 
 " The world has come to such a pass, that fools can't read without 
 a glass." She replied : " For my part I think there be more 
 fools, when Parrott come to teaching school." 
 
 The school was opened on Salina street, about the center of 
 the block between Water and Washington streets, later the Old 
 Line House, where is now the Mowry. From one of the recita- 
 tion rooms we could look upon the old Mill Pond and see sun- 
 shine stars sparkling upon the water. Among the pupils was 
 Lora C. Smith ; her daily report from her home was- of the bright 
 sayings and happy ways of her nephew, Carroll E., who has 
 
DEXIA COIvVIN HATCH REMINISCENCES. 47 
 
 known Syracuse in all her changes, and held many positions to 
 give him more than a local habitation and a name. Time is leav- 
 ing its imprints upon him ; the active playful boy must grow old, 
 and he will be in the coming years to the future representatives of 
 progressive Syracuse, known as " The venerable sire before us ;" 
 may they give to him the thanks and homage due to his devotion 
 to home interests, and to this old Society. Don't shrink from the 
 forecast my friend and honored President ; I am there before you, 
 and know age has its well earned joys and rest. 
 
 No one can recall early Syracuse without in mind seeing the 
 Syracuse House, corner Salina and Genesee ; J. I. Bradley's black- 
 smith shop on Genesee and Warren, and to the first St. Paul's 
 Church on the triangle opposite, where, in after years, my- 
 self and many a well loved one took upon themselves their bap- 
 tismal vow in Confirmation, by Bishop DeLancey. 
 
 The first party I attended was at the home of L. H. Redfield, 
 corner of Genesee and Montgomery streets, not a person or face 
 known to me then, who have since become so closely identified 
 with the strong friendship formed, but have proved true through 
 all the after years. 
 
 My first little gathering at the home of my uncle, where was 
 always the open door and welcome for old and young, bad among 
 the first to come, Mary and Margaret Redfield, and Lucy B. Put- 
 nam. As I opened the door Mary says in an anxious and childish 
 ■way, "Delia has the party begun?" In the evening G. J. Gard- 
 ner and G. O. Bridges came. 
 
 In referring to the old home it may not be amiss to say, it 
 was the best house in the city, where was found the open fireplace 
 and logwood fire; I am not the only one left who can recall its 
 warmth and glow, and the genial welcome given with it. 
 
 An oyster supper at the home of Mortimer Jerome, in Camillus, 
 which was the first (but far from the last) of many a gathering 
 enjoyed by that double quartette; Elizabeth Filkins, Sophia Ed- 
 wards, Mary Johnson and myself; Mortimer Jerome, Holly 
 Hovey, G. O. Bridges and Edward Elliot; all have passed the 
 great divide before me. The latter I last met in these rooms at a 
 
48 DEUA COLVIN HATCH REMINISCENCES. 
 
 presentation of my work ; of course our theme was of older times, 
 as we had not met in years; the weeks were few ere he was 
 called. 
 
 With many others we had sleighrides in winter to Brewerton 
 and other points, carriage rides in summer, boating on lakes and 
 rivers, dancing in the evening ; the fiddle played by Harvey Ben- 
 nett, sometimes a band 'til long after the midnight hour. No 
 wonder to me that the jingle of those bells over the plankroad 
 have to memory a happy sound of those homeward rides, for, on 
 one occasion, someone did Hatch a scheme which culminated in 
 my renouncing forever the right to be called Miss Colvin. 
 
 Mr. Held ma.de an earnest but unsuccessful effort to bring me 
 to the high standard in music, which many of his pupils had at- 
 tained ; I am happy to say, notwithstanding my failure to be what 
 he tried to have me, has not diminished his cordial greetings and 
 his goodwill has been shown by his unasked for, but highly prized 
 pen sketch which has a place in the valuable collection in your 
 possession. As to my music; I did conquer many a piece so I 
 kept good time, and it has served to give enjoyment to many a 
 gathering as they joined hands all around, and with happy hearts 
 and lively steps they moved, to "Campbell's are Coming;" "Irish 
 Washerwoman;" "Come Haste. to the Wedding," etc., in the qua- 
 drille and contra dances of those days ere the twostep had monopo- 
 lized the floor. A great addition was made to piano, when my broth- 
 er-in-law, Austin E. Munger's fine execution on the flute was 
 heard, when he was accompanied by Charles Leonard's daughter 
 (Mrs. Ezra Howlett) ; we had strains of melody that were heav- 
 enly to the guests of our large and many family gatherings. 
 
 Those were days before clubs, receptions and teas for after- 
 noons came in vogue; then when we went visiting the ladies 
 went in the afternoon and the gentlemen came to tea, and spent 
 the evening. In those days of evening parties, husbands and 
 wives went and enjoyed the evening, and then went home to- 
 gether ; I don't want to criticise the present progressive ways, but, 
 in some respects, I somewhat agree with " The former days were 
 best." 
 
DELIA COI^VIN HATCH REMINISCENCES. 49 
 
 My entrance into society was at the home of Harry Raynor, 
 on Water street, the occasion of the marriage of his sister JuHa, 
 to Alfred H. Hovey. My dress, a lovely pink silk, low corsage 
 and short sleeves ; my brown hair curled, my cheeks red with the 
 glow of youth — a. different face from the one now known to you 
 — but my heart is as young and I could take my part in gay life 
 with more zest, than did the timid blushing girl of that evening. 
 
 Julia Raynor was one of the loveliest of Syracuse brides for 
 which the village had more than a local fame, and also for the 
 young matrons of that date; I trust I may not be considered as 
 invading the privacy of anyone, when I mention those whom I 
 remember as here when I came, and who are now with you ; Mrs. 
 William Jackson, nee Emma Jerome ; Mrs. Peter Cutwater 
 (Lucia Phillips), and Mrs. T. B. Fitch (Ursula Elliot.) 
 
 It was a sad day in our city in April, 1850, when three resi- 
 dents were followed by friends, to be laid in Ro&ehill Cemetery; 
 Dr. J. W. Adams from Park Church in the morning; Mrs. 
 Hovey from her residence on West Onondaga street in the after- 
 noon, and Mrs. R. A. Yoe, near the time of the setting sun. 
 
 My identity with this society was in 1894; my long absence 
 in a Western home had given me no knowledge of this Associa- 
 tion. As old families were to be represented at that time, I was 
 invited by my friend Mary E. Bagg, to take part in the quilting 
 scene, conceived and drawn up by herself ; all participants to have 
 been residents of the county before 1820, the date of the original 
 party. 
 
 My grandparents with their nine children came here as early 
 as 1802, and all remained except my father, Zina H., who made 
 his home in Niagara County and married into a well known 
 pioneer family of the frontier. 
 
 The history of the Sprague family of twenty-one children, 
 who lived to marry, proved a success, and was a help in bringing 
 that scene into favor; the quantity of family, is, without doubt, 
 of the quality you can judge by their descendants; my grand- 
 mother and the great grandmother of Carroll Earle Smith were 
 the sisters, Mary (Mrs. Benjamin Colvin) and Experience (Mrs. 
 
50 DELIA COI,VIN HATCH REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Jonas Eark, Sr.) ; of the David Sprague family of whom were 
 enumerated at the time of his death in 1820 — four hundred and 
 twenty decendants. 
 
 Those centennial days were happy days oft recalled ; they were 
 the beginning with me of an interest which has grown to an in- 
 tense desire to have this organization one which shall be perpetual ; 
 one, their former president (blessed be his memory and his gift) 
 has left a substantial memorial, which, I trust, may be added to 
 by others now among us, and who shall join him in the future. 
 
 Happy memories of the blessed past among the friends of my 
 youth and of later life, and of this Society ; soon for me time shall 
 be no longer, but there will come a reunion with those gone, and 
 with those to whom I now speak, filled with a love — a love that 
 has no bounds but eternity. 
 
REMINISCENCES BY MARGARET TREDWELL SMITH. 
 
 This occasion is one of exceeding interest to both my hus- 
 band and myself. The vista of retrospection is far reaching. In 
 my husband's life of sixty-one years in the valley and on the hills 
 of Onondaga, his recollections embrace several years of village 
 life, which was entered into- at a time, when the railroad era for 
 Central New York, and notably, Syracuse, was opening. 
 
 Destiny and the " Goddess Fortuna," were abiding and over- 
 ruling in the little village which in 1839 numbered 6,000 inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 In the opening week of the new year 1825, I was, as it were, 
 to the manor born — a child of Onondaga, bom at the Hollow, in 
 the natal year of the village of Syracuse — of its organization. 
 
 Among the earliest recollections of my childhood was the re- 
 moval made by my father, with his family, from Onondaga Hol- 
 low to Syracuse, which took place in 1829, at which time my 
 mother in the family chaise, driving " Old Jack," brought from 
 the deserted home the last of the Lares and Penates — which treas- 
 ures were myself and the household cat. 
 
 Childish recollection of the prevailing Jacksonian fervor in 
 1829-30, is 'emphasized by an incident which occurred at old St. 
 Paul's . Church, at that time located upon the " Granger Block" 
 triangle. The organ and the choir in the curtained gallery began 
 the chant, the congregation arose and turned to face the gallery, 
 as was the custom. My younger sister Jane, so small that she 
 stood upon the cushioned seat of the pew, turned towards the 
 sound also and Joined in singing, with " Hurrah for Jackson ! " 
 The shallow waters bordering Onondaga Lake were visited by 
 my mother and her four little girls, and once " Old Jack" came 
 near being swallowed by quicksand. Water worn shells were 
 picked up and from the salt mashes samphire was gathered — it 
 was of repute in household menage, as rushes, also. 
 
 Is there an annalist living who can tell us of the early times, 
 when the Congers, Major and Mrs. Burnet, General and Mrs. 
 Granger, etc., were the leading families socially, as later? When 
 12 years of age I was present at Mrs. Granger's when a crowded 
 
52 margari;t trbdwei<i< smith reminiscences 
 
 company were entertained. I remember the massive mahogany 
 sideboard spread with wine glasses filled with Maderia, into each 
 of which had been dropped two butternut meats. I remember the 
 wedding party given for Dean Richmond and bride. Miss Eliza- 
 beth Mead, sister of Mrs. General Hopping — ^by Lewis H. and 
 Mrs. Redfield in the house located on the present Yates Hotel 
 site. The illumination was obtained by sperm candles — white, 
 green and red coloring. 
 
 I think that I must have been as a child "handy," for I recol- 
 lect assisting Miss Mary Elizabeth Putnam, who was the fiancee 
 of Thomas T. Davis — to dress, when she was bridesmaid for 
 Ursula Elliott (Mrs. T. B. Fitch.) Miss Bradbury made her 
 entree into Syracuse social life at the wedding of Miss Eliza 
 Lawrence (Mrs. Jones), and in line with this pleasant experience 
 of trust, in the preparation made by Miss Bradbury, was a simi- 
 lar one later, when Mrs. Emma Willard, guest of my mother, 
 donned fine satin and lace in preparation for the address to be 
 delivered by her to the delegates attending the notable educa- 
 tional convention held here. 
 
 The reminiscent move tempts to further trespassing, beyond 
 the limits set to a letter. I linger for a moment to mention the 
 dinner given by Thomas T. and Mrs. Davis to Mr. Peabody at 
 which Captain Putnam was an honored guest — a townsman of 
 Mr. Peabody's town. Comrades and friends have passed to the 
 "Higher Life." Their names the Onondaga County Historical 
 Association fittingly commemorates, in commemorating the or- 
 ganization of the village of Syracuse and kindred matters. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE CHARLES A. 
 WHEATON. 
 
 (By Charlotte Birdseye Miller.) 
 
 This early resident of Syracuse was born in Dutchess County, 
 N. Y., in 1811, the son of Augustus Wheaton and came at a very 
 early age with his parents to Pompey. In his early manhood 
 he was clerk for Jacob Ten Eyck of Cazenovia, and later for his 
 brother-in-law, Moses Seymour Marsh at Pompey. Mr. Marsh 
 about this time, probably 1830, built the Stone Store, still standing 
 at Pompey, on the site previously occupied by Henry Seymour, 
 the father of Horatio Seymour. In June, 1834, he was married 
 to Ellen D. Birdseye, eldest daughter of the late Hon. Victory 
 Birdseye, a pioneer of Pompey. In October, 1835, be removed 
 to Syracuse, to become a partner with the late William Jackson 
 in the hardware business in a store located where now stands the 
 Wieting Block. While in this business one of his employees was 
 Peter Burns, later a prominent and prosperous citizen. 
 
 Mr. Wheaton's first housekeeping in Syracuse was in what 
 was called the Day House on the southeast comer of Railroad 
 and Clinton streets. A little later he was on Fayette street, just 
 west of the present site of the Milk Association. The next re- 
 move was to West Water street, next to the old recruiting station, 
 and from there he removed to South Salina street to the residence 
 built by himself and later occupied by Hon. Joseph J. Glass. 
 
 It was while living in this residence that he was suspected of 
 harboring a runaway slave and an ofiScer came and searched the 
 house. No runaway slave was found and Mrs. Wheaton said 
 later that there was one place where a person might have been 
 concealed, but that place was overlooked in the search. 
 
 The property on South Salina street was later exchanged for 
 that of Aaron Burt, on Asylum Hill, now known as the Jacob 
 Crouse residence. After some years residence on the Hill, Mr. 
 Wheaton removed to the place on the south side of the Fayette 
 Park, afterwards owned by James Ellis, later by his daughter, 
 Mrs. Beach, on the site of the present residence of Dr. Eisner. 
 
 Mr. Wheaton in the early "fifties" built the Wheaton Block 
 
54 REMINISCENCES OF C. A. WHEATON. 
 
 on the corner of South Salina and West Water streets, at that 
 time the handsomest and most imposing structure in the city. Be- 
 sides stores and offices it contained a hall for pubHc meetings of 
 a capacity of 2,000 sittings. This building was afterward sold to 
 Dr. Wieting for $112,000, a transaction at that time the largest 
 on record in the county. It was burned down in January, 1856, 
 and replaced by the Wieting Block. 
 
 In 1861 Mr. Wheaton moved to Northfield, Minn., and later 
 became the editor of the Northfield Journal, which he edited until 
 his death in 1880. He was a man of strict integrity, of careful 
 business habits and of deep and earnest convictions and moral 
 courage to live up to them. He was a prominent and efficient 
 member of the old Congregational Church (which stood on East 
 Genesee street on the Convention Hall site) and was for many 
 years the leader of its choir. Old residents will well remember 
 his fine tenor. Associated with him in this choir were William 
 E. Abbott, Waldo Hanchett and Mrs. Hanchett. Later, and 
 while still a member of this church, Mr. Wheaton became inter- 
 ested in the writings of Swedenborg and sometimes advocated 
 his views in the prayer meetings, to the distress of some of the 
 more orthodox. On one occasion a brother in his zeal for the 
 true faith prayed that the Lord would remove Brother Wheaton 
 from earth, before he should corrupt and unsettle the belief of 
 his fellow church members. An aged woman, who had had an 
 experience of Mr. Wheaton's liberality, in a time of financial dis- 
 tress, entered just in time to hear the petition and cried out: "Not 
 so. Lord, not so, Lord." Apparently her petition was the one an- 
 swered, for Mr. Wheaton lived many years thereafter. 
 
 He was a member of the Board of Education in '51 and '52 
 and it is believed this was the only city office he ever held. He 
 was a prominent Anti-Slavery man and endured some persecution 
 from the defenders of the "peculiar institution." He was not 
 one of the rescuers of " Jerry," but was engaged with Rev. S. J. 
 May and Charles B. Sedgwick at that hour in planning for Jerry's 
 legal defence and rescue from his captors. 
 
 Desperate efforts were made by those charged with the en- 
 
REMINISCENCES OF C. A. WHEATON. 55 
 
 forcement of the " Fugitive Slave Law" to prove him implicated 
 in the forcible rescue of Jerry, but in vain. 
 
 Mrs. Ellen Birdseye Wheaton received her early education in 
 Pompey Academy and acquired a finish with musical instruction 
 at a private school in Albany. Hers was the first piano brought 
 to Pompey and when first siet up in the parlor of the Birdseye 
 homestead attracted a crowd of villagers to the open windows and 
 doors to hear the young lady perform. She was a sweet singer 
 and often joined her husband's tenor in public. 
 
 She died in 1858 leaving eleven children surviving her, viz. : 
 CorneUa, wife of Frederick Ayer of Lowell Mass. ; Edward of 
 Oakland, Cal. ; Ellen L., wife of Dr. A. R. Morgan, now of 
 Waterbury, Conn.; Emma C, wife of N. P. Langford of St. 
 Paul, Minnesota; Clara, second wife of same; Lucia, wife of T 
 T. Smith of St. Paul ; Mary H., wife of Hon. Francis Kittredge 
 of Boston, Mass. ; Henry of California ; Florence of Boston ; Dr. 
 C. A. Wheaton of St. Paul, and Mabel F., wife of Edwin Barney 
 of New Bedford, Mass. Of these eleven seven still survive and 
 occupy prominent positions in business and society. 
 
 Mr. Wheaton was married a second time in Minnesota to Mrs. 
 Sarah Waggoner, by whom he had five children, and of these 
 three are now living. 
 
REMINISCENCES BY M. W. HANCHETT. 
 
 I greatly regret that I am unable to accept your kind invita- 
 tion to be present on the occasion of the commemoration of the 
 seventy-fifth anniversary of the organization of the village of 
 Syracuse. 
 
 This period of time is covered by the years of my own life— 
 nearly all of which have been spent within the territory included 
 in the old village lines. 
 
 My father— Dr. John W. Hanchett— came, with his family 
 to the village in 1826. I was then but four years old and the vil- 
 lage born in 1825 was but one year old and had but just begun 
 to walk alone. As my memory began to take in things about me 
 at that early date I have in store much of the steps of growth and 
 development of Syracuse from its beginning. I feel therefore 
 deeply interested in the things that may be brought out on the 
 occasion of this anniversary gathering. I probably could not add 
 much, if anything, of general interest to that already known, or 
 will be brought forth in papers or by the speakers announced. 
 
 My memory as a boy, takes in many things of the village in 
 the thirties that would not be as well laid up by persons of larger 
 growth. 
 
 The first night of my father's family in the village I believe 
 was spent by invitation at the house of General Amos P. Granger 
 — a building occupied by him in part as a store, standing on the 
 site of the Syracuse Savings Bank. Our family home was for 
 some years in the " Marvin Block," a three-story brick building, 
 designed for stores and dwellings, standing partly on the site of 
 the Onondaga County Court House. This building at the time 
 of its erection was perhaps the largest in the county — its location, 
 fronting Clinton Square and the Erie canal, made it very promi- 
 nent and was the very center of business for the time. The north 
 side of the square was by day the market place for products of the 
 country — here was the place for the sale of hay, grain, wood — 
 body maple and hickory at two dollars, or less, per cord, and all 
 things farmers had to offer. The square was also used by ener- 
 getic youths as the common play ground where ball games were 
 indulged in without let or hindrance. " Throw-up and catch," 
 
M. W. HANCHETT REMINISCENCES. 57 
 
 skyward strikes and " two-old-cat" were most common. Neither 
 university backing — prospective championships— nor widely 
 spread press laudations, even if graced with choicest slang- 
 seemed needful in those early days to stimulate interest in the 
 games, nor necessary for best results from healthy exercise. 
 
 The canal bridges at either end of the square furnished excel- 
 lent " toboggan slides," which were freely used in the winter by 
 all dimentions of boys and sleds,— greatly to the discomfort of 
 pedestrians who might have occasion to travel up or down the 
 slopes. 
 
 In the evenings on the square lighted from the shop windows, 
 the boys delighted to play " tag," " hide and seek," " pom-pom- 
 pull-away," and the like until Sexton Gould rang the bell of the 
 Presbyterian Church for nine o'clock, when the boys— brought up 
 by good old fashioned mothers — would quit their games and were 
 off for their homes, and early to bed ! It is quite different in these 
 later days! 
 
 The old school house on Church street, where the first election 
 of village trustees was held, and was used as the first " Council 
 Chamber" of Syracuse — I distinctly remember, and I have also 
 clearly in mind the personal appearance of several of the village 
 officials of the time. Here was the first school in Syracuse, — quite 
 early, as the village grew, came in addition private and select 
 schools. Of the early teachers I remember Hiram Dem- 
 ing, W. K. Blair, Miss Wealthy Ann Lathrop, Miss Denslow, 
 Miss Chapman, Mr. E. F. Wallace, George F. Comstock, Mr. and 
 Mrs. A. G. Salisbury, Prof. Mayo and Orrin Root. Mr. Root, at 
 the Syracuse Academy in 1839, was my last school teacher in 
 Syracuse. 
 
 Mrs. Nelson Gilbert is now the only person known to be living, 
 who was a teacher in the first old school house — her name was 
 then Orvilla Parker. 
 
 This school house was the place for the consideration, and was 
 the starting point for many things affecting the best interests of 
 the early village. Nearly all of our prominent churches had their 
 early beginning in this old building. Of the practical builders of 
 
58 M. W. HANCHETT REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the village I well remember, as among the first, David and Amos 
 Stafford, Henry Giflford, Luther Gifford, Daniel Elliott, Bradley 
 Gary and Elijah T. Hay den — of these, the last is still living. All 
 building materials needful were at hand. Onondaga lime stone, 
 quarried near by, lumber to be obtained or sawed to order at the 
 mill of "Uncle" Fred Horner, between "the flume" and Onondaga 
 creek, near the old " Red Mill," which stood in West Genesee 
 street, and brick from the yard of Zopher Adams on the west 
 bank of Onondaga creek, next the old " Cinder road," — now West 
 Onondaga street. 
 
 The greater number of the village buildings erected in the 
 thirties, or before, have now disappeared. I have endeavored by 
 m^emory sketches to preserve, for our aftercomers, the appearance 
 of some of the more promient of the early village structures. 
 
 Of the principal professional and business men of this early 
 day I have a clear remembrance — for in the days of the small 
 village everybody knew everybody — and it would seem then, less 
 from motives for personal advantage than appears the rule now- 
 a-days in towns of larger growth. 
 
 The cholera scourge, which visited our country in 1832-3, ap- 
 peared with much severity in our village. Among the many in- 
 habitants who were suddenly taken away were some of the more 
 prominent citizens. A deep gloom was cast over the community. 
 The lines of travel, usually full, were much reduced in patronage 
 — and people of the country kept at a distance from the place, so 
 was the business of the village greatly depressed. 
 
 This calamity was followed by the great fire of 1834. I saw 
 the first bursting forth of the flames that destroyed the buildings 
 between Salina and Warren streets on both banks of the Erie 
 canal. These were business buildings occupying the very heart 
 of the village, and the loss was very disastrous to the place, and 
 greatly discouraging to the mercantile interests, but reaction'soon 
 came, the buildings were early replaced by more substantial struc- 
 tures—some of which are still standing— and the village took on 
 a new life. 
 
 A "thousand and one" things of the early days might be 
 spoken of as they come to mind, but my string should not run on. 
 I will stop now before I venture more— only adding my best 
 wishes for the Onondaga Historical Association and trusting this 
 occasion may tend to awaken an increased interest and open the 
 way for its fuller prosperity and greater usefulness. 
 
M. W. HANCHETT REMINISCENCES. 
 
 59 
 
 THE OI^D EED MIIJ>. 
 
 THE OLD RED MILL. 
 
 " In 1805 Mr. Walton built the first mills in Syracuse, thus 
 improving the disputed mill site. He constructed a dam of logs 
 across the creek about where it is crossed by West Genesee street, 
 and the roadway passed along the top of the dam. The mill stood 
 on the east bank of the stream, partly on the High School site 
 (former High School) and partly in what is now the street. It 
 was two stories high with an attic, contained two runs of stones, 
 and was painted red, giving it the well known title of ' the red 
 mill.' The first dam stood only about a year when a spring 
 freshet carried the dam away. The second was buih about where 
 West Water street crosses the creek, and a wooden bridge was 
 erected over the creek at Genesee street. The second dam was 
 replaced in 1824 by one built of stone. These dams created a 
 large mill pond, the size and situation of which are shown on , 
 maps of 1819 and 1834"— Onondaga Centennial, p. 401. 
 
REMINISCENCES BY DR. A. R. MORGAN. 
 
 My father moved to the village of Syracuse in 1836, and kept 
 a tavern at the corner of Church and Salina streets, this business 
 be sold to Smith (father of Lewis, Schuyler and Andrew J. 
 Smith), who in turn disposed of it to William A. Robinson, who 
 established the Onondaga Temperance House. 
 
 My father afterwards engaged in the bakery business in "Rob- 
 bers Row" and went to smash in the financial crash of 1837, from 
 which be never recovered — he was succeeded by I. A. and 
 Paschal Thurber, long favorably known as successful business 
 men. 
 
 Syracuse then contained a population of probably 5,000 people, 
 every one being fully persuaded that the salt industry, and the 
 transportation facilities — ^passenger and frieght — afforded by the 
 unsalted C's ("Clinton's ditch" and the Oswego canal), meant 
 a great future for it. At that time the village was surrounded in 
 all directions, except towards the hills in the northeast by an al- 
 most bottomless cedar swamp, rendered passable in early time, 
 only by means of corduroy, made by placing logs close together 
 across the road. 
 
 At that time Syracuse had the unenviable reputation of being 
 about the roughest and most unhealthy place in the State of New 
 York, due to the salt boilers from " Salt Point," mosquitos from 
 the everlasting swamp and the prevailing miasmatic fever. 
 
 Then as now, Salina street at the crossing of the Erie canal, 
 was the busiest "vortex." Standing upon the high arching bridge 
 at this point and looking northward the view in that direction 
 was blocked by the old Court House, then standing apparently 
 at the farthest end of the street, at about the present comer of 
 Ash street in the Second Ward. 
 
 Back of the Court House, upon the edge of a pine grove 
 thicket, stood the jail, which I have good reason to remember, 
 for one day a negro was hung there, and among a number of 
 other boys who were attending Dr. Mayo's school — at intersection 
 of .Church with West Genesee street, — and who being unable to 
 
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DR. A. R. MORGAN REMINISCENCES. 6l 
 
 get "excused," ran away in order to "assist" on that memOTabk 
 occasion. 
 
 The jail yard containing the gallows, was temporarily sur- 
 rounded by a high board fence and some of us in order to secure 
 a better view, climbed the adjacent pine trees, thus getting our 
 hands well daubed with tell tale pitch, not easily removed, and 
 which exposed our truancy at home and culminated in punish- 
 ment not soon forgotten. 
 
 At that time looking north from the Salina street bridge, over 
 and beyond the Oswego canal bridge, but very few and scatter- 
 ing homes were to be seen. Near the bridge at the entrance to 
 Robbers Row were substantial brick buildings. 
 
 The south side of Robbers Row was pretty solidly built up, 
 and here was done the principal grocery business of the town, 
 which consisted largely in supplying passing boatmen with what 
 they needed. 
 
 The principal merchants were Waggoner, (corner of Salina) ; 
 Leslie's, (father of David and John) ; the Cadwells, William K. 
 Blair and B. C. Lathrop, (at the Warren street end of the block.) 
 At the east end of Robbers Row, north side, was the unimposing 
 but somewhat notorious Greyhound Tavern. 
 
 Crossing SaHna street about where Willow street now is, was 
 quite a stream, conveying the waste water from the weigh lock, 
 situated at the crossing of the Oswego canal by Foot street (now 
 
 James street.) 
 
 Upon a slight elevation, just beyond where this creek crossed 
 Salina street, fronted by a considerable grass plot, stood the 
 noticeable residence of the father of our highly esteemed Judge 
 William J. Wallace of the United States Circuit Court. 
 
 This stream after crossing Salina street ran parallel to said 
 street to McKinstry's soap and candle factory of odoriferous 
 memory, and then turned westward and emptied into the Onon- 
 daga creek near the old elm tree swimming hole, a famous resort 
 for the youngsters of that day. 
 
 Just west of this creek, near Salina street and about where 
 Noxon street now is, was at that time quite a grove of pine trees 
 
62 DR. A. R. MORGAN REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and beyond this grove, extending clear to the Onondaga creek, 
 the ground was entirely occupied by solar salt vats, built on stilts, 
 affording excellent hiding places for the boys in their play. 
 
 Clinton Square at this time was the wood market and in the 
 winter, during good sleighing was often crowded with teams 
 loaded with maple and beach. This was before the railroads 
 brought coal to Syracuse. 
 
 On the north side of Clinton Square was a long two story tav- 
 ern called the Mansion House, afterwards replaced by the Voor- 
 hees aijd the Empire. At the west end of the square stood an 
 unimposing three-story brick building, painted yellow, dear to 
 the hearts of many a youngster of the time, for here was Phin- 
 ney's Theater and Museum of Natural Curiosities. 
 
 Here I witnessed my first theatrical exhibition — the play, I 
 remember was " The Golden Parmer," which probably to-day 
 would be insufferably stupid — ^but I enjoyed it amazingly. Here 
 also was given the first of the negro minstrel performances, these 
 being just brought out, "Zip Coon, Jim Crow," etc. I shall 
 never forget the uproarious applause which greeted " Turn about 
 and whirl about and do just so," "turn about and whirl about 
 and jump Jim Crow," ending in a break-down dance. 
 
 Looking from the bridge along West Genesee street the view 
 ended at the old Red Mill, where the High School building now 
 stands. 
 
 Across the street, south of the Red Mill was the saw mill of 
 Fred Horner and the mill pood full of floating logs, which tempted 
 ventursome boys to jeopardize their lives by following the leader 
 with nimble feet across the dancing timber. 
 
 "Ah! those days, those days!" West Genesee street be- 
 yond the rickety bridge across the creek afforded no attraction. 
 A monotonous field of salt vat covers was spread out on both sides 
 of the unattractive highways almost to the Geddes line. 
 
 Looking from the bridge, facing the south, we had Hanover 
 Square at our left, Salina street to the south and Water street on 
 our right hand. 
 
 On the south side of Hanover Square, next to the Syracuse 
 
DR. A. R. MORGAN REMINISCENCES. 63 
 
 House, was the Postoffice and farther towards the east were about 
 all the dry goods stores in town. 
 
 The Episcopal Church occupied the ground where the " Flat- 
 iron" block was afterwards built and at the far east end of the 
 square stood an insignificant two-story structure, since replaced 
 by the more imposing Bastable Block. Salina street virtually 
 ended at the Lamed House, where the old " Cinder road" now 
 West Onondaga street branches to the south and west ; beyond the 
 Lamed House, fields and pastures began. 
 
 At the right hand corner of Salina and Water streets and op- 
 posite (west) of the Syracuse House stood a four-story brick 
 building occupied by Horace and Charles A. Wheaton as a hard- 
 ware store, this building was destroyed by fire in 1849, rebuilt by 
 Dr. Wieting and destroyed again by fire in 1856, and again re- 
 built by Dr. Wieting. 
 
 The next building on Water street was also occupied as a 
 hardware store by Malcolm & Hudson, (who were held responsi- 
 ble for) I remember the terrible explosion of gun powder at the 
 carpenter shop of Charley Goings, (corner of Willow street and 
 Oswego canal) , on the night of August 20th, 1841 ; resulting in 
 the loss of twenty-seven lives and the serious injuring of more 
 than fifty yeople. 
 
 The horror of that night is vividly impressed upon my mem- 
 ory. We were living on Salina street, near Fayette; my father 
 was absent from home and my mother woke us from a sound 
 sleep, saying that something dreadful had happened, people were 
 hurrying past the house, all going north, and she asked me to go 
 and see what was the matter. I followed as far as Church street, 
 when the way became blocked by the crowd. 
 
 They were carrying injured people into the Onondaga House. 
 I followed and found the floors covered with the dead, the dying ( 
 and the injured. 
 
 One of the first persons, attracting my attention was Dr. 
 Hiram Hoyt, the distinguished surgeon, bending over the bruised 
 form of D. C. LeRoy, whose head and face seemed to me almost 
 an indistinguishable mass of bleeding flesh. I distinctly remem- 
 
64 DR. A. R. MORGAN REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ber hearing LeRoy, in a perfectly calm and self-possessed manner, 
 ask the Doctor, if there was any chance for recovery and his 
 pluck probably did much toward saving his life. Nearby lay a 
 boy whom I knew well, William Lilly, who recovered and after- 
 wards did creditable service as color bearer in the 12th Regiment, 
 N. Y. S. V. 
 
 Another whom I knew.Zebina Dwight, a noble young man, lay 
 dead upon the floor, while his heart broken wife stood wringing 
 her hands and distractedly exclaiming " he never, never uttered 
 an unkind word to me in my life." 
 
 There was blood everywhere. Nearly every house in the 
 vicinity was turned into an emergency hospital. 
 
 Next day (Saturday) all business houses were closed — on 
 Sunday funerals were marching in many directions. Country peo- 
 ple flocked in from all directions. 
 
 Trains from neighboring cities brought crowds and among 
 them were many sympathizing firemen, for among the victims 
 were several well known members of the Volunteer Fire Depart- 
 ment, active, energetic business men from among the best fami- 
 lies. 
 
 Looking south from the bridge, but few buildings were con- 
 spicuous. Two-story buildings extended down each side of Sa- 
 lina street to what is now Washington or Railroad street. 
 
 On the southwest corner of Salina and Railroad streets was the 
 business office of John Wilkinson who lived in a plain and unpre- 
 tentious dwelling with a spacious lawn in front, in same enclos- 
 ure with his office. 
 
 Two or three frame houses with grass plots in front stood next 
 to the Wilkinson place and on the northwest comer of Fayette 
 street stood the tavern of William B. Kirk; across the street 
 from Kirk's' stood the Keeler tavern. 
 
 The Presbyterian church stood at the northeast corner of Fay- 
 ette and Salina street and north of the church was a large garden 
 in the center of which stood the residence of Dr. Phillips, a popu- 
 lar physician. 
 
 The packet boats landed all their passengers on the south side 
 
DR. A. R. MORGAN REMINISCENCES. 65 
 
 of the canal basin and just west of Salina street, and lively times 
 always prevailed upon the arrival of boats bringing passengers 
 from Albany, Buffalo and Oswego. 
 
 The Syracuse House was nearby and its landlord, " Phile" 
 Rust was renowned for keeping the best hotel west of Albany. 
 
 In the absence of the social facilities of the modern club, the 
 ample porches and reception rooms of the Syracuse House be- 
 came the popular assembling place for citizens and strangers. 
 
 An old timer once remarked to me, that he remembered when- 
 ever a stranger came to town, they managed to " pan him out " 
 and if they learned that he had $3,000, or $4,000, they concluded 
 it best to cultivate his acquaintance. 
 
 I am stringing this out too long, but I could go on and fill a 
 ream of paper with reminiscences of the dear old town, which 
 no one ever left without the desire to return. 
 
MEMOIR OF SYRACUSE CADETS. 
 (By M. H. Jacobs.) 
 
 The Syracuse Cadets, a military company organized in the 
 summer of 1842. I thought that it would be interesting to some 
 to read something of the history of that enterprising company, 
 composed, as it was, mostly of young men just entering the years 
 of their manhood, full of life and young vigor, and hungering for 
 something to satisfy their aspirations for excitement and laudable 
 pleasure. 
 
 I do not expect to give all the details of the incidents which 
 occurred, and have forgotten many names who were members, but 
 shall endeavor to state some of their history according to the best 
 of my recollection. 
 
 In the year 1842, many of the leading citizens of our village 
 expressed the desire to form an independent military company; 
 the villages of Auburni and Utica had their military companies 
 and would often come as an escort to our village with some dis- 
 tinguished personage and we became ashamed that we had no 
 military organization to receive them in due form and to escort 
 them to the next village, on their way, — accordingly a meeting of 
 citizens interested in forming a company and who were willing to 
 join was called. Those who attended the meeting were mostly 
 men of middle age and many of them were prominent in business. 
 Several of us young men met with them and expressed our wil- 
 lingness to join, but the older portion of those present did not like 
 the idea of boys joining and, in order to get rid of us, adjourned 
 without organizing, with a secret purpose to mieet soon without 
 the boys being present, but we soon found out the trick and de- 
 cided to flank those older heads. Before organizing the company. 
 Captain Teall gave five of us young men — ^enough to ofificer a 
 company — instructions in the position of the soldier, facing, 
 marching and wheeling for five weeks, two hours every week day 
 evening. He would stand on a chair behind us and put his knee 
 between our shoulders and pull our arms back, with our little 
 fingers on the outside seam of our pants to make us erect and 
 cure our round shoulders ; he would put us in position and say, 
 " now don't you stir a hand if forty spiders are crawling up your 
 nose," be would keep us there until our bones ached. 
 
SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 67 
 
 I drew up a form of enrollment in proper shape and in forty- 
 eight hours had forty names, which was the statute number to 
 organize a company ; these men then were notified to meet for 
 organization and the election of officers. 
 
 Timothy H. Teall, formerly of West Point, was elected Cap- 
 tain. 
 
 William B. Olmsted, First Lieutenant. 
 
 Joseph Hayden, Second Lieutenant. 
 
 M. H. Jacobs, Orderly and Drill Sergeant. 
 
 Other non-commissioned officers were elected as the regula- 
 tions required. At 12 o'clock that night Captain Teall boarded 
 the train for Albany to obtain our commissions and accoutrements, 
 thus by prompt action we secured our commissions, etc., ahead of 
 the old men and outranked them. We organized as light infan- 
 try, became flanking company on the right of the regiment and 
 the old men organized as artillery, which made them the flanking 
 company on the left of the regiment. For this shrewdness the old 
 corps never forgave us. We bought a fatigue uniform of gray, 
 but no full dress uniform, as several members were in their ap- 
 prenticeship and could not afford it, but gave strict attention to 
 our drill tactics; sometimes when they would turn out for a pa- 
 rade through the village we would turn out also and while we 
 would form hollow square around them, and retreat before them 
 in street firing back at them with blank cartridges, we could keep 
 out of their way, while citizens clapped their hands in applause. 
 
 We had a rule to turn out in time of fire to protect property, 
 we desired to make ourselves useful as well as ornamental and 
 we were considered by most military men one of the best dis- 
 ciplined companies in the State. Captain Teall taught us to keep 
 in proper position and handle our guns with our hands and arms 
 without moving our bodies and to do our maching with our legs 
 and not sway the body. 
 
 On the night of January ist, 1844, we met for drill in our 
 armory in the Granger Block. After drill was over and company 
 dismissed I stepped into the office of Lieutenant William B. Olm- 
 sted, architect in the east end of the block, as I was a pupil of his. 
 
68 SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 
 
 About half past nine I heard guns firing, I stepped to the window 
 on Railroad street and raised it and heard a woman's voice giving 
 orders, fire, fire, and they dSd fire. I said, "Olmsted, there is 
 a riot, we may be called out, shall I go into the armory, throw up 
 the window and give a drum call ? " "Yes," said he. I did so and 
 about twenty-five responded. A company of rough men who had 
 drank heavily entered the bar room of the German Hotel on the 
 comer where the Vanderbilt Hotel now stands and insulted the 
 landlady and broke down the beer pump. Her husband was look- 
 ing after the preparations for the evening supper. His wife ran 
 into the dining room crying and said she " had been insulted," 
 which proved to be quite true. The landlord went into the 
 bar and asked who had insulted his wife. Bill Blake an- 
 swered " I did," and the landlord shot him through the neck ; he 
 fell to the floor bleeding, all the crowd chased from the room 
 cursing and saying, " kill the dutchman ;" the dutchman caught 
 Blake by the collar and dragged him out on to the sidewalk and 
 fastened the door and retreated to the chamber. The mob began 
 stoning the house and the German and his friends fired out of the 
 windows; we just put on our accoutrements and awaited orders. 
 Sheriff Heber Wetherby was at the Syracuse House and had just 
 been sworn into office that day ; soon Russell Hibbard, the deputy 
 sheriff came and ordered us to load with ball and buckshot and 
 hasten down and form in front of the hotel on the railroad, with 
 orders if there was any more firing after we arrived, then 
 fire into the house ; when we formed there the woman called out, 
 "o de soger man, the soger man," and they ceased firing. Sheriff 
 Hibbard and Lieutenant Olmsted came and detailed five of us 
 from the right of the company to accompany them into the house, 
 and arrest the inmates; we found the front door locked. Lieuten- 
 ant Olmsted put his heel opposite the lock and the door opened. 
 He then bounded upstairs, opened the door into the front chamber 
 and saw the big landlord standing on the opposite side of the 
 room with pistol in hand pointing straight at him. Olmsted sprang 
 forward and seized the pistol to wrench it out of his hand and, as 
 be did so, the hammer of the lock came down on the skin between 
 
SYRACUSE CADirrS MEMOIR. 69 
 
 his thumb and forefinger and in another instant our bayonets 
 were under his nose, which made him stretch up taller. We cap- 
 tured eleven persons and brought all into the front chamber ; we 
 then started to go down stairs. As we were passing out of the 
 room into the hall, All Davis, a friend of Drake, who was shot, 
 raised a large club with both hands to strike the German. Lieu- 
 tenant Olmsted seized Davis by the wrist and in a twinkling 
 jerked him to the head of the stairs and put the point of his sword 
 into his back, so it cooled him down. He ordered him down stairs 
 and put Nicholas Nickels over him as guard ; we then passed to 
 the street and formed to march to the jail which was located on 
 Townsend street opposite Turn Hall in the now Second Ward of 
 the city ; as we were forming a hollow square around the prisoners 
 there was a move by the mob to assault the prisoners and we were 
 obliged to fix bayonets outward and come to a position of charge 
 on the mob. As we did so a large stone passed by my head and 
 struck the landlord between the shoulders ; it nearly felled him to 
 the ground; the mob seeing that we meant business desisted and 
 we marched up North Salina street arriving at the jail. The 
 prisoners were received by Mr. Cook, the jailor, and I was left 
 in charge with a guard of eight men, as the mob had threatened 
 to tear the jail down. It was a bitter cold night with about one 
 foot of snow. I mounted guard with four men with instructions 
 not to allow a cat to pass without the countersign (which was 
 January first.) It was so cold that I relieved guard every hour; 
 the jailor gave us lots of mine pie, sweet cider and doughnuts. 
 When the company returned from the jail they found the mob 
 were destroying the hotel ; they had the chairs and window blinds 
 piled in the street and burning; the table was all set and the 
 turkey and other edibles were on it, and it was said, that Caleb 
 Davis mounted the table and with a double shufifle the whole 
 length of it knocked everything ofif of it and then took the turkey 
 by the legs and smashed it through the windows. Then some- 
 body turned the faucets, destroyed all provisions and stole several 
 hundred five franc pieces from a chest. When all bad been quieted 
 down and put under guard, Captain Teall then came to the jail; 
 
70 SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 
 
 he found four cadets on guard, one on each side. He said he was . 
 pleased to find a guard in good order ; but thought be would play 
 a trick on me and the boys ; there was a grove of large pine trees 
 where the Townsend School House now stands which was on the 
 back Slide of the jail with a common board fence, and there was 
 also a high board fence around the back side of the jail. The 
 Captain thought he could creep along behind the board fence in 
 the grove till he came opposite the yard fence of the jail, then 
 when the guard turned to go eastward he would jump the board 
 fence, run across the street, which was not wide, scale the yard 
 fence at the jail and get a good rig on us boys. George Risinger 
 the cigarmaker, was guard on that side and when the Captain 
 camie across the road George hailed him, "Stand, who goes th'ere," 
 he said this three times, running towards the Captain as fast as 
 he could ; when he had hailed him three times, he called out three 
 times and cocked his gun to fire. The Captain was then up on 
 top of the jail yard fence, a fine mark with the sky as a back- 
 ground. The Captain heard the lock of the gun click and threw 
 up his arms and screamed Captain. He was so frightened that it 
 was some time before he got over it, for George Risinger was as 
 true a man as ever handled a musket and he would have shot 
 him in another second. The next day our cadets escorted the 
 prisoners down to the office of Major Cook, who was then Justice 
 of the Peace, for examination. The man' was justified by Major 
 Cook and acquitted, but he dare not be found in the streets, as 
 there was so many who threatened his life ; so he took rooms with 
 Mr. Filkins, who kept boarding house in the Larned Block, and I 
 was detailed with six men to guard the house ; there was a broad 
 stairway on the Warren street side; we were given the parlor 
 for quarters with one man on picket duty at the head of the stairs, 
 but we were not molested. The German and his family left town 
 and went West. Blake recovered after much suffering; the ball 
 grazed his jugular vein, tearing his neck badly. It was a potent 
 warning to him and his associates to keep sober. 
 
 In the spring of 1844, I moved to the village of Salina and 
 resigned my position as orderly of the Syracuse Cadets and be- 
 
SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 71 
 
 came a member of Colonel Hales staff and J. W. Jones was ap- 
 pointed acting Orderly Sergeant in my stead, as appears on the 
 old warrant. 
 
 At the time of the general review in the fall of 1844, all 
 mdependent companies in the village and militia of the county 
 were called out. When Colonel Hale formed the regiment in line 
 he placed the Citizens Corps at the head of the column and the 
 Cadets on the left, without consulting the cadets; this act de- 
 priving them of their legal position, according to their rank, put 
 the Cadets in a rage. They bore up under it all the forenoon ; 
 most of the regiment dined at the Syracuse House kept by Philo 
 Rust. They stacked their arms on the lower piazza on the Salina 
 street side ; they were boiling over with rage at the insult which 
 had been given them ; they made some threats, and when the line 
 formed at Salina street after dinner to march to the field for re- 
 view the Cadets did not form with the regiment; they formed on 
 the piazza, unstacked their guns and came to the position of rest 
 until the column began to move around the corner of East Gene- 
 see street. The. Cadets were in charge of First Lieutenant Wil- 
 liam B. Olmsted, Captain T. H. Teall having died ; when the Citi- 
 zens Corps came opposite the right flank of the Cadets on East 
 Genesee street. Lieutenant Olmsted gave the command right 
 flank, double quick march. The band struck up a lively tune and 
 the boys skipped off the piazza and across East Genesee street, 
 walking completely over the Citizens Corps; some were pushed 
 down and one man, Reuben Blossom, had a nervous fit and was 
 carried to the Syracuse House piazza, there was some confusion 
 just about then. 
 
 Two German companies, who took sides with the Cadets, left 
 the line and with the Cadets formed on Water street, while the 
 other companies came to order and marched down East Genesee 
 street and to the parade field, located where Adams street now is, 
 near Warren street. The Cadets, with the two Germ'an companies, 
 one of which Jacob Pfbol was captain, also marched to the field 
 and formed a separate batallion. For this rash act Lieutenant 
 Olmsted was Court Marshalled, tried and fined and broke off his 
 
72 SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 
 
 office, which caused the Cadets to become disheartened and they 
 disbanded. Some of those dear boys proved to be brave vahiable 
 men to their country in after years. Moses Brower, brother of 
 Hiram Brower, the locksmith, I think was captain in the old I2th 
 N. Y. Volunteers in the Southern Rebellion and was killed fight- 
 ing for the Union. I think that he was one of the five who was 
 so thoroughly drilled by Captain Teall. Rufus Pettit, an appren- 
 tice with Elijah T. Hayden, learning the carpenter trade, joined 
 the company after it had been organized some little time, — it fell 
 to my lot to break him in ; he was perfectly wiUing to do every- 
 thing that was required, but be tried so hard to learn that when 
 put in the position of a soldier be seemed as stiff as a stake, he 
 was round shouldered, — I mounted a chair, put my knee to his 
 back and drew his shoulders back, put his hands down with little 
 fingers on the seams of his pants and let him stand awhile, then 
 put him through his facings, but when I came to teach him march 
 time, and march to count I learned there was no time in him and 
 I actually took hold of his feet with my hands so as to aid him 
 to keep step in time, but he was so willing that he soon mas- 
 tered it all and became one of the most thorough disciplined men 
 in the company. He enlisted in the United States Army for the 
 Mexican War. I was told of a very interesting incident concern- 
 ing him in the seige of the capital. A battery was engaged trying 
 to shoot down a flag on the Mexican Capitol building. Mr. Pet- 
 tit's captain, who also commanded a battery said, " I know a man 
 who will bring that flag down." " Well," siaid the Captain, 
 whose battery was firing, " trot him out and he shall have a 
 chance." Pettit was called and asked if he could do it; he re- 
 plied, " I can try," and he did try. He took his time to calculate 
 the distance with his eye, then to elevate the gun so as to hit the 
 object at that distance ; all ready (bang) and down came the flag. 
 There was some cheering and praise and he was given charge of 
 a battery. He came home when the time of enlistment expired 
 and located at Baldwinsville and when the war of the late Rebel- 
 lion broke out raised a rifle company and went through the war. 
 I think he is still living. 
 
SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 73 
 
 George Risinger, Charles Phelps and Thomas Sessions and 
 the writer are also yet living; I do not know whether there are 
 any others. Spenoer P. Rust and the writer learned the art of 
 small sword fencing of Captain Simmons of the Regular Army, 
 who was in Syracuse as a recruiting officer at that time; we re- 
 sorted for outdoor practice to a pine grove on Townsend street, 
 which was in the rear of the old James R. Lawrence residence ; 
 the grove is gone and Spencer also and fifty-three years never to 
 return. 
 
 Life is short and time is fleeting. 
 Though our hearts are strong and brave. 
 Still like muffled drums, their beating 
 Funeral marches to the grave. 
 
 Grief murmers, 
 Anger roars. 
 Impatience frets. 
 
 But happiness (or holiness) flows on in a quiet sunlight without 
 a ripple or a frill to mark the rushing on of time towards eternity. 
 The accompanying orders for notifying the members to attend 
 a meeting for the election of officers dated August 2nd, 1844, on 
 the evening of August 7th at headquarters, Syracuse Cadets 
 Military Hall, which was in the old Amos P. Granger Block, I 
 found among some old papers ; this to me is a choice old relic and 
 reminder of earlier days of happy association: 
 
 Headquarters, Syracuse Cadets Military Hall. 
 Orders, No 8. 
 
 To Corporal B. L. Higgins: 
 
 You are hereby ordered to notify the persons whose names 
 are hereunder written, to be and appear for Election of Officers,^ 
 at The Armory of The Syracuse Cadets, Granger Block, the sev- 
 enth day of August at 8 o'clock in the evening of that day ; and 
 for so doing, this shall be your sufficient warrant. Hereof fail 
 
74 SYRACUSE CADETS MEMOIR. 
 
 not; and make due return to me of what you shall do in the 
 premises. 
 
 Dated at Syracuse, this second day of August, A. D., 1844. 
 
 J. W. JoNES^ Act. Orderly. 
 
 Piatt Adams, Amos B. Baldwin, EHsh M. Higgins, W. W. 
 Fairfield, P. W. Fisher, C. M. St. John, Rufus Rose, David Ells- 
 worth, Allen Butler, Thos. W. Roberts, Chas. Phelps, Richard 
 Bomfry, Moses Brower, Joseph Hayden, Spenoer P. Rust, Chas. 
 Kellogg, John Green, George Davis, Squire J. Green, Rufus 
 Petitt, George Risinger, Capt. Timothy H. Teall, Wm. B. Olm- 
 sted, Lieut. ; Thomas Sessions, Nicholas Nickels, M. H. Jacobs, 
 Peter lyockey, Samuel Oliver. 
 
 I, the within named, B. L. Higgins, do hereby certify that the 
 persons named in the within warrant, were duly warned by me, 
 as within directed, in manner following, viz: Those marked R, 
 by reading the said warrant ; those marked P, by stating the sub- 
 stance thereof; those marked N, by leaving a notice thereof, 
 signed by me, at their usual places of abode; and those marked 
 A, by affixing such notice on the outer door of their respective 
 houses. 
 
 B. L. Higgins, Corporal. 
 
INDKX 
 
 A 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abbott, "Long John" 28 
 
 Abbott, William E 54 
 
 Adams, Rev. John Watson.. 38,. 49 
 
 Adams, Piatt 74 
 
 Adams, Rodney L 21 
 
 Adams, Zopher 58 
 
 Advertiser, Syracuse 20, 21 
 
 Agan, P. H 21, 22, 25 
 
 Andrews, Hon. Charles 1 
 
 Archimedian, The 32 
 
 Armory Park is Franklin 
 
 Square 12 
 
 Ashley, Theodore 32 
 
 Ayer, Mrs. Frederick 55 
 
 B 
 
 Bacon & Woodruff 34 
 
 Bagg, James L 14 
 
 Bagg, MaryE 49 
 
 Baker, Charles A 14 
 
 Baldwin, Amos B 74 
 
 Baldwin, Harvey 14 
 
 Baptist Church 38, 39 
 
 Barber, Joseph 27 
 
 Barlow, John K 25 
 
 Barlow, Rev. William 39 
 
 Barnes, Henry 21 
 
 Barney, Mrs. Edwin 55 
 
 Bassett, Dr 15 
 
 Beebee, storekeeper 32 
 
 Bennett, Harvey 48 
 
 Birdseye, Ellen D 53 
 
 Birdseye, Victory 53 
 
 Blair, W. K 57, 61 
 
 Blake, Bill 68, 70 
 
 Blossom, Reuben 71 
 
 Bogardus Comers 15 
 
 Bomfry, Richard 74 
 
 Boundaries of Village 2 
 
 Boyd, John 34 
 
 Bradley, J. 1 47 
 
 Brewster, S. C 35 
 
 Bridges, G. 47 
 
 Brower, Hiram 72 
 
 Brower, Moses 72, 74 
 
 Buell, H. B 37 
 
 Buell, Luther 37 
 
 Bugle Blast 22 
 
 Burdick, Hamilton 14 
 
 Burk, William L 35 
 
 Burleigh, William H 27 
 
 Burnet, Major 45, 51 
 
 Burnet, Moses D 1 
 
 Bums, Peter 53 
 
 Burt, Aaron 53 
 
 PACK 
 
 Butler, Allen 45, 74 
 
 Butrick, Miss Charlotte 46 
 
 Business Men of Village 30 
 
 c 
 
 Cadwells 61 
 
 Canal bridges 57, 60 
 
 Carson, Thomas L 24 
 
 Cary, Bradley 58 
 
 Catholic Sun 27 
 
 Cemetery, Village 12 
 
 Central Demokrat 27 
 
 Chapman, Miss 27 
 
 Chester, Anson G 21 
 
 Cholera of 1832 12, 16, 23, 58 
 
 Cinder road 58, 63 
 
 Citizens' Corps 71 
 
 Clark, Joseph B 22 
 
 Clark, Lewis Gaylord 20 
 
 Clark, Willis Gaylord 20 
 
 Clary, Dr. Lyman 16, 17 
 
 Clay Banner 22 
 
 Clergy of Village 38 
 
 Clinton Square 56, 57, 60, 62 
 
 Colvin, B. F 45 
 
 Colvin, Mrs. Benjamin 49 
 
 Colvin, Dr. D. T 45, 46 
 
 Colvin, Dr 15 
 
 Colvin, J. H 45, 46 
 
 Colvin, Jasper H 45 
 
 Comstock, Geo. P.. ..14, 21, 22, 57 
 
 Congregational church 54 
 
 Cook, Jailor 69 
 
 Cook, John 44 
 
 Cook, Major 70 
 
 Cook, V. & Co 32 
 
 Cooper, Edward 21 
 
 Corinth, Syracuse called 15 
 
 Council chamber, first 57 
 
 Courier, Syracuse 21, 22 
 
 Courtney, John 43 
 
 Crandall, William L 21, 24 
 
 Crouse, Jacob 53 
 
 Cummings, Hiram 23 
 
 D 
 
 Danforth, Asa 46 
 
 Daumas, A. & Co 34 
 
 Davis, All 69 
 
 Davis, Caleb 69 
 
 Davis, George 74 
 
 Davis, Henry 14 
 
 Davis, Mat. W. & G 32 
 
 Davis, Thomas T 14, 52 
 
 Davison & Blackman 32 
 
INDE2C. 
 
 T> T PAGE 
 
 Day, Jonathan....l2, 15, 16, 31, 34 
 
 Demmg, Hiram 57 
 
 Democrat, Onondaga 27 
 
 Democrat, Syracuse 27 
 
 Denslow, Miss 57 
 
 Dickinson & Mann 34 
 
 Didama, Dr. H. D., address... 15 
 
 District School Journal 34 
 
 Dole, first merchant 30 
 
 Doty, Joseph 35 
 
 Dunlap, Dr. Joseph P 19 
 
 Dumford, James i 
 
 Durnford, John 20, 23, 30, 32 
 
 Dumford, Henry W 1 
 
 Durston, T. W 31 
 
 Dwight, Zebina 64 
 
 E 
 
 Earll, Mrs. Jonas, Sr 50 
 
 Earll, Nehemiah H 14 
 
 Edwards' book store 31 
 
 Edwards, Sophia 47 
 
 Elliott, Daniel 58 
 
 Elliott, Edward 47 
 
 Elliott, Ursula 49 
 
 Ellis, James 53 
 
 Ellsworth, David 74 
 
 Elm tree swimming hole 61 
 
 Empire State Democrat 23 
 
 Episcopal church 39 
 
 Evangelical pulpit 27 
 
 Evening Herald 21 
 
 Evening Mail 21 
 
 Evening Telegram 21 
 
 Explosion of 1841 41, 63 
 
 F 
 
 Fairfield, W. W 74 
 
 Farmer, Marcellus 21, 22, 26 
 
 Fay, Thomas C 20 
 
 Firemen to be appointed 11 
 
 Fire, first big in village in 1834 
 
 12, 58 
 
 First Presbyterian Church 38 
 
 Fisher, P. W 74 
 
 Fitch, Mrs. T. B 49 
 
 Foran, Dr. James 18 
 
 Forbes, J. G 45 
 
 Forman, Joshua 1, 13, 14, 26 
 
 Fourth of July accident 43 
 
 Franklin Square 12 
 
 Free Soil Campaigner 22 
 
 G 
 
 Gardner, George J., address 
 
 notes 12 
 
 Gardner, George J ;.26, 47 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gardner, Rowland H 14 
 
 Gazette, Syracuse 20, 30 
 
 German Press 27 
 
 Gifford, Henry 58 
 
 GiflEord, Luther 58 
 
 Gilbert, Daniel 1 
 
 Gilbert, Nelson, address 41 
 
 Gilbert, N.J 12, 39 
 
 Glass, Joseph J 63 
 
 Globe factory 32 
 
 Goings, Charles .'41, 63 
 
 Gospel Messenger 27 
 
 Gould, sexton 57 
 
 Granger, Amos P....1, 30, 31, 51, 56 
 
 Granger block 51, 73 
 
 Gregory, Rev. Henry 39 
 
 Green, Gen. John A 27 
 
 Green, John 74 
 
 Green, Squire J 74 
 
 Greyhound tavern 61 
 
 Griswold, Rufus W 28 
 
 Grover & Stillson 34 
 
 H 
 
 Haes, Rev. Michael 40 
 
 Haight, Seth 21 
 
 Hanchett, Dr. J. C 16, 17 
 
 Hanchett, Dr. John W... 17, 34, 56 
 
 Hanchett, Dr. Juliet 17 
 
 Hanchett, M. W., reminiscen- 
 ces 56 
 
 Hanchett, Waldo 54 
 
 Hanchett, Mrs. Waldo 54 
 
 Hanchett, Capt. Oliver 17 
 
 Hanging of Negro 60 
 
 Hanover Square 62 
 
 Hale, Col 71 
 
 Hall, LeviW 24 
 
 Hatch, Delia Colvin, reminis- 
 cences 45 
 
 Hawley, Seth 27 
 
 Hayden, Elijah 58, 72 
 
 Hayden, Joseph 67 
 
 Heermans & Kasson 31 
 
 Held, Prof. Ernst 48 
 
 Herald, Evening 21, 22 
 
 Herald, Salina 21 
 
 Hibbard, Eleazar 33 
 
 Hibbard, Russell 33, 68 
 
 Higgins, B. L 73, 74 
 
 Higgins, ElishM 70 
 
 Hoagland. Edward 2i 
 
 Hoffman, Joseph A 27 
 
 Hopping, Mrs. General 52 
 
 Holcomb & Sackett 33 
 
 Holmes, R 33 
 
 Homeopathic County society... 18 
 
INDEX. 
 
 FAGB 
 
 Hooker, G 34 
 
 Horner, Fred 58, 62 
 
 Hovey, Alfred H 49 
 
 Hovey, Holly 47 
 
 Hewlett, Mrs. Ezra 48 
 
 Hoyt, Dr. Hiram 63 
 
 Hudson & Malcom 41, 63 
 
 Hurst, Samuel 42 
 
 I 
 
 Impartial Citizen 28 
 
 Incorporation of Syracuse 2 
 
 J 
 
 Jackson, William 53 
 
 Jacobs, M. H., Memoir of Syra- 
 cuse Cadets 66 
 
 James street in 1835 45 
 
 Jenkins, Arthur 21 
 
 Jerome, Emma 49 
 
 Jerome, Mortimer 47 
 
 Jerry Rescue 24, 54 
 
 Johnson, Jonathan 35 
 
 Johnson, Mary 47 
 
 Johonnot 27 
 
 Jones, J. W 71, 74 
 
 Journal, Daily 21 
 
 Journal, Onondaga 20 
 
 Journal, Weekly 21 
 
 Journal, Western State 21 
 
 Judd, S. Coming 21, 23 
 
 K 
 
 Kasson, Archie 32, 34 
 
 Kasson, Justice 36 
 
 Kasson & Heermans 31 
 
 Keeler tavern 64 
 
 Kellogg, Charles 74 
 
 Kinney, James 21 
 
 Kirk, William B 64 
 
 Kirkpatrick, Dr. William 12 
 
 Kittredge, Mrs. Francis 55 
 
 L 
 
 Langford, Mrs. N. P 55 
 
 Larned house 63 
 
 Lathrop, B. C 61 
 
 Lathrop, N. M. D 21 
 
 Lathrop, Wealthy Ann 46, 57 
 
 Lawrence, Grove 14 
 
 Lawrence, James R 14, 73 
 
 Leach, James S 14 
 
 Leavenworth, E. W 14, 44 
 
 Lee, Luther 27 
 
 Leonard, Charles 46, 48 
 
 LeRoy, D. C 63 
 
 Leslie, David 61 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Leslie, John 61 
 
 Liberty Party Paper 22 
 
 Lilly, William 64 
 
 Literary Union 27 
 
 Lockey, Peter 74 
 
 Lotteries 35 
 
 M 
 
 Mail, Evening •••■■■■• 21 
 
 Malcom & Hudson 41, 43, 63 
 
 Manlius, first newspapers 20 
 
 Mann & Dickinson 34 
 
 Mann & Millen 34 
 
 Mann's Syracuse House 31 
 
 Marsh, Francis A 21 
 
 Marsh, Moses Seymour 53 
 
 Marvin block 56 
 
 May, Rev. Samuel J 40, 54 
 
 Mayo, Prof 57, 60 
 
 McKinstry soap factory 61 
 
 Mead, Elizabeth 52 
 
 Mead, Samuel 35 
 
 Milan, Syracuse called 15 
 
 Military review of 1844 71 
 
 Milks, Samuel 35 
 
 Miller, Charlotte Birdseye, 
 Reminiscences of Charles 
 
 A. Wheaton 53 
 
 Mill pond 46 
 
 Moffit, JohnNewland 24 
 
 Morgan, Dr. A. R. , Reminis- 
 cences 60 
 
 Morgan, Mrs. Dr. A. R 55 
 
 Morgan, George B 32 
 
 Morning Post 22 
 
 Morning Sentinel 21 
 
 Morse, Evander 20 
 
 Moshell & Van Heusen 34 
 
 Mosley, William H 25 
 
 Munger, Austin E 48 
 
 Museum burned in 1834 12 
 
 N 
 
 Newman, W. W 27 
 
 Newton, Henry 35 
 
 Nickels, Nicholas 69 
 
 Northam, Alfred 1, 14 
 
 Northern Christian Advocate... 27 
 
 Northrup, A. J., address 13 
 
 Norton's advertising rhymes... 35 
 
 Noxon, B. Davis 14 
 
 Noxon, B. Davis, Jr 14 
 
 Noxon, George W 14 
 
 Noxon, James 14 
 
 o 
 
 O'Hara, Rev. James A 40 
 
 Old circus building 41 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Old Line House 46 
 
 Old Red Mill 59 
 
 Oliver, Samuel 74 
 
 Olmsted, Wm. B...67, 68, 69, 71, 74 
 
 Onondaga Democrat 27 
 
 Onondaga Hill, flrstnewspaper. 20 
 Onondaga Hollow, first news- 
 paper 20 
 
 Onondaga Medical Society 15 
 
 Onondaga Temperance House.. 60 
 
 Ormsby, A. B. F 28 
 
 Ostrander's school 34 
 
 Outwater, Peter 14 
 
 Outwater, Mrs. Peter 49 
 
 Parrott, Miss 46 
 
 Patterson, J. M 27 
 
 Pastures not taxed 4 
 
 Pfhol, Jacob 71 
 
 Peck, Gen. John J 27 
 
 Perkins, Miss, miUiner 34 
 
 Pettit, Rufus 72, 74 
 
 Phelps, Charles 72 
 
 Phillips, Dr 64 
 
 Phillips, Lucia 49 
 
 Phinney's theatre 62 
 
 Piper, Thomas P 36 
 
 Post, Morning 22 
 
 Post-Standard 21 
 
 Pratt, Daniel 14, 22 
 
 Presbyterian church 64 
 
 Press of village 20 
 
 Putnam. Capt 52 
 
 Putnam, Elizabeth 52 
 
 Ray, William 20 
 
 Raymond, Robert R 24 
 
 Raynor, Harry 49 
 
 Raynor, Julia 49 
 
 Redfield, Lewis H 
 
 20, 26, 31,47, 52 
 
 Redfield, Margaret 47 
 
 Redfield, Mary 47 
 
 Red Mill 59, 62 
 
 Religious Recorder 27 
 
 Restraining roaming geese and 
 
 swine 5 
 
 Reynolds, William 33 
 
 Richmond, Dean 52 
 
 Riot of 1844 68 
 
 Risinger, George 70, 73, 74 
 
 Robber's Row 61 
 
 Roberts, JohnT., address 30 
 
 Roberts, Thomas W 74 
 
 Robinson, William A 60 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rogers, John 1 
 
 Roman Catholic church, early. 40 
 
 Root, Elihu 46 
 
 Root, Oren 46, 57 
 
 Rose, Jesse D 1 
 
 Rose, Rufus 74 
 
 Rose Hill cemetery 45 
 
 Ruger, William C 22, 25 
 
 Rust, "Phile" 65, 71 
 
 Rust, Spencer P 72, 74 
 
 s 
 
 Sabine, William H 13 
 
 Sabine, Joseph F 14 
 
 Sackett & Holcomb 33 
 
 Safford, John D 37 
 
 Safford, Shubael 37 
 
 Salina, first newspaper 21 
 
 Salisbury, A. G 57 
 
 Salisbury. Mrs. A. G 57 
 
 Samson, Caleb 18 
 
 Samson, Henry 18 
 
 Samson, Dr. Proctor Caleb 18 
 
 Saul, George 27 
 
 School, first 57 
 
 Seaman's School 34 
 
 Sedgwick, Charles B 14, 54 
 
 Sentinel, Morning 21 
 
 Sentinel, Salina 21 
 
 Sessions, Thomas 73, 74 
 
 Seymour, Henry 53 
 
 Seymour, Horatio 53 
 
 Shaw, Paul 42 
 
 Shipman, Dr. Azariah B 18 
 
 Shuman, Andrew 21 
 
 Spalding, Rev. George B., ad- 
 dress 38 
 
 Smith, Andrew J 60 
 
 Smith, Asahel L 21, 26 
 
 Smith, Augustus S 21, 22 
 
 Smith, Carroll E., address 20 
 
 Smith, Carroll E 1, 46, 49 
 
 Smith, Gerrit 22 
 
 Smith, Lewis 60 
 
 Smith, Lora C 46 
 
 Smith, Margaret Tredwell, 
 
 reminiscences 51 
 
 Smith, Schuyler 6tL 
 
 Smith, Silas F 21, 22, M 
 
 Smith, Thomas A 21, 26 
 
 Smith, Mrs. T. T 55 
 
 Smith, Vivus W 20, 21, 26 
 
 South Salina, Syracuse called.. 15 
 
 Spencer, Israels 14 
 
 Spencer, Seth 35 
 
 Spencer, Thomas 1, 35 
 
 Spencer, Dr. Thomas 18 
 
mDEx. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sprague, David 50 
 
 Spy, The 28 
 
 Stafford, Amos 58 
 
 Stafford, David 58 
 
 Standard, Daily 21, 22 
 
 Standard, Onondaga 20, 21 
 
 Stanton, Isaac 34 
 
 Stanton, Rufus 37 
 
 Star, Syracuse 21, 22, 23 
 
 State League 24 
 
 Stems, JohnG 35 
 
 Stewdrt, R. & G 33 
 
 Stillson & Grover 34 
 
 St. John, Reuben 21 
 
 St. Paul's church 39, 47, 51, 63 
 
 Strong, Schuyler 14 
 
 Stuart, Dr. James C 18 
 
 Summers, Moses 21 
 
 Summers, William 21 
 
 Swan, Dr 15 
 
 Syracusean, The 25 
 
 Syracuse Academy 46, 57 
 
 Syracuse Book Store 31 
 
 Syracuse Cadets 66 
 
 Syracuse, first newspaper 20 
 
 Syracuse, first daily paper 21 
 
 Syracuse House in 1820 37 
 
 Syracuse House 47, 65, 71 
 
 T 
 
 Taverns to be licensed 9 
 
 Teall, Timothy H 67, 69, 71 
 
 Telegram, Evening 21 
 
 Temperance advocated 16 
 
 TenEyck, Jacob 53 
 
 Terwilliger, George 21 
 
 Theatre in 1826 36 
 
 Thurber, I. A 60 
 
 Thurber, Paschel 60 
 
 Transcript 23 
 
 Trowbridge, Dr. John F 16 
 
 Truair, J. G. K 21 
 
 Truair, T. S 21 
 
 Tupper, N. & A 34 
 
 U 
 
 Union, Syracuse 27 
 
 Unitarian church 40 
 
 Van Heusen & Moshell 34 
 
 Van Zandt, Washington 23 
 
 w 
 
 Wade, Jonathan 39 
 
 Waggoner, Mrs. Sarah 55 
 
 WalbMdge, Chester 32 
 
 Walbridge, Herman 1, 32 
 
 Wallace, Judge William J 61 
 
 Walton, Abraham 59 
 
 Ward, Samuel R 28 
 
 Watson, Winslow M 21, 24 
 
 Webb, James 1 
 
 Weed, Thurlow 20 
 
 Weyleyan 27 
 
 Westcott, Dr. Amos 19 
 
 Western State Journal 21 
 
 Wetherby, Heber 68 
 
 Wheaton, Augustus 52 
 
 Wheaton, Charles A., remin- 
 iscences of 53 
 
 Wheaton, Charles A 63 
 
 Wheaton, Dr. C. A 55 
 
 Wheaton, Edward 55 
 
 Wheaton, Ellen Birdseye 55 
 
 Wheaton, Florence 55 
 
 Wheaton, Henry 14, 55 
 
 Wheaton, Horace 63 
 
 Wieting, Dr 54, 63 
 
 Wilkinson, John 
 
 1, 13, 14, 15, 26, 35, 64 
 
 Williams, Dr. Mather 17 
 
 Williams, Thomas 46 
 
 Williston's Mansion House 31 
 
 Winchell, James M 27 
 
 Wood, Daniel? 14 
 
 Woodruff & Bacon 34 
 
 Woolworth, Richard M 14 
 
 Wyman, John F 21, 25 
 
 Yellow theatre 62 
 
 Yoe, Mrs. R. A 49 
 
 Young, Henry 1 
 
 Yoimg Hickory 49 
 
(Sffiwa ©tiatiliasa f iatomal Aaanrtation 
 
 President Hon. A. Judd Northrup 
 
 First Vice-President - - - . Mr. Salem Hyde 
 becond Vice-President - Rev. Wm. M. Beauchamp.S. T.D. 
 Kecording Secretary - - . Mr. Franklin H. Chase 
 Corresponding Secretary - - . Mr. William James 
 Treasurer - - . . . Mr. Charles W. Snow 
 
 Librarian and Custodian - Mrs. L. Leonora Goodrich 
 
 Soari of Bitfttave 
 
 Hon. Charles Andrews 
 
 Rev. William M. Beauchamp 
 Mr. Henry R. Cooper 
 
 Mr. Franklin H. Chase 
 
 Mr. George G. Fryer 
 
 Mrs. L. Leonora Goodrich 
 
 Gen. I. Dean Hawley ^^' ^"""' ^- ^'"^''^ 
 
 Hon. Theodore t. Hancock 
 
 Mr. Salem Hyde 
 
 Mr. William James 
 
 Miss Florence M. Keene 
 
 Mr. T. Jefferson Leach 
 
 „,_„,, Mr. Ceylon H. lewis 
 
 Mrs. Ina Base Merrell 
 
 Mrs. Frances W. Marlette 
 
 Hon. A. Judd Northrup 
 
 Mr. Edward A. Powell 
 
 Mrs. Frances Cheney Palmer 
 
 Hon. Charles L. Stone 
 
 Mr. Charles W. Snow 9 
 
 Dr. John Van Duyn 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 12706 05811910 
 
 Act to incorporate the village of Syracu 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 832 561 
 
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