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IN |Wffl \i° 3 ^lljllgp^ 3VW 1941 Fifth Publication of the Oswego Historical Society OSWEGO CITY LIBRARY 1941 Palladium-Times, Inc. Oswego, N. Y. Printers Os LIVING CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY FREDERICK AUGUSTUS EMERICK Admitted July 10, 1896 JOHN DAUBY HIGGINS Admitted July 10, 1896 ELLIOTT BOSTICK MOTT Admitted July 10, 1896 PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY William Pierson Judson 1896-1901 Theodore Irwin, Sr. 1902 William Pierson Judson 1903-1910 Dr. Carrington Macfarlane 1911-1912 John D. Higgins 1913-1923 Dr. James G. Riggs 1924-1935 •Frederick W. Barnes 1936 Edwin M. Waterbury 1937-1941 *Vice-President acting as President. n CONTENTS Page LIVING CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY II PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY II OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY, 1941 IV STANDING COMMITTEES, 1941 V NECROLOGY VI "LEST WE FORGET" VII WINTER PROGRAM, 1941-1942 VIII THREE GENERATIONS OF COOPERS IN OSWEGO (by Dr. Lida S. Penfield) 1-7 "UP TO ONTARIO," DIARY OF STEPHEN CROSS OF NEWBURYPORT, MASS., COMPILED IN 1756 (by Robert Macdonald) 8-18 THE RISE OF "THE FOURTH ESTATE" IN OSWEGO COUNTY (by Edwin M. Waterbury) 19-98 THE "VANDALIA," THE FIRST SCREW-PROPELLED VESSEL ON THE GREAT LAKES (by Herbert R. Lyons) 99-110 OLD HOMES OF OSWEGO—PART II (by Miss Anna Post) 111-118 TRAVEL IN EARLIER DAYS (by Joseph T. McCaffrey) 119-140 COMMODORE MELANCTHON TAYLOR WOOLSEY, LAKE ONTARIO HERO OF THE WAR OF 1812 (by Leon N. Brown) 141-152 8628S in LIST OF OFFICERS 1941 President Edwin M. Waterbury Vice-Presidents Frederick W. Barnes Ralph M. Faust Grove A. Gilbert Miss Elizabeth Simpson Merritt A. Switzer Corresponding Secretary Mrs. Homan F. Hallock Recording Secretary Thomas A. Cloutier Treasurer Harold A. Hubbard Curator ..- Elliott B. Mott Mrs. Frank Elliott Mrs. Frederick Leighton Members of the Board of Managers Miss Anna Post Mrs. James G. Riggs . Daniel A. Williams [All elective offices are ex-officio members of the Board of Man agers which functions as the Executive Committee of the Society.] IV STANDING COMMITTEES 1941 Membership Mrs. John S. Parsons, Chairman Mrs. Carolyn E. Whittaker Grove A. Gilbert Mrs. Frank Elliott James Gallagher Mrs. James G. Riggs Frederick W. Barnes Miss Elizabeth Simpson Merritt A. Switzer Dr. Donald Snygg Donation and Collection of Articles of Historical Interest Daniel A. Williams, Chairman Mrs. D. P. Morehouse, Sr. Elliott B. Mott Mrs. J. P. Miller Dr. Richard K. Piez Mrs. Samuel M. F. Peters Floyd S. Spangle Mrs. Ethel P. Dunham Harold A. Hubbard Mrs. C. R. Baldwin John Tiernan Mrs. Russell A. Rogers John M. Gill Miss Anna W. Post Fred P. Wright Miss Frances J. Eggleston Dr. H. S. Albertson Miss Elizabeth Turner Program Ralph M. Faust, Chairman Mrs. Frederick Leighton Miss Elizabeth F. Culkin Mrs. Harold J. Dann Frederick W. Barnes Mrs. Homan F. Hallock Rev. Henry S. Sizer Dr. Lida S. Penfield Dr. Joseph C. Park Miss Adelaide C- Fitch Dr. E. M. Anderson Miss Juanita Kersey Judge George M. Penney Miss Helen C. Quirk Merritt A. Switzer Miss Elizabeth Simpson John E. Horrocks Dr. Ralph W. Swetman Collection, Arrangement and Care Mrs. James Riggs, Chairman Mrs. Robert L. Allison Homan F. Hallock Mrs. Daniel A. Williams Joseph T. McCaffrey Mrs. Harold J. Dann Leon N. Brown Miss Cynthia Beadle James Moreland Judge D. V. Hardie Expansion Grove A. Gilbert, Chairman Mrs. Charles R. Baldwin Dr. B. T. Mason Mrs. Raymond C. Turner James F. Brannan, Jr. Mrs. Samuel M. F. Peters Harold A. Hubbard Mrs. CJarlj E. Jackson James Gallagher Mrs. John M. Gill Frank R. Crandell Mrs. E. M. Anderson Robert L. Allison Mrs. George M. Penney Ralph B. Watson Miss Elizabeth Simpson Thomas A. Cloutier Miss Ruth Thomas Neil T. Hayes Auditing Alfred G. Tucker, Chairman Clarence T. Leighton Frank W. Barnum Reception Mrs. Russell A. Rogers, Chairman Mrs. James G. Riggs Dr. Lida S. Penfield Mrs. E. M. Anderson Miss Elizabeth Simpson Mrs. Grove A. Gilbert Donald S. Gordon Mrs. E. M. Waterbury Leon N. Brown Mrs. Clark E. Jackson John H. Hourigan Mrs. John S. Parsons Robert L. Allison James E. Lanigan Nominating Dr. Lida S. Penfield, Chairman MisGlenMrss. nCarolyRutFlorenc J. hStreete Thomane WhittakeThompsor s rn Donald S. Gordon JLGeorgArthu.. TN. erMcCaffre Brenne BChesbr. Chapmar oy n J2ecrolog!> MISS ORILLA E. MINER July 3, 1941 VI OSWEGO CITY LIBRARY " lest Hie Jf orget" FREDERICK W. BARNES member of th ™r.t J ?,. « Oswego Historical Society, Frederick W. Barnes has continued through many years active in the Society's interest and welfare. He has served the Society for many years (since 1924) as a member of its Board Wi„*a"aBerS- He was a men>t>er of the committee which had charge of the tZwLl velV,U,Cce5Stul Pageant given July 5, 1925, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Oswego. He has served the Society as Vice-President since 1928, .HJ I.™IB °U seyeral occasions to accept election to the Presidency. His council ™ JL * evc1 ??*? ready when soueht by the Society. Many scholarly papers of permanent historic value he has contributed to the Society's programs, including a notable paper read before the New York State Historical Association on the occasion of the holding of its annual meeting in Oswego in 1913. In appreciation of Mr. Barnes' unfailing zeal in the causes of this Society, and his many important contributions to its work, the Oswego Historical Society affec tionately dedicates this volume to him. WINTER PROGRAM 1941 October 14—"The Journal of Stephen Cross as Written in 1756 and Entitled, 'Up to Ontario,'" Robert C. Macdonald, principal of Fulton High School. November 25—"Travel in Early Days," Joseph T. McCaffrey, of the Oswego County Bar. December 16—"Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey, Lake Ontario Hero of the War of 1812," Leon N. Brown, Oswego County Historical Society. 1942 January 13—"The Pageant of New York," Dr. Arthur Pound, New York State Historan. February 17—"Oswego as One of the Oldest Ports of Entry in the United States," John W. O'Connor, Deputy Collector of Customs, Oswego. March 10—"Morgan Robertson and His Sea Stories," (First of a series of papers on Oswego County literary men and women) —Dr. Lida S. Penfield, former Head of English Depart ment, Oswego State Normal School. April 14—"Rise of the Fourth Estate in Oswego County, Part II," Edwin M. Waterbury of the Oswego Palladium-Times. May 12—(At Fulton). VIII Three Generations Of Coopers In Oswego (Paper Presented Before Oswego Historical Society at Oswego, January 14, 1941, by Dr. Lida S. Penfleld.) Who were the Coopers who ty" and John C. Churchill's lived in the old Cooper house on "Landmarks of Oswego County" West Second street near Van are familiar with Midshipman Buren street? How were the James Fenimore Cooper's two Coopers of Oswego related to the years in Oswego (1808-09) and Coopers of Cooperstown ? "Cooper's Ark," built by Wil An answer to these questions liam in 1813. Dr. E. P. Alex may be gathered from the Coop ander of Cooperstown, who re er genealogy, the files of old cently made us freshly acquaint newspapers and directories at ed with James Fenimore Cooper, the City Library, from records has sent the following pleasant at the County Clerk's office and addition to our scanty informa in the office of the Surrogate, tion about the inventive William from the register of baptisms at Cooper: Christ church, and from the lists "William, the brother of of burials in old cemeteries at Fenimore Cooper, is referred the City Hall. to several times in the recol The Cooper house was built lections of her father writ when Oswego was a thriving ten by Susan Fenimore village. The location, with its Cooper, (daughter of the nov fine view, unobstructed then, of elist) and used as an intro the harbor, of the lake and of duction to the Correspon Fort Ontario, was in an area dence of James Fenimore where many of the prosperous Cooper (Yale University built their homes. In that neigh Press, 1922). She describes borhood lived the McNairs, the her Uncle William (quoting Eagles, the Cranes, the Petti- her mother) as: "wonderful bones, and the Barbours. Here ly clever, quite a genius, a and there among us there are delightful talker, very wit those who have heard from their ty." It is not clear that Su elders of the pleasant home of san ever saw her Uncle Wil the Cooper family in its prime, of liam, and he evidently died the spacious rooms and winding quite young. Fenimore stairway, of the beautiful garden, Cooper interested himself filled with fruit trees and flow in William's children (there ers, where there was "a grand were three), especially the well." two eldest, William and Eliza, who were "frequently The registry of deeds shows with us." William in fact, that Judge William Cooper, his was virtually adopted by his son, Richard Fenimore, and pos Uncle James, acted as his sibly a younger son, William, amanuensis, and lived abroad owned land in the town of Han with the Fenimore Coopers nibal in 1805. (At that time Os until his death at Paris in wego's West side was included in 1831. Among the references the limits of the Town of Han to William (brother of the nibal.) novelist) in his niece's rem iniscences, there is, however, Ark Builder Novelist's Brother no mention of his ever hav Readers of Crisfield John ing lived in Oswego. There is son's "History of Oswego Coun this rather cryptic state- —1— ment in a letter from Feni- send to the Harbor.