TOMPKINS COUNTY Navigating A Sea Of Resources PUBLIC LIBRARY Title: Initial Ithacans; comprising sketches and portraits of the forty-four presidents of the village of Ithaca (1821 to to 1888)... Author: Burns, Thomas W. Call no. LH 974.771 Burns Pub. Date: 1904 Owner: Ithaca - Tompkins County Public Library Assigned Branch: Ithaca - Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) Collection: Local History (LH) Material type: Book Number of pages: 205 p. Notes: illus. Digitized November 2008 krt WW 5 DEDICATED TO EBENEZER MACK TREMAN ; Whose modest but open-hearted encouragejnent of contemporaries engaged in nifying and preserving the history of his native city has accomplished far more n will ever be known to the people of his own generation ; with whose superior ' srary taste and talent manifested in many a chapter from his pen and in his fidttmentaries upon, and his knowledge of, standard authors and literature, the wifter is familiar, with at least a part of which the public may hereafter become i ailiar, as it is now conversant with his high rank among our leaders in finance >i< I commerce ; who as a philanthropic patron of music of the highest standard i elevated and refined the musical sense of a much wider community than the 'U y and whose sympathetic and generous nature has, along other lines, contributed . dterially to its happiness and its pride. Christmas, 1903. THOS. W. BURNS. INDEX PAGB PRESIDENTS OF ITHACA Daniel Bates 3 Andrew DeWitt Bruyn _ 6 David Woodcock . _ 10 Ben Johnson 13 Charles Humphrey 16 Henry S. Walbridge _ 20 John Holman 23 Levi Leonard 26 Ira Tillotson ___ . ,_"_}.--,- 29 Wait Talcot Huntington i _.___ 32 Amasa Dana _.*__ 35 George P. Frost 40 Caleb B. Drake , 44 Jacob M. McCormick 47 Benjamin G. Ferris . 50 John James Speed 54 Shaler Williams -_*,.- 58 Timothy ;,t^ Nathan T. Williams i_ . 62 Frederick T. Deming 66 Horace Mack__ _ 69 Anson Spencer __ 73 Philip J. Partenheimer 77 Lewis H. Culver _ 82 Charles Coryell , ^_. 87 Thomas Powell St. John 92 George McChain 97 Elias Treman 101 Frederick T. Greenley 105 Samuel Stoddard - .. 108 ' John P. Gauntlett , _ 111 Rufus Bates jjjsji,, ~* ,-.--~k IJ5 John H. Selkreg jgfe. IIQ Adam S. Cowdry_ : il - 125 John Rumsey :', 129 ' William W. Esty 133 Joseph B. Sprague 137 Henry M. Durphy 142 Albert H. paatts.,__._^, _, 145 Sisson __/ - Philip Frank _" 4'.* r49 Henry H. Howe_a Ji is.,-. __ 153 "Charles J 'Rumsey 157 Collingwood Bruce Brown 161 Daniel Waite Burdick 164 David Barnes Stewart 168 MAYORS OF ITHACA David Blames Stewart____r ,,_ - 168 Tohn Barden 172 1. -_..y .. icel St. John 176 . '.:> ..tuane Bouton . 181 " i -.i'", _. Todd 0~. 186 }-Sct Barr Lang 191 V/;iiiai_! C. Elmendorf 196 '/iiT-m R. Gunderman 201 PREFACE '"THESE Sketches were written to preserve the memories of the most prominent forest-covered local officials who transformed ague-laden swamp and marsh and beautiful rock and hillside into a rude and primitive hamlet, the hamlet into a America. inland village, the village into one of the greatest educational centers of It is doing justice to them for they were the makers of our municipal history and representatives of the public sentiment of their days. It is strange indeed that their contemporaries left this work to those who had never known many of the presidents, a few of whom had been awarded cold and meager published remembrances, but most of whom were only mentioned by name in local history. The Sketches do not even indicate the extent of the patience, research and time required to make them possible. Nearly all of the presidents and their con temporaries have been dead many years, their private and public papers lost and their relatives scattered from the reach of the writer. It is lamentable that so little could be learned of the public careers of Presi dents Bruyn, Johnson and Woodcock. They deserved far more elaborate mem orials. disadvantages' The Sketches, notwithstanding the of the writer in collecting materials for the earlier subjects, have received the praise and approval, in private and public communications, of eminent historians, scholars, jurists, clergymen, editors, relatives of the subjects and hundreds of old Ithacans and former and present residents of Tompkins county who followed them closely as they were published in the Ithaca Daily and Weekly Journals. But not one adverse criticism of any one of them has been heard or received by the writer. This volume con tains all and more than was published in The Journal, but with corrections and supplementary matter. They were begun none too soon. The most valuable, because the most reliable, source of information the writer had upon the early history and leading citizens of Ithaca, the venerable and sweet-natured James Quigg, was called from earth (August, 1902,) before the first sketch appeared in public print, but not until much of his knowledge of local history and public men had been compiled by the writer in the form of memoranda. Another important source, Linn DeWitt, sur vived until the summer of 1903. Mr. Quigg, a son of the first merchant in Ithaca, was born the year Ithaca was incorporated as a village. Mr. DeWitt was an older man, and a son of General Simeon DeWitt. With rare names of relatives and exceptions, descendants of the presidents and mayors have been omitted. The purpose has been to sketch the man and _.ot his relations, a purpose indorsed Ithacans best qualified to by judge it. The (stock from which the mayors presidents and descended, when it could be learnedA their personalities, training, life-work and public standing, and enough of local History to. denote the development of the village and city in their official days, are given. It is all that a reader of books, in this age of books, cares now or, perhaps, will ever care to know of them. The first intention of the writer was simply to collect as many portraits of the presidents as possible for the walls of the Common Council chamber in the City Hall, and to present them to the city with an address in which references would be made to those of whom the historian had said and published the least. They were gathered from over a wide territory, including Louisiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. During the collection, and the preparation of the address, in 1901, recourse was had to historical papers and documents in the possession of Ebenezer Mack Treman, many of them in the hand writing of his grandfather, Senator Ebenezer Mack. Mr. Treman became deeply interested in the work and suggested the writ ing of a history of Ithaca. Early in 1902, Hon. George E. Priest proposed the writing of the Sketches. The first one was published in October, 1902; the last one in December, 1903. Although the Sketches were first published in The Journal, they were designed for. permanent use in book form. Whatever doubt existed in the minds of the writer and the publishers regarding their merit, as historical literature, it was set at rest by the receipt of an unexpected communication from the American Ambassador to Germany, which read as follows : "Embassy of the United States of America, Berlin, November 4, 1902. Thomas W. Burns, Esq., Ithaca, New York. My Dear Sir: I have been reading with especial interest your series of brief biographies of noted citizens of Ithaca, during its early days, as published in the Ithaca Journal, and' audi cannot forbear expressing to you the pleasure profit I have derived from them. My earnest hope is that you will bring them together in some more permanent form. I remain, Very respectfully yours, ANDREW D. WHITE." so- Such an approval from distinguished a historian, scholar, statesman and Ithacan was most welcome ; and, as this is the first formal answer the writer has emphasizes the expression of made to it, he now his gratitude and pleasure, neither measure. But President White of which is easy to (Ithacans will always call, and title as an author of the refer to him by that ) foremost rank and world-wide fame will perhaps recall the receipt of many a similar note in his own literary sentiment experience and realize the inspired in the mind of the writer of the Sketches by his note from Berlin. import were Communications of like received from DeWitt J. Apgar, of Washington, D. C, George S. Humphrey, of West New Brighton, N. Y., Mrs. L. Minerva of C. Speed Brackett and Miss McChain, New York city, and from many residents and natives of others who had been Ithaca. Their kindly words are Wnembered with pride and pleasure. \ The friendly and intelligent interest manifested by the Rev. Wm. Elliot Griffis, D.D., the earnest and effective president of the DeWitt Historical Society of Ithaca, also acted as an encouragement during the collection of the portraits and writing of the Sketches. citizen is To Judge Francis M. Finch, whose place in history as poet, jurist and secure in its eminence, the writer is indebted for the strong encouragement and approval he gave the work in its beginning ; and for the sidelights he turned upon the personalities of Judge Walbridge and Judge Dana ; lights that changed in important essentials impressions which the writer had formed of them, for their earthly careers were ended when the writer was a youth and before he had felt any interest in public affairs or in local public men. Special obligations are also due to James B. Taylor, Sr., Jacob R.