Pioneer Times

PIONEER TIMES IX THE ONONDAGA COUNTRY BY CARROLL E. SMITH, LL.D. COMPILED BY A.ND DEDICATED TO THE }IE\IORY OF HIS FATHER BY CHARLES CARROLL SMITH lLLUSTR.ATEIJ WITH RA.RE _4.ND ORIGIN_4.L PRf1YTS OF HISTORIC CHARACTERS A.ND SCE.VES SYRACUSE, N. Y. C. W. BARDEEN, PTJBLISHER 1904 CoPYRIGIIT, 1£04, BY HARRIET E. S:lnTH r INTRODUCTION It is a well-known fact that the authentic chronicles of the history of the Onondaga coun try, as they have existed in permanent form, have been deficient in a marked degree. ~' Clark's Onondaga '', published a half-century and more ago, always has been the authority on Onondaga's early affairs. Of that esteemed writer's work there can be no criticism. It forms a solid and substantial basis for facts which, but for it, would have been lost to pos terity. With the death of the late Carroll E. Smith there came to this community a loss_greater than can he known at a date so near to the demise of that esteemed man. As years roll by, the real ization of this fact will become the more keen. ·Carroll E. S~ith, LL.D., was unquestionably the historian of Syracuse and the Onondaga country, and his acknowledged reputation as a writer of facts made his death the more regret table to the public, for his busy, useful life had not spared to him the time necessary to place before the people in enduring, readily accessible form that accurate knowledge he alone possessed (5) 6 PIO~""EER TIMES IN ONONDAGA of the city and county with whose growth he was so closely and familiarly identified. Fortunately many of Carroll E. Smith's notes and manuscripts are available. They remain a valuable legacy to the people, and, to make tangible that heritage, this volume is issued. It is entitled '' Pioneer Times in the Onondaga Country'' and is a verbatim publication of the papers he prepared. It wHl be found most in teresting reading and its worth as a concise nar ration of important events and incidents of our early history and later growth will be widely recognized. With Carroll E. Smith's '' Pioneer Times in the Onondaga Country'' permanently placed before the public eye, there will be pre served for all time information essential to the· educat~onal enlightenment of every intelligent. person, not alone in the city of Syracuse and Onondaga county, but to a considerable extent. elsewhere; for the earliest history of the original country of Onondaga is closely allied to that of this nation. It is a pleasure (as it is a duty to the public) to place this valuable work of Carroll E. Smith in such form that it may do for others that which that good man ever strove to accomplish -make people better and wiser. We know he succeeded admirably in this purpose while living and among us. There could be no more fitting IN1'RODUCTION 7 monument to his memory than this, a part of his well-filled mission on earth; and as such it is dedicated with the full measure of belief that it wfll receive the recognition it merits and fill the niche in the chronicles of Onondaga which, without it, would remain a void in the history of this favored and famous section of the country. Th~se chapters on pioneer times in the Onon daga country were originally published in the Syracuse Sunday Herald in the year 1899 in a series of twenty-five papers. The work of their preparation, though a matter of laborious re search, was to Mr. Smith a recreation and a pleasure, for in the later years of his life the trend of his mind and the resourcefulness of his pen were largely in the direction of affairs of local history and his inherent insistence upon accuracy made these articles the more valuable and worthy of preservation. Through their appearance in the Syracuse Herald these papers were assured a wide and intelligent reading at the time of their publication. Mr. Smith's connection with the Herald was a happy one in two respects: The newspaper profited largely through bis ability and the scope of his attain ments, and to the editor and historian there was.given a vehicle for the conveyance of his knowledge unequalled in this part of the State of New York. 8 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA The purpose of the Pioneer Papers was best summed up in the words of Carroll E. Smith when he wrote: " This series of Pioneer Papers, originally in tended to consist of half a dozen numbers, has extended to twenty-five; and although the sub jects of interest embraced in the pioneer period are far from exhausted, it is believed by the writer · that the principal topics have been touched upon, and largely the interest in the subject expended. The purpose was to make a record of events, incidents, and characters of the pioneer settlements in the Onondaga country, and to bring together for preservation historical accounts which if not now preserved would very soon be lost to historic research. * * * '' The preparation of these papers has been a work of pleasure. The endeavor was to gather and preserve matters of importance in local his tory, now accessible but soon to be beyond reach. Although the papers are only a plain record of fact and incident, yet they have served to bring many people into closer touch with the subject and to arouse an interest in its broad field of inquiry. It has been a gratifying sur prise to discover how well some of the pioneers were personally known to living persons, and also that early affairs are so near tous. * * * Few localities on this continent present as re- INl'RODUCTION 9 sourceful a historical field, including the aborjgi nal legends and traditions for 300 years, and the religious and colonization propagandism of 150 years, followed by the New England settlements in the past century.'' Mr. Smith, in preparing the Pioneer Papen:;, made due acknowledgment to Mr. M. W. Han ~hett, who survives him, for his collaboration in the work by the drafting from memory (a rare and exact gift as it exists in Mr. Hanchett) of many of the illustrations accompanying the text {)f this volume. Fortunate the warm friendship .and kindred taste for matters historical which drew these two together, for Mr. Smith's work is enhanced in its greatest value through . the presentation to the mind's eye by Mr. Han- chett's art of Ieng ago scenes in a mann·er that makes them almost as real as of to-day. Some of these illustrations are mainly valuable be cause they identify historical objects in the only way possible at this time. They are the product .of an exact memory rather than of the trained hand of an artist. Without them these objects would be obliterated; would remain not even an obscure remembrance to the great body of the readers of these chapters. Far better are they than the f_anc.iful creations of pencil or brush. They round out the descriptions o~ the historian in to realistic views. As such they are given 10 PIONEER TIMES I~ ONO~TDAGA and as such, there can be no doubt, they will receive merited appreciation. These prefatory lines cannot be more :fittingly closed than tly quoting from the address of the Hon. Charles E. Fitch, delivered .at a memorial meeting of the Onondaga Historical Association, held on the evening of December 4, 1903~ in which that able orator and brother Regent of the late Carroll E. Smith paid tribute to his de parted friend in tbe following words: '' I know of no life so intimately associated with the life of Syracuse and Onondaga county -their genesis, their growth, their social ameni ties, their political conflicts, their memories and their achievements, as that of Carroll Earll Smith. As the span of his life lengthened into its three score and ten, and as, in the review, he saw the fores ts bow to the fertile acres and village ex pand into the city, he might well exclaim, 'a great part of which I saw and all of which I was.' * * * '' Toward the last also it was this association that had the full benefit of his prolonged and circumstantial study of local bjstory, of bis en thusiasm which never waned, for collecting the relics and fixing the landmarks of the past. Here too he developed his own faculty of speech. When he died on the 21st of August, 1903, he was the dean of Syracuse journalism, the oracle INTRODUCTION 11 ,of the past, and as said at the beginning, and as many others have said, more completely indenti fied with the life of the city and county than .any other man who has here resided. Let us preserve his memory as he preserved that of others. Let us continue the work that he began.'' To sum up: '' Pioneer Times in the Onondaga ·Country'' links past with present in a manner -so understandingly presented as to form practi- -cally a text-book of all matter of essentjal importance to this historical locality. CHARLES CARROLL SMITH. Syracuse, N. Y, January, 1904. RUINS OF 'l'HE OLD ARSENAL CONTENTS FIRST PAPER A Contrast of Civilizations-Early Onondaga County-The First· White Settlement-Typical Pioneers-Fascination of Pioneer Life-Perils of the Pioneers-Woman's Work in Early Times-Great Men of that Era. SECOND PAPER The Church and Its Influence-Teachers, Law yers and Physician£-Business and Amusements -Some Early Scenes-The First Settlement As:;t Danforth, the Typical Pioneer-Relics of First Settlers.

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