|
History of
Ontario County ,
New York Return Home Return to History Index
Welcome to Ontario County, NY, History and Genealogy. This is is a central point of entry to independent not-for-profit web sites with historical or genealogical content. Although independent, it is affiliated with The American History and Genealogy Project. To learn more about this group, click the link above. Kindly transcribed by Deborah Spencer
From History of Ontario County, NY Published 1878 Pg 63 - 66
CHAPTER XXVI LITERARY AND
BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS The principle of
strength in unity and mutual benefit, by act of association, has long
been of full acknowledgment, but incomplete practice.
The history of every notable enterprise which has engaged the
attention of Ontario citizens has brought into prominence, uniformly, a
certain class to which present prosperity is greatly to be ascribed.
Whether in the formation of associations to secure canals or
railways, banks and public buildings, academies and colleges, support of
the needy, or help to the orphan, the sick, or the deranged, the
forethought of the citizen has resulted in the establishment of such
institutions under such guidance as are efficient to the object sought.
The files of old-time papers are filled with notices of a
multitude of organizations, short-lived, many of them, but subserving
some degree of good, and teaching by their failure the method of a
future prosperity and stability. Agriculture, in all
its branches, has had its representative element.
Religion early originated its Bible and missionary societies.
Temperance has had its uncompromising advocates, and fraternity
the anciently-derived rules for its conduct and enjoyment.
The change of climate, and the destitution of remedial agents,
the exhalations of miasma from the soil, opened to the direct
evaporative influences of a sun, whose beams had been heretofore
arrested by forest growth, and the sickness resultant, made the presence
of the doctor greatly desired. COUNTY MEDICAL
SOCIETY The labors of pioneer
physicians were extremely arduous, and universal testimony is
corroborative of their ability and humanity.
In accordance with an act passed by the Legislature, of date
April 4, 1806, to incorporate medical societies in the State, and
regulate the practice of physic and surgery, a meeting of the physicians
of Ontario was held at the court-house in Canandaigua, on July 1 of the
same year, to form such society for this county, and, at that time, Dr.
Moses ATWATER was chosen president, Dr. Jacob DYER, vice-president, Dr.
Daniel GOODWIN, treasurer, and Dr. Richard WELLS, secretary.
The State society was formed February 5, 1807, and Reuben HART
was selected to represent the county society at Albany.
The time for holding annual meetings was set for July, and the
following were constituted the first censors: Drs. DYER, HART, WELLS,
and James CARTER. The
society met on July 12, 1814, and elected Dr. Nathaniel JACOBS,
president, the second executive officer of the society.
At the same time, Dr. Charles LITTLE was chosen vice-president,
Dr. Jeremiah ATWATER, treasurer, and Dr. R. WELLS, secretary.
The censors at this time were Drs. Stephen ALDRICH, Gain
ROBINSON, James WHITE, Isaac SMITH, and Daniel BRAINARD, Jr.
The numbers of the society were augmented by the admission to
membership of Drs. Joseph LORMER, Joseph MALLORY, Samuel B. BRADLEY,
Philetus and David SPRAGUE, and Wyllis F. CLARK.
A revision of by-laws, as presented by a committee to that duty
assigned, and consisting of Drs. WILCOX, JACOBS, and WELLS, was adopted
in full. Dudley MARVIN, of
Canandaigua, and Nathan PARKE, of Geneva, were selected as attorneys for
the society. The
organization met annually to transact business, and to take counsel upon
matters of professional interest, and we will merely record the
officials elected on July 8, 1817.
For President, Gain ROBINSON; Vice-President, Charles BINGHAM;
Secretary, Richard WELLS; Treasurer, Jeremiah ATWATER; and for Censors,
Drs. N. JACOB, 2d, Augustus TORREY, Charles BINGHAM, Erastus B.
WOODWORTH, and Benjamin LOOMIS. THE INDEPENDENT ORDER
OF ODD FELLOWS was introduced into the United States from England, and
the first regular lodge opened at Baltimore, in 1819.
A reference to the different town histories presents the origin
and success of this noble order. Eloquently
and truthfully its three pillars, "Friendship, Love, and
Truth," are portrayed by an expounder of the principles held.
"At creation's dawn," says he, "before Nature had
fixed the trembling land, or gathered the swelling floods; before the
vesper dew had been flung from her golden urn, Friendship had woven her
silken bonds. Before the
glimmering stars were hung around the sky, or the sun had marked the
circling hours; before the first intelligences had strung their golden
harps to sing the mighty cause whence their existence sprung, Love had
breathed forth her strains of mutual sympathy and confiding tenderness.
Ere light had shone to brighten the pathway of faltering
footsteps seeking right, Truth all around had shone effulgent, pure,
unsullied as the ways that emanate from the throne of God."
Members associate as brothers, and labor for philanthropic
objects. As indicated, the
order is strong in numbers in Canandaigua, Geneva, and other localities,
and growing rapidly. THE FRATERNITY OF
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS, established their first lodge within the State
of New York in 1757, and to it was given the title of St. John's, No. 1.
The Grand Lodge of the State dates from 1785, when Robert R.
LIVINGSTON was elected Grand Master.
The order in 1826 numbered in the State 360 lodges and 22,000
members. Ten years later,
and the lodges were but 75, and the members but 4000; yet again has the
order entered upon a new growth, and its progress has been
uninterrupted. ONTARIO LODGE, No.
23, the pioneer lodge of
Free and Accepted Masons in Ontario County, had its origin in a petition
made for a charter by nine brethren of Canandaigua to the Grand Lodge of
the State of New York. Application
was made October 31, 1791, by Timothy HOSMER, Samuel MELLISH, Judah
COLT, Otho J. TAYLOR, John CHAPIN, Jr., Benjamin WELLS, Seth MEED,
William ADAMS, and Thomas MORRIS. The
petition was recommended by Wooster Lodge, No. 15, Colchester, New
London county, Connecticut. The
prayer of the petition was granted, and Timothy HOSMER was made Master
of Ontario Lodge, No. 23, whose warrant was received October 12, 1792.
In June, 1800, the Grand Lodge, desiring to amend the
constitution, sent copies of the changes proposed to every lodge,
desiring its assent by resolution of the lodge.
If ratified by two-thirds of the several lodges, the rules and
regulations "should be considered as the constitution of the Grand
Lodge." Ontario Lodge, No.
23, under date of November 15, 1800, returned reply "that the
adoption of the proposed new constitution would be inexpedient and
unadvisable." The
lodge recommended Albany as an eligible place for session of the Grand
Lodge, and opposed the formation of two Grand Lodges within the State.
The response was signed by John CLARK, Master; Wm. SHEPARD,
Senior WARDEN; Ezra PLATT, Junior WARDEN; and by Dudley SALTONSTALL and
Peter B. PORTER, brethren. The
new constitution was rejected. On
November 5, 1804, the Grand Lodge was informed that Ontario Lodge had
been frequently called upon, especially by travelers, for aid, and
during a period of twelve years had bestowed in charitable donations two
hundred and fifty dollars. The
members of the lodge were often transient residents, and the moneys
loaned, from their places of removal being unknown, were often lost, so
that the losses were set down as two hundred dollars.
The lodge procured its furniture at heavy expense on account of
its distance from the supply, and its place of meeting proved expensive,
so that it had become poor, and its treasury account reduced to two
hundred dollars. In
consideration of the circumstances, it was asked that the customary fees
be remitted, and thirty dollars sent be received in lieu thereof.
Financial troubles of the present in the erection of new Masonic
halls were the same fifty years ago. In the spring of 1819
the lodge found it unpleasant and inconvenient to continue in former
rooms, and, having accumulated somewhat of means, thought best to build
a Masonic hall. The work
was commenced and progressed considerably.
A loan of one thousand dollars was secured on the property, and
five hundred dollars was asked of the Grand Lodge to enable the lodge to
finish the structure. The
request was denied, from inability, and the lodge, struggling on,
accomplished its purpose. The
first return, from November 19, 1804, to January 2, 1809, gives the
names of twenty-seven members. From
1809 to 1811 no return was made. In
the return from December 26, 1811, to December, 1815, there were thirty
new members and twenty-one old, a total of fifty-one.
The return of 1817-18 gives twenty-two old and twelve new
members; total, thirty-four. In
1819 there were six new members, and Millard FLINT died.
In this year H. SEYMOUR was Master; Wm. GOODWIN, S.W.; P.B.
UNDERHILL, J.W.; Manning GOODWIN, Secretary; and Jasper PARRISH,
Treasurer. In 1820 Richard
WELLS was Master; in 1823 John GREIG, and in 1824-25 Nicholas G.
CHESEBRO, were Masters. The last return was
made in 1825, and the warrant of the lodge was declared forfeited in
1832, and, not having been surrendered previous to June, 1840, could not
be revived. The papers from
which the above has been gathered were copied by the Secretary of the
Grand Lodge, and are on file at the Canandaigua Lodge.
The petition for remission of dues-and for loan to complete
building, present the lodge in the light of a self-sacrificing and
benevolent association,---a fit example for the present searches after
wisdom and instruction. A statement made by
the lodges of Ontario County, which forms part of the Twenty-first
Masonic District, to Thomas H. BENNETT, D. D. G. M., presents the
following summary:
LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS
- have from time to time had existence in Geneva and Canandaigua, and
such still exist and are of public benefit.
In 1798 a public library was instituted at Geneva, by a meeting
held at the hotel kept by POWELL. The
trustees appointed to look after its interests were P. B. WIZNER, Ezra
PATTERSON, David COOK, and Samuel COLT.
The Canandaigua Library was established at the academy in 1812,
and was in charge of H. U. ONDERDONK, Nathaniel JACOB, Asa STANLEY, and
John C. SPENCER, as trustees. Its interests began
to decline during the summer of 1819, and the board was authorized by
stockholders to sell the books and other property at auction; which was
done September 14, 1819. On
July 10, 1820, J.D. Bemis & Co. established a circulating library at
their book-store in Canandaigua. An
apprentices' library was established February 27, 1821, for young men,
and James L. COLE, S.C. WARD, and J. H. MOWER were committee of the
same. THE "WOOD
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION" - had its inception in an advertisement during
the winter of 1858 by Dr. JEWETT and E. M. MORSE, Esq., in the village
press, of a call to the citizens for a meeting to organize a town
library. The first meeting
was attended by E. M. MORSE, Dr. JEWETT, George GORHAM, and Moses
ATWATER. So little interest
was manifest that it was deemed advisable to address a note to leading
citizens to meet at the office of Thomas M. HOWELL, Esq., without
stating the object of meeting. A
large assembly convened. Discussion
ensued and opposition proved formidable, yet organization was effected,
and citizens were invited to contribute from their private libraries.
A room was secured, and the present Wood Library fairly
inaugurated. A meeting was
held on April 12, 1859, at the office of Messrs. MORSE and MASON.
H. C. SWIFT was called to the chair, and E. M. MORSE was made
secretary. It was
determined to raise four hundred dollars by subscription, and a
committee of J. J. LYON, O. H. SMITH, Dr. H. JEWETT, G. GORHAM, and E.
M. MORSE was appointed to solicit subscriptions. On May 5, a public
meeting was called at the old court-house to organize an association and
secure rooms. L. WILCOX was
chairman, and J.J. GREGORY, secretary of the meeting.
A favorable report was received from the committee on
subscription, and among the by-laws adopted is found article first,
which designates the society as the "Wood Library
Association," in honor of William WOOD, and old and honored
citizen, a man whose life was made up of benevolent and charitable acts.
On the evening of May 6 an election was held, and the
following-named first officers chosen. Dr. H. BENNETT, president; F. C. BENNETT, vice-president; J.
G. GREGORY, secretary, and H.J. MESSENGER, treasurer. Five trustees were elected, namely: Francis GRANGER, H.O.
CHESEBRO, Lucius WILCOX, Chester COLEMAN, and O. H. SMITH.
The old grand-jury room was secured for meetings, fitted up, and
first opened for use June 28, 1859.
On June 9, 1875, amendments to the constitution were made, at
which time Dr. H. JEWETT was president, and John S. COE, secretary.
Many valuable books are upon shelves in this reading-room, papers
are at hand for the reader, and a museum of curiosities has been
gathered. The institution
is worthy; its originators did a good work. CLIFTON SPRINGS
SANITARIUM The buildings of the
establishment are of ample area and height.
They are the result of successive efforts.
A west wing was built next the wood building; it was soon raised
a story with attics. In
1870, the wood building was removed and the main building constructed,
and improvements are still going forward.
Purchases of adjacent grounds have been made until sixty acres
are now owned in connection with the Cure.
The valuation of property had been augmented so that it is
estimated to be worth not less than a quarter of a million dollars.
The building presents a front of two hundred and thirty-five
feet, four and five stories in height, the east wing being one hundred
and the west wing three hundred feet deep.
Bathing arrangements and gymnasium are of superior character. Upon the first floor
of the main building is a dining-room with a capacity to seat three
hundred and sixty persons; a drawing-room thirty-eight by forty-eight
feet, a library and reading-room, medical office and reception-room, and
bath-rooms, five in number. Here
is expensive machinery, and Turkish, electro and electro-chemical,
Russian, compressed air, and vapor baths are taken.
Upon the second floor are two medical offices, three bath-rooms,
rooms for patients, and a beautiful chapel, furnished with taste and
supplied with a fine organ. Other floors are devoted to guests. There are rooms for two hundred and seventy patients, and
many receiving treatment board at the hotels and boarding-houses in the
village. An elevator is in
constant use. The gymnasium
is in dimension forty by one hundred feet.
There are three engines used for pumping water, and these are
supplied with four boilers. An
ice-house has a capacity of one hundred tons; gas-works supply not only
the institution, but the village. Shops,
barns, laundries, and other buildings are located upon the grounds. The faculty consists
of Dr. Henry FOSTER, general superintendent, assisted by Dr. James GAULT,
Dr. PRINCE, and Mrs. Mary DUNBAR. Rev.
Lewis BODWELL has been chaplain since 1870.
The number of employees in the establishment is seventy-five. These are classed in nine departments, each having a chief,
who is responsible for the order of the division.
It is estimated that the number of patients during the twenty-six
years past has exceeded fifty thousand.
Within the last few years the average constant number of patients
is three hundred. The
institution does not depend for its growth upon advertising, but upon
the good will and reports of patients, and by these means the reputation
of the Cure has steadily increased. On
the 6th of April, 1871, the name was changed to Clifton Spring
Sanitarium, which name it now bears. A building known as
Clifton Spring Hotel was purchased by a stock company, organized with a
capital of seventy-five thousand dollars, and an extensive air-cure
established. It went into
operation May 1, 1867, and met success.
It was destroyed by fire in 1870, and the property, including
thirty acres of land, was purchased in 1872 by Dr. H. FOSTER with the
intent to erect thereon a building to cost one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. This is
to be used as a nonsectarian female college.
School opens in the fall of 1876 in the Foster House, under
charge of Dr. George H. Lewis, D.D., president.
The realization of this scheme will make Clifton Springs a place
more than ever desirable as a residence. BRIGHAM HALL, a
hospital for the insane, owes its existence to private enterprise.
In 1854, Messrs. Robert D. and George COOK made their first visit
to the village of Canandaigua, in search of a suitable location for
their purpose. They went
out upon Main street on the morning after their arrival, and were shown
by an old and prominent citizen the place so well suited to the design
of the founders of the asylum. During
the day the premises were inspected, and proved satisfactory. A stone building, known as the Brigham Place, was yet in
process of construction, and showed solid and substantial. It was of rural gothic build, fronted eastward, and forms the
present centre of the structure. The
location is upon a site magnificently adorned by the hand of nature, and
made yet more lovely by the refining influence of art. From there a view is presented of village, valley, and lake.
Spring-water is unfailing, and the railroad station is but a mile
distant. The vicinity of
Canandaigua lake as a place for boating and fishing made the place
especially attractive, and excursions upon the clear and beautiful sheet
of water have exerted a salutary and healing influence upon patients.
The purchase was made in June, 1855, and possession taken in
July. The unfinished stone
building was completed in October, and rooms prepared for the reception
of ten patients. Early in
the spring of 1856, in accordance with plans prepared, work was begun
upon the north brick wing, which has a front of about one hundred and
thirty feet, with rear extension; the latter has halls and rooms for a
small number of excited patients. It
is two-storied, with partition-walls of brick, and has a capacity for
thirty-five patients. To
provide adequate drainage, eight hundred feet of brick sewer were
constructed, and pipes for water and gas were laid through the whole
buildings. The south wing
was built in 1860, in size and style like the north wing.
The entire building has a front of three hundred and twenty feet,
with a rear extension of one hundred and thirty feet, for kitchen,
laundry, and engine-rooms. The
building has been erected and furnished with the one purpose constantly
in view,---the comfort and welfare of inmates.
Supply of water is unfailing.
A reservoir twenty by thirty, and eight feet deep, has been built
at the spring. The walls
are laid in brick and cement, and covered in for purity.
A suction-pipe three inches in diameter extends from the
reservoir to the pump, which is propelled by steam power, and thence
water is forced to large tanks in the attic. Gas-works were constructed in 1866, and have been changed as
found desirable. Crude
petroleum produces a good quality of gas at moderate cost. The original purchase was of seventy acres.
In 1865, thirty acres, between the hospital grounds and Parrish
street, were purchased, increasing the acreage to one hundred.
Streets bound the grounds on all sides, and give security against
encroachment. The forest-trees of fifteen acres about the hospital have
been left standing, and evergreen and other trees have been planted.
The objects of the institution have been the cure of every
patient who may be cured, and the provision to the incurable of all the
care, peace, comfort, and enjoyment within their reach.
The proportion of recoveries to the number treated has been
large, and the freedom from irksome restraint has made life more
enjoyable. Since the
opening of the hospital in 1855, one thousand and thirty-four patients
have been admitted; three hundred and twenty-one of these have been
discharged fully recovered; two hundred and forty-six improved; two
hundred and eighteen unimproved; eight-eight were inebriates; ninety
have died, and seventy-one remained under care December 31, 1875.
During the last ten months of the year no death occurred.
The fact is developed that before the larger number of patients
are brought here, they have passed beyond the reach of curative agency.
The board of managers consists of Robert D. COOK, Esq., William
G. WAYNE, Esq., and John B. CHAPIN, M.D.
Dr. Harvey JEWETT, consulting physician, is constantly referred
to as a person of extended experience and of unvarying courtesy.
It was a noteworthy fact that for more than twenty years the
founders of the hospital continued to administer its affairs.
Dr. George COOK, a man of noble nature and generous impulses, of
quiet manner, but strong influence, took exclusive management of the
business, financial and medical. The
unfortunate were sent to his care by relatives with confidence, and the
citizens of Canandaigua held the doctor as one whom they delighted to
honor. He died a martyr to
the cause of humanity, by a knife-stroke inflicted by a patient.
The assault was made on June 12, 1876, and in his death the
unfortunate lost of a valuable friend. ONTARIO ORPHAN ASYLUM
-
This institution is located at the head of Main street, in the
village of Canandaigua, just outside the corporation limits, in the
midst of a beautiful grove of forest-trees, having four acres of land
attached. On the 14th of May,
1863, a public meeting was held at the town hall in said village, in
pursuance of a call from the patriotic and benevolent ladies of the
county, to provide a suitable home for destitute and orphan children,
with especial reference to those whose fathers might be lost in the
service of the United States during the late war of the rebellion.
A society was duly organized, which afterwards became
incorporated by the Legislature. A
constitution and by-laws were adopted, providing for the annual election
of a president, treasurer, two secretaries, four directresses,
twenty-four managers (subsequently increased to forty-four), all from
the ladies of the society. A suitable house and
grounds were purchased for $5000, a matron and teacher secured, and the
doors were opened for the reception of inmates.
Twenty-five thousand dollars was received from the State;
occasional appropriations have been generously voted by the supervisors
of the county, authorized by the Legislature; small legacies have been
realized from Mrs. Isabella FULTON, of Phelps, and Mrs. E.S. COBB and
Mrs. James LYON, of Canandaigua, while the liberal and continuous
support of its patrons has thus far contributed to make a success of
this noble charity. Several
legacies of considerable amount have done much towards placing the
asylum on a permanent basis, yet its maintenance is largely dependent on
the liberality of its friends. In 1868, the
supervisors of Yates county made arrangements to transfer their
dependent children to this asylum from their county-house, while recent
legislation has more fully provided for the removal of pauper children
to this and similar institutions. The edifice is
a three-story brick building, having a basement and mansard roof, with a
spacious veranda in front; the whole having been greatly enlarged and
improved in 1870, at an expense $13,581.61, making the total cost of the
real estate $19,581.61, the entire sum having been raised by the
individual exertions of the ladies, and the property is entirely free
from incumbrance. There are now about
sixty children in the asylum, which will accommodate a hundred.
Over three hundred have been received since its commencement. One of the most
interesting features of the institution is the asylum school.
The neatness, decorum, and good order which prevail reflect much
credit upon matron and teacher, while the intellectual progress of the
children will challenge competition with those of same age who are
blessed with better fortune. Suitable
homes are provided for the pauper children when practicable, whose
future welfare is strictly guarded by proper indentures. There is also a board
of trustees, seven in number, chosen annually from the male members of
the society, who hold in trust, for the benefit of the asylum, the title
to the real and personal property. List
of Funded Legacies. June
1, 1867, Miss Betsey
CHAPIN.........................................................$ 4,000 October
9, 1871, Mrs. Clarissa M.
DAVIS..................................................2,000 October
23, 1873, John
POST...................................................................20,000 March
8, 1876, Perez H.
FIELD..................................................................1,000 ______________________________________________________________
$27,000 Invested
as follows: United
States 3 per cent. Bonds, par
value.....................................$10,000 United
States 6 per cent. Bonds, par value.....................................
3,600 Premium
on
above........................................................................
2,940 Bonds
and
Mortgages...................................................................
10,460 ________________________________________________________
$27,000 These legacies have
been preserved intact, and form a permanent endowment fund, the interest
only being used towards the current expenses of the asylum.
The net income from this fund is $1448, while the yearly expenses
of the institution are $4500, leaving an annual deficiency of $3000 to
be supplied by public generosity. Officers of the
Asylum, May, 1876.---President, Mrs. George COOK; Directresses,
Mrs. Alexander MURRAY, Mrs. George WILLSON, Mrs. Harvey JEWETT, Mrs.
George W. BEMIS; Treasurer, Mrs. Henry M. FIELD; Recording Secretary,
Miss Annie PIERCE; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. William GORHAM.
These electronic pages may be printed as a link or for
personal use, but is NOT to be reproduced Copyright 2001 - 2009 |
