Class
Book.
SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT
V*
i
JF
COLLECTIONS
/
CAYUGA COUNTY
Historical Society.
AUBURN, N. Y.
^
Number Four.
1887.
cr
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES.
Number
7*~
Knapi\ Peck & Thomson,
Book, Job and Commercial Printers,
Auburn, N. Y.
NINTH
ANNUAL ADDRESS
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY
IN REGARD TO THE DEATH OF
The Rev. Charles H awley, D. D,
WITH
MEMORIAL ADDRESS
AND APPENDIX.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
AND
OFFICERS AND MEMBJ
-
~
/ ■•*£
AUBURN, N. Y.
1887.
OFFICERS.
President,
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
Vice-President,
BENJAMIN B. SNOW.
Corresponding Secretat v,
FRANK W. RICHAR]
Recording Secretary,
DAVID M. DUNNING.
Treasurer,
NELSON B. ELD RED.
Librarian,
JOHN H. OSBORNE.
TRUSTEES.
John H. Osborne, Nelson B. Eldred,
Lewis E. Lyon, Frederick I. Allen,
D. Warren Adams, Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr.,
*William G. Wise, Charles M. Baker,
David M. Dunning, Frank W. Richardson,
James Seymour, Jr., John W. O'Brien,
Willis J. Beecher, D. D.
COMMITTEES.
On Papers. — Lewis E. Lyon, Willis J. Beecher, Dennis R.
Alwarri, Charles M. Baker, Frank W. Richardson.
Executive. — John H. Osborne, C. Wheeler, Jr., Willis J.
Beecher.
Finance.— D. M. Dunning, -William G. Wise, John . W.
O'Brien.
Membership. — James Seymour, Jr., Nelson B. Eldred,
Frederick I. Allen.
Room.— H. D. Woodruff, D. W. Adams, VV. H. Meaker.
* Deceased.
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
The Cayuga County Historical Society first came into exist-
ence in March, 187(5, and this is the ninth of its anniversary
meetings. It was mainly through the active efforts of our late
and much beloved President, Rev. Chas. Hawley, D. D., that
the association was formed. I have frequently heard him say
that he had for many years previously thought of the matter
of such an organization and always with a strong desire to do
something to recall and preserve the local and biographical
history of this vicinity.
Dr. Hawley's work in this direction, as in many others, sur-
vives him; and, it is now earnestly to be hoped that the labor
so intelligently begun and faithfully carried forward by him,
may be continued and its sphere enlarged, although the master
hand that organized it has been taken away. That this should
certainly be done, not only to perpetuate the good work of a
good man, and thereby honor his memory, but also for the
more weighty reason that the objects of the society are in all
respects meritorious, embracing as they do, elements of educa-
tion, and tending to public improvement in the community to
which we belong, whose progress and development is a matter
of personal interest to us all.
Our meeting to-night is the first one of our annual gatherings
at which we are not to be welcomed, entertained and instructed
by the founder of our association. It is with no ordinary de-
gree of sadness, that we are called to reflect upon the fact that
we shall meet him no more in these pleasant social reunions,
where his genial presence has upon so many previous occasions
made our meetings especially bright and attractive. But, Dr.
Hawley's labors in behalf of the Cayuga County Historical
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Society are not without results, and their strong influences will
remain to stimulate the association to renewed v'gor and
energy.
It may not be inappropriate for us at this time to recall
somewhat of the doings of our society, its history, its work, and
to note especially those who have contributed to its archives.
The preliminary meeting for its first organization was held
March, 22, 1876, in the directors' room of the Auburn Savings
Bank, and adjourned meetings to perfect the work were con-
tinued at the same place April 5th and loth, following.
At these meetings some thirty or forty of our citizens par-
ticipated, among whom I now recall, Charles Hawley, Charles
P. Wood. Miles Perry, Michael S. Myers, P Hamilton Myers,
Christopher Morgan, William Allen, Dr. D. II. Armstrong,
Joseph Osborne, J. Lewis Grant, Col. T. J. Kennedy, all of
whom have since passed away ; and others, still living, some
of whose names remain on the rolls of this society as active
members; among these I remember, Dr. S. Willard, Rev. S.
W. Boardman, Prof. S. M. Hopkins, Maj. W. C. Beardsley,
Dr. Theo. Dimon, Joseph D. Otis, D. R Alward, B. B Snow,
D. W. Adams, E. D. Jackson, Judge B. F. Hall, Henry Rich-
ardson, Dr. James D. Button, Dr. Blanchard Fosgate, John II.
Osborne, Gen. John S. Clark, Maj. Lewis E. Carpenter, Byron
C. Smith and C. M. Baker.
At one of these preliminary meetings a member, by way of
breaking the historical ice I presume, and of giving us an illus-
tration of what might be done in the future, read a very inter-
esting and exciting narrative, or history of the career of Capt.
Edward Wheeler, one of the prominent early settlers in this
vicinty. The sketch, we were told, was written by his grand-
son Edward Wheeler, and upon further inquiry as to who the
author was, it was ascertained that he was at that time acting
as janitor of the bank building. Whether he had caught the
historical infection from seeing our preliminary meetings go on
in his building, or whether his sketch was written without that
powerful incentive at some eariier date, I do not know, but at
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all events, when it was learned that the author was at that very
moment sweeping out the next room, he was forthwith sent
for, brought before our august assembly, and congratulated by
each one of the thirty-five members present, upon the marked
success of his literary effort. Mr. Wheeler was evidently a
very modest man, and while he may have been entirely at his
ease in the preparation of his paper, he was not so when called
in and appeared utterly dumbfounded by its enthusiastic
reception, .and overwhelmed by the unexpected congratulations
which were tendered to him on that occasion.
The Historical Society was first organized upon what was
then supposed to be the most popular basis for such an asso-
ciation, viz , a very large membership with a very small annual
due or membership fee of $1.00 It was at the time expected
that several hundred persons would join it, and to give it
greater popularity it was to have one vice-president for each
ward in the city and one for each town in the county.
The first officers were :
President — Dr. Charles Ilawley.
Corresponding Secretary — B. B. Snow.
Recording Secretary— C. M. Baker.
Treasurer — E. I). Jackson.
Librarian — D. R. Alward.
With B. F. Hall, W. C. Bcardsley, T. J. Kennedy, D. R.
Alward, Joseph Osborne and John Underwood vice-presidents
for Auburn, and twenty-three others, headed by D. W.
Adams, for like officers representing the several towns of the
county.
The first executive committee, or managers, were: S. Willard,
C. P. Wood, J. D. Button, W. C. Bcardsley, B. Fosgate, B. F.
Hall and W. II. Seward.
This plan while perhaps offering the inducement of an organ-
ization of broader scope and greater popularity than some
others, did not meet with the general encouragement which was
expected for it, and as one of the gentlemen from the country
who at first thought he would join and afterwards concluded
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he would not, at the time facetiously remarked, he "guessed a
dollar a year was a little too much to pay to keep track of our
ancestors, when almost any man could read their names in the
family bible, and their history upon their tombstones, for
nothing."
It soon became apparent that if the society was to continue
to exist at all it must rely mainly upon a limited murnber of
our own citizens, who were especially interested in such work,
and who would be willing to devote the necessary time and
means to carry it forward.
The next step was that of reorganization, on the basis of a
few members, who would agree to guarantee an annual fee of
$10.00 each for at least three years. Thirty-five members
entered into such a written agreement at once, and this gave
the society its first real start in the work it had set out to i\n.
I regret that T am unable now to give the names of the patriotic
thirty live who came to the rescue, and thereby saved the organ-
ization from abandonment, but the record seems to have been
mislaid or lost. Later on, (in 1881") the annual fee for member-
ship was reduced from $10.00 to $5.00 where it now stands.
The actual re-organization took place January 27th, 1<S77.
The society at that time moved into the rooms which we now
occupy and these were soon after furnished and put in order
for our permanent occupancy.
New members now rapidly joined the association and the
original thirty-five were before the next annual meeting in-
creased in number by associates to over sixty.
The first officers under the new organization, were :
President — Charles Hawley.
Vice President — W. H. Seward.
Corresponding Secretary — B. B. Snow.
Recording Secretary — C. M. Baker.
Treasurer — D. M. Dunning.
Librarian — D. R Alward.
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And the first Board of Trustees, were : Blanchard Fosgate,
J. Lewis Grant, David M. Dunning, John E. Osborne, B. B.
Snow, Lewis E. Carpenter and James D. Button.
At the annual meeting in February, 1878, Dr. Hawley deliv-
ered the first of a series of most excellent addresses before the
society. This one especially was one of bis best efforts, and
was listened to by the largest audience ever assembled in these
rooms. It produced a most favorable impression in behalf of
our association.
This address formed the basis of the first publication made
by the society, and was largely distributed and generally called
for by most of the similar societies throughout the United
States.
I shall take the liberty of quoting a few passages from this
address, which most clearly and forcibly set forth the object
which the association had in view at that time. He said :
" The object of the society was to collect and preserve the
memorials of our local history while the incidents of early set-
tlements within the country were still fresh in memory or tra-
dition ; to gather a historical library and cabinet ; and as an
immediate duty, to arrange for appropriate celebrations within
the county, of the one hundredth anniversary of our national
independence," then near at hand.
" Our work for the future is plainly before us. It is to com
plete what has been so well begun ; and in doing this we invoke
the support and co-operation of every citizen of the county,
who desires that its history should be gathered and preseved.
It is a work in accord with the best spirit of the age, intent upon
learning, if possible, the events and conditions which have
wrought thus far in retarding or advancing the welfare of the
whole human family. If institutions, social, civil and religious,
which are the present life of communities, are worth the outlay
of time, money and labor, at which they must be maintained,
certainly the one organization to gather up and preserve what
has been accomplished through these manifold agencies, for the
better knowledge of the generations to come, has a special
claim upon our material and moral support. Whatever is
done to build up society in intelligence and wealth ; in virtue
and stability ; in moral and spiritual excellence, is worthy of
record and precious care. There are incidental uses for such
an association as this, to which I may refer to as among its at-
tractions; it is a means of self culture; it gratifies an instinctive
desire to know about men and things in the days gone by, and
the sources from whence what we now enjoy and prize, has
been derived. It enlarges the mind and widens one's range of
thought It brings into activity the better sensibilities of our
nature; promotes gratitude and charity, with a generous solici-
tude for the welfare of those who are to come after us.
Then again, I count it of importance that every man should
have some diversion from his accustomed employment, some
hobby if you please, which will lead him to cultivate genial
and refined tastes as a defense against the monotonous and sordid
influence of mere business, and wasting cares of an exacting
profession, or the selfish tendencies of leisure induced by
wealth and ease. There is enough of fascination here to divert
the mind from its beaten track, into a healthy change of at-
mosphere which may be said to combine most happily the ele-
ments of a reasonable conservatism with the impulses of a rest-
less and progressive age, beating hotly through its business
and social life."
During the succeeding nine years of the society, over sixty
valuable and interesting papers were written for, and delivered
before it, at its several meetings, and I name most of them now,
in the order of their delivery :
March 13, 1877. Champlain's Expedition to the State of New
York, by Gen. John S. Clark.
June 12th, 1S77. Medicine as a Science, by Dr. Lansingh
Briggs.
Sept. 1 1 th, 1877. Biography of Win. Bostwick, by his son,
Henry H. Bostwick.
Oct. 9th and Nov. 3d, 1S77. Biography of Judge Elijah
Miller, by Hon. B. F. Hall. This paper required two evenings
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for its delivery and was quite elaborate, covering a long period
in the early history of Aurora, Cayuga and Auburn, from 1790 to
1852.
Dec. nth, 1S77. The Press of Cayuga County, by Elliott G.
Storke. Mr. Storke died Sept. nth, 1879.
January 8th, 1878. Early Modes of Travel and Transporta-
tion, by J. Lewis Grant. Mr. Grant died Oct. 19, 1878.
February 12, 1S7S. First Annual Address by President Dr.
Charles Hawley, on the Work of Historical Societies, published
by the society in pamphlet form.
March 12th, 1878. Art and Professional Artists in Cayuga
County, by Col. T. J. Kennedy. Col. Kennedy died Oct. 3d,
1883. '
May 14th, 1878. Homoeopathy and its introduction into Cay-
uga County, by Dr. Horatio Robinson, Sen.
June 12th, 1878. Henry Clay's Visit to Auburn and Western
New York, by Wm. H. Bogart of Aurora.
Octobers, 1878. The Auburn Declaration of 1 S3 7, by Prof.
Samuel M. Hopkins.
Nov. 19th, 1878. Early Days in Auburn, by Michael S. Myers.
Mr. Myers died Dec. 16th, 18S3.
January 14th, 1879. A Sketch of Captain Roswell Franklin,
one of the pioneer settlers of Cayuga County, by Dr. Hawley.
February 15th, 1879. Second Annual Address of President
Dr. Charles Hawley.
April 15th, 1879. A paper upon Communism, by Dr. Blanch-
ard Fosgate ; read by Secretary.
May 13th, 1879. Early Settlement of the town of Genoa, by
D. W. Adams.
Oct. 14th, 1879. Life and Times of Millard Fillmore, by Dr.
Cyrus Powers of Moravia. Dr. Powers died March 21st, 1S80.
Nov. nth, 1879. The Bar of Cayuga County from 1843 to
1S60, by James R. Cox.
Dec. 16th, 1879, and Jan. 13th, 1880. Sullivan's Campaign
against the Western Indians, compiled by Gen. John S. Clark,
from the journal of the late Col. John L. Hardenburgh, together
with a biographical sketch of Col. Hardenburgh, by Dr. Charles
Hawley. These papers were printed in pamphlet form by the
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society and are known as " Publication No. i, of the Cayuga
County Historical Society."
Feb. toth, 1880. Third Annual Address by the President, Dr.
Charles Hawley, on the work of the Society, and Early History
of Western New York, published by the Society in pamphlet
form.
March 19th, 1880. History of the Society of Friends in Cay-
uga County, by Miss Emily Howland of Sherwood. Printed in
Historical Society Publication, No. 2.
Oct. 19th, 1880. Early Recollection of Auburn, by Mrs. John
Porter, assisted by Miss Mary Bacon ; read by the Secretary.
Nov. 16th, 1880. Recollections of the Origin and Growth of
the Temperance Movement, by David Wright.
Dec. 22d, 1880. Inventors and Inventions of Cayuga County,
by Hon. Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr. Also at the same meeting, a short
biographical sketch of Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., by Hon. D. M.
( >sborne. Both of these papers were printed in Historical Society
Publication No. 2, the paper of Mr. Wheeler, on Inventions, being
beautifully illustrated by our townsman, Frank R. Rathbun.
Jan. nth, 1881. Reminiscences of my early life in Auburn,
by Mrs. S. Benton Hunt of New York ; read by the Secretary.
Feb. 8th, 1881. Fourth Annual Address by President Dr.
Charles Hawley, printed in Historical Society Publication No. 2.
March 8th, 1881. Recollections of my early life in Auburn,
by Mrs. Deborah Bronson, assisted and read by Mr. Wm. A.
Baker.
April T2, 1881. Biographical sketch of Judge Elijah Miller ;
read by Frederick I. Allen.
Oct. 1 1 1 It, [881. Recollections of Auburn, by Mrs. A. M. B.
Clary; read by Secretary. Mrs. Clary died Feb. 13, 1882.
Nov. 15, 1 88 1. Reminiscences of Port Byron, by Dr. James
D. Button.
Feb. 15th, 1882. Fifth Annual Address by President Dr.
Charles Hawley, printed in Historical Society Publication No. 2.
March 14th, 18S2. Early Reminiscences of Auburn, by Mr.
Leverett Pall ; read by the Secretary at a meeting held at the
residence of the Vice-President.
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June 16, 1882. Biographical sketch of Mrs. A. M. B. Clary,
by Dr. James D. Button.
Oct. 12th, 1882. Sketch of the life of Gov. Enos T. Throop,
by Mrs. E. T. T. Martin ; read by Josiah Letchworth.
Nov. 11, 1882. An unwritten chapter in the History of Au-
burn, by Harold E. Hills.
Jan. 16th, 1883. Early history of the Bank of Auburn, by
James Seymour, Jr.
Feb. 13th, 18S3. Sixth Annual Address by the President, Dr.
Charles Hawley.
March 13th, 1.883. Early Recollections of the Town of Owas-
co, by John T. Brinkerhoff ; read by the Secretary.
April 25th, 1883. Cayuga Joint Stock Company, by Weston
A. Ogden of Kings Ferry.
Dec. nth, 1883. Sketches of James S. Seymour and S. L.
Bradley ; read by W. H. Seward.
Jan. 15th, 1884. Some Reminiscences of C. H. Merriman, by
James R. Cox.
Feb. 12th, 1884. Seventh Annual Address of President Dr.
Charles Hawley.
March 1 ith, 1884. History in Geographical Names, by Prof.
Willis J. Beecher.
May 13th, 1884. Memorial on the life of Silas L. Bradley, by
Rev. Wm. H. Allbright.
Nov. nth, 1SS4. Historical Sketch, Burning of St. James
Hotel, by B. B. Snow.
Dec. 9th, 1884. Character, Manners and Customs of the
[roquois Indians, by Prof. S. M. Hopkins.
Jan. 1 ith, 1885. Sketch of Dr. Oliver Swain Taylor, then the
oldest living resident of Auburn, having lately passed his one
hundredth birthday, by his grandson, Henry T. Keeler. At this
meeting Dr. Taylor was made one of the honorary members of
the society. Dr. Taylor died April 19th, 1SS5, aged one hun-
dred years, four months and two days.
March 10th, 1885. Eighth and last Annual Address of Presi-
dent Dr. Charles Hawley.
April 14th, 18S5. History of Cayuga County Bank, by D. W.
Adams. Published in pamphlet form.
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May 26th, 1885. Biographical sketch of the celebrated Indian
Chief " Sayenguerchtor " or "Old Smoke," by Hon. George S.
Conover of Geneva.
Nov. 28th, 1885. Thirteen short Memorial Addresses on the
death of our President, Dr. Charles Hawley, which occurred
Nov. 26th, 1885. These addresses were made by judge B. F.
Hall, Prof. R. B. Welch, John H. Osborne, Prof. Willis J. Beecher,
Prof. George R. Cutting, Rev. Wm. H. Allbright, Rev. C. C.
Hemenway, Lewis E. Lyon, John W. O'Brien, B. B. Snow, Fred-
erick I. Allen, Wm. G. Wise and W. H. Seward.
In addition to the literary contributions heretofore mentioned,
one of the most interesting and attractive features of the meet-
ings in 1877 and 1878 were several most excellent papers
written and read by Mr. B. B. Snow, as a record of current local
events. These papers were a connected narrative of current
incidents of local and general interest as they occurred from day
to day, given in such a bright and humorous manner that their
reading never failed to draw large audiences to our rooms
whenever announced. They were always listened to with the
utmost pleasure by the members of the society and their guests,
and when finally discontinued I think it was to the serious re-
gret of every one who had been fortunate enough to hear them.
While on this subject I take great pleasure in stating that
after much solicitation from his associates, Mr. Snow has con-
sented to renew this record, and has promised us (if his time
will permit) to give the society a paper on this subject every
other month during our regular meeting season, or at least four
papers during the year, unless current events cease happening,
in which case there may possibly be fewer papers.
The trustees feel that in consenting to again take up this
work, Mr. Snow does much to further the success of our society
in the future.
I have been thus particular in giving the dates, subjects
and authors' names of these various literary contributions, not
only as a matter of reference, but because they each and all
contain valuable information of the past, and embrace a wide
range of subjects and matter, covering a period in our local his-
1 Q
— lo —
tory from 1779 down to the present day. which should not be
lost sight of, as present duties shall absorb our attention.
Thus grouped together and brought to our attention now,
the^e papers illustrate to some extent the fact, that the Cayuga
County Historical Society has been actively at work for the
past ten years, and while I believe that it has during that time
instructed and entertained its own members, it has at the same
time collected facts of much value to the student and historian,
many of which might have passed out of memory and been lost,
when our own generation shall have given place to those
younger people who are following close behind, and who ere
long will succeed us.
We have some very valuaVe relics and records, contributed
from time to time to the museum of the society, and such con-
tributions are continually increasing in number; much may
now be found among them that make our rooms attractive to
the stranger, who may visit our city ; or the resident who
wishes to pas3 an hour in historical research.
aubukn's future.
I have given you somewhat of the work of our society in
the past. What of it in the future? While it perhaps cannot
be reasonably expected that in the busy world surrounding us,
any very large number of our citizens will be likely to take an
active part in such an organization, or at least more than a
passing interest in its affairs, as particular subjects are brought
forward, appealing to the different tastes or interests of individ-
uals, still it does not seem at all unreasonable to expect that out
of a population of 25,000 people, from fifty to one hundred
ladies and gentlemen can be found, willing to help carry tor-
ward this work, not only for the gratification of themselves, but
also for the benefits that will result to others.
Our records, as they accumulate, furnish correct information
of men and events, in one of the oldest and most interesting
counties in Central New York. The fact is not to be under-
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estimated, for go where you will, in all the states west of our
own, you will find no one in which there are not those, or their
children, who look back to Central New York as their old
home; speak of it with pride and affection, and are seeking,
from time to time, more information as to its places and indi-
viduals.
Auburn will, I assume, continue to grow and develop; and
I am perfectly sure that it will continue to make history, much
of which will soon pass out of mind, unless gathered up and
retained by societies like ours. Let us consider this well, and
realize that the Cayuga County Historical society has a mission
to perform whose results will be interesting and beneficial to
many. The influence of such organizations helps to broaden
the views, not only of those engaged in the work, but also of
the whole community in which they are located.
Auburn with its thrifty, growing population, with its beau-
tiful location and surroundings, with its substantial institutions
and residences, certainly furnishes a good field for historical
work ; sometimes I think we do not half appreciate what a
really good town we live in, and when every now and then
T hear some constitutional grumbler charging our city with a
lack of public spirit, or charity, or enterprise, or something of
that character, I feel as though a more careful examination of
our surroundings would, perhaps, lead to a very different con-
clusion. I believe, myself, that Auburn is far ahead of most
cities of its size, in its public development and enterprise, and
in the collective and individual liberality of its citizens. While
there are undoubtedly many things to be desired in the way of
public improvements, in our own city, which we lack, we should
not overlook those which we now possess, in our eagerness to
secure improvements, which happen at the moment to absorb
our individual attention, and thereby commit ourselves to the
narrow error of charging wholesale illiberality upon a commun-
ity which in fact has ever been well up to the times in its pub-
lic and private enterprise. We are making history now, and
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mast cling closely to facts. Few small cities seem to be better
provided for in mauy ways, than Auburn.
PUBLIC BUILDING.
Our public school system is one of the best in the state, well
conducted, and in the main, well equipped. We have thirteen
substantial school houses, which with the parochial schools,
instruct about four thousand live hundred scholars. Certainly
there is no lack of enterprise in our efforts to educate our chil-
dren.
We have the Auburn Theological seminary, with its beauti-
ful, well-built structures, costing over $200,000, with its corps of
six learned professors, and its forty students, all helping in no
small degree, to add refinement and Christian culture to our
city, and presenting an institution of which we may feel proud.
Its alumni now number 1,800.
We have the Seymour library (well and judiciously endowed
through the liberality of the late James S. Seymour, one of
Auburn's most noble citizens), containing over ten thousand
volumes and open to the public for a nominal fee, which, by
the way, I earnestly hope will be wholly abolished before many
years.
Our Young Mens Christian Association, composed of active,
earnest young men, doing an excellent and noble work in the
field which they seek to cover ; their new and beautiful build-
ing is a lasting monument to the spirit of liberality on the
part of those of our eitizens, (dead and living), who furnished
the means of its erection and also to the energy and disinter-
estedness of the members of the association who carried the
work forward ; this building and its equipment cost not less
than $65,000. The total membership of the association in all
its departments is now six hundred and eleven and the average
attendance daily upon all its branches is about one hundred
and sixty -five.
We have eighteen churches, most of their edifices being of
modern construction, and several of very beautiful architec-
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tural appearance, costing, T assume, not less than one million
dollars. Noticeably among them for beauty are the First Pres-
byterian, St. Peter's, St. Mary's, First Baptist, Second Baptist,
and St. John's, and other church buildings are, I understand,
soon to follow.
Surely, the churches, and the several other institutions just
named, bear evidence of enterprise and liberality, on the part
of our citizens, who have provided them without the slightest
hope of any other return than that highest of all, the conscious-
ness of seeking to benefit their fellow men.
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
Our charitable institutions are numerous and exceptionally
well managed. Among them are the Cayuga asylum for desti-
tute children with its eighty-four inmates, the Home of the
Friendless with its twenty homeless or infirm women, the
Auburn city hospital with its twenty patients, and accommoda-
tions for forty or more, where cases of aecident or severe illness
are cared for, with or without compensation, as the emergency
requires. All of the three last named institutions have plain,
substantial buildings, wholly built by the private donations of
our citizens. And all are under the watchful care and manage-
ment of philanthropic women, who are willing to devote their
time and attention to such good works. I see no want of
benevolent enterprise here.
We have many other most excellent active benevolent asso-
ciations, conducted by men and women in our community, too
many for me to specify at this time, but I believe I shall keep
within bounds if I say they will reach one hundred or more in
number. I mention only by the way of illustration : the Young
Ladies' Benevolent Association, the Women's Employment
Society, Auburn Women's Industrial Union, the Auburn
Women's Temperance Union, the Martha Washington Society,
the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, the St. George's Soci-
ety, the Auburn Branch of the Society for the Prevention of
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Cruelty to Animals, and hosts of others, all liberally supported
by Auburnians, each one doing its work quietly and efficiently
in its own special sphere.
Liberality and enterprise are not lacking in these directions,
it appears.
SOCIAL AND LITKRARY.
There are also many social and literary and business associa-
tions. Among them, our own Historical Society, with its pres-
ent membership of fifty ; the Auburn City Club, with its nine-
ty members and its well-appointed club house where our busi-
ness men meet of an evening to discuss commercial, political,
or social questions, and should any of them forget the hour and
stay too late, a handy telephone is provided so that anxious
wives may call their husbands home.
Then, there is the Young Men's Law Club, where our young-
lawyers may meet and discuss how to get their clients out of
or into difficulty.
The Wheeler Rifles, a fine military organization with its one
hundred and four members, who stand deservedly high for
drill and discipline in the national guard of the state.
The Auburn Turf Club with its one hundred members, most
of whom own fine horses, whose beauty and speed are a source
of much pride to their owners.
Two Grand Army Posts : Post Seward and Post Crocker,
who look with jealous care to the interests of the veteran sol-
diers and their families.
The last new organization is the Toboggan Club, with its
sixty young members, earnestly bent upon sliding into a good
time.
MANUFACTURIXG^INTERESTS.
Our manufacturing interests are unusually extensive and
varied, and as a rule are prosperous. Their buildings are sub-
stantial, covering acres of ground, and with their equipment cost-
ing more than two millions of dollars, all of which brings Jmck
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direct returns ; not only to their enterprising owners, but also
to nearly every branch of commercial business in our city-
Most, or in fact, all of these great factories and mills, have been
built, equipped, and are to-day carried on with the money and
by the energy of the citizens of Auburn, and I can now recall
but one single exception, (that, of the Auburn Woolen Com-
pany), where outside capital is to any considerable extent in-
vested in our industries ; and even in this case, the mill itself
was built originally wholly by local subscriptions to its stock.
Time permits me to mention only a few of the larger of
those important industries, which contribute so considerably to
sustain and build up our town ; of these I recall :
Employes.
D. M. Osborne & Co., reaper manufacturers. 1,225
Auburn Woolen Co., cloth " 370
Canoga " " " " 71
E. D. Clapp, Combined Corporations, carriage, hard-
ware and lumber wagons, (when running full), 381
Josiah Barber & Sons, carpets, 250 to 260
Nye & Waite, carpets, 225
The Birdsall Co., threshing machines and engines,. 250
A. W. Stevens & Son. " " " . . 100
Auburn Button Co.,(150), and Logan Silk Mills (250) 100
Auburn M't'g Co., tools and agricultural implements 110 to 150
David Wadsworth & Son, tools and agricultural
implements, 80 to 100
Auburn Tool Co., carpenters' tools, 70
Sheldon & Co., carriage and wagon axles, now clos-
ing, 300
Empire Wringer Mill, 35
Tuttle Rolling Factory, 30 to 35
Three large shoe factories, about 150
These with very many smaller factories and shops are actively
engaged in producing articles for general consumption through-
out the country.
- 19 -
Our malting and brewing establishments, five in number, are
large and have valuable plants, in which some two hundred
thousand dollars is invested. They use about one hundred and
sixtv-five thousand bushels of grain annually and give employ-
ment to sixty men. The brewers make twenty thousand bar-
rels of beer per annum, or six hundred and twenty thousand
gall >ns.
Perhaps I should not here omit to mention the Auburn
State's Prison with its nine hundred and seventy convicts, and
also the State Asylum for insane criminals with its one hundred
and eighty-nine inmates. And while these last two named
institutions in no respect represent or form any part of our
commendable enterprises, nevertheless they are an element of
financial profit to our community.
OTHER ASSOCIATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS.
We have other associations and corporations which cannot
well be placed in any of the preceding classes that I have men-
tioned, and yet which help to demonstrate that we are well up
with the times ; of these there occur to me :
The Cayuga County Agricultural Society with its permanent
grounds of twenty acres, located within our city limits.
The Empire State Telephone company (wholly a local organ-
ization) with its active exchange, answering the various calls
that are daily made upon it by three hundred more or less
patient or impatient subscribers.
The Auburn Water Works company representing local cap-
ital to the amount of four hundred thousand dollars, with its
now excellent water system, embracing nearly or quite thirty
miles of water mains, three hundred and six fire hydrants, draw-
ing its supply from the beautiful Owasco lake, twenty-five feet
below its surface and one thousand four hundred feet from the
north shore, and distributing to our citizens two millions five
hundred thousand gallons of water daily, by the aid of its dif-
ferent engines. Owasco lake water has of late become so much
- 20 -
an element of necessity and comfort to our citizens, that it may-
be gratifying to hear the result of its chemical analysis made in
1876 by Prof. Charles F. Chandler of Columbia college, in
which he pronounces it unusually pure, except from/lime. He
says, " reducing one gallon of this water to grains, I find the
total number to be 58,318 grains, of which only 9^53 lOCTare of
impure or foreign matter."' Owasco lake "covers 7,400,acres of
land, and has the unusually large water shed of 92,000 acres.
Its greatest depth is stated at 300 feet.
The Auburn Gas Light company (much abused to be sure,
because it happens to be a gas company, but nevertheless fur-
nishing pretty good gas at the moderate rate of $2.25 per
thousand feet). This company has thirty-three miles of pipe
and 700 public lights and make 30,000,000 feet of gas per
annum.
We have also two active electric light companies, Vhich are
rapidly getting a foothold in our streets and business places
and are now furnishing over two hundred arc lights.
A steam heating company manufacturing the steam which
heats with the aid of its five boilers more than one hundred
and fifty different stores, offices and buildings, some of them
over half a mile distant from the boiler house.
We have a good street railway traversing the 'central part of
the city, and ere long I believe to^be extended to Owasco lake.
We have three active daily newspapers, and seven weeklies
someone of which finds its way into the home of almost every
family in Auburn.
Our public cemeteries are also worthy of our city ; Fort Hill,
St Joseph's and Soule cemetery are all fitting resting places
for our dead.
We have five banks of discount and two savings banks,
employing an average capital and surplus of $1,581,000, hold-
ing average deposits of $1,605,000, and loaning mostly to the
citizens of our own town and county $3,512,000.
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Fl'RTHER STATISTICS.
By way of further statistical information for those interested
in such matters, perhaps I should state, the present population
of Auburn, as near as can now be ascertained, is 25,312. This
however does not include one thousand one hundred and fifty-
nine convicts confined in the state prison and lunatic asylum,
who. while they do not voluntarily come here to reside, (and I
am happy to say, in most instances leave as soon as the business
that brought them here is finished) nevertheless by a state law
while they do remain, are enumerated as a part of the inhabitants
of our city. Our population has doubled since the close of the
late war, it being reported in 1865 at 12,567.
The assessed valuation of real estate and personal property
of Auburn is $10,712,287.
Auburn has not been illiberal in its municipal assistance for
railroad building. Issuing its bonds at one time for one hun-
dred thousand dollars to aid the Lake Ontario, Auburn and
New York railway, in 1853, which by the way, was never
built, although the bonds themselves have been paid off.
And again, in 1867 and 1868 aiding the Southern Central
railway with $500,000; this road, more fortunate than its pre-
decessor, was completed in 1872, opening new avenues of trade
to our merchants as well as bringing much needed competition
in our local freight facilities.
We are not without enterprise in our city government. We
have one hundred and seventy four different streets, extending
in the aggregate over one hundred miles in length and crossed
by four hundred and fifty cross walks.
An active board of health looking with vigilant care after
the public sanitary interests, and now and then encouraging us
with statements showing our city to be an unusually healthy
one. They sadden us with a mortality report for 1885 of 357
deaths, but reassure us by stating that the births in the same
period were 628.
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A good board of charities and police keeping the unruly
under subjection and distributing help in 1884 to one thousand
six hundred and fifty, and in 1885 to eight hundred and thirty-
three needy persons.
Our fire department is well organized (under the supervision
of a board of three fire commissioners.) It has six hose com-
panies, one hook and ladder company, and one patrol company,
all manned by one hundred and ninety-six active members, and
commanded by a good chief engineer and two assistants. The
department lias been called outdaring the past year thirty-four
times, twenty-five of which wen- for actual fires.
We have a good mayor (Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., who by the
way is a member of our Historical society) who with ten mem
bersof the common council, devote their services without pecu-
niary reward, to what they deem the best interest of their fel-
low citizens.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Our public buildings, such as we have, are most of them
creditable to our city, and as a whole are by no means to be
regarded as of an inferior order.
Our court house and city hall, although built many years
ago, are still adequate for their use.
Our new clerk's office is convenient, substantial and not lack-
ing in architectural beauty.
The live substantial hose houses and thirteen public schools
arc all good buildings.
Our state prison and asylum for insane criminals are impos-
ing and serviceable.
Our state armory, built in 1873, like many of our other large
buildings, of our native blue limestone, is strikingly handsome
and durable and capable of accommodating a regiment of one
thousand men. It cost the state $85,000.
Our jail is, I am constrained to say, inadequate for its uses,
and before long I have no doubt, will be remodeled.
To these is to be added the United States building which
will doubtless contribute another fine structure to our city.
- 23 -
And, ladies and gentlemen, I might go on enumerating evi-
dences of Auburn's thrift and enterprise,but I fear I have already
taxed your patience by this dry recital of facts ; if, however it
shall give to anyone of our citizens a better idea of his town
and thereby contribute to our local pride and contentment, I
shall feel that the time has not been entirely wasted.
Let me mention one more general fact, and I am through.
Auburn is a city of great stability in its business and com-
mercial affairs, and while we unquestionably sympathize with
the general pulsation of trade as evidenced by its prosperity or
depression throughout the whole country, nevertheless, we do
not seem often to ride upon the top wave of speculation or
sink into the depths of depression, as is frequently the case
with some other localities ; an apt illustration of this came to
me the other day through a conservative friend who, speaking
of his thermometer, said : " Somehow mine does not seem to
ascend so high nor fall so low as those of my neighbors, and I
have noticed when others report ninety-live degrees mine seems
never to get above ninety, and when others report twenty
degrees below zero, mine seldom falls below fifteen and a half
degrees."
SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL.
Perhaps we may find reason to congratulate ourselves that it
is so in our affairs here in Auburn, and while I believe it is
very commendable in every citizen to put his shoulder to the
wheel and aid in every good work that helps to build up and
develop our town, at the same time I think that this can best
be accomplished by appreciating what others have done before
us, and that it is more commendable to try to improve and
extend what we now enjoy, than to overlook or belittle it.
Taken therefore as a whole, Auburn is a city and a home to
be proud of, and the Cayuga County Historical Society cannot
be better engaged than in recording its growth and progress as
it makes new history from day to day.
IN MEMORIAM.
y
The Rev. Charles Hawley,D.D.
Founder and First President of the
Cayuga County Historical Society.
THE PROCEEDINGS
of a Special Meeting of the Society, held Nov. 28, 1885,
and a
MEMORIAL ADDRESS,
delivered before the Society, March 9, 1886,
by
Rev. Willis J. Beecher, D. D.
WITH APPENDIX.
On Friday evening, November 13, 1885, Dr. Hawley was
suddenly prostrated by a stroke of paralysis. The attack was
a serious one, and, though he afterward partially rallied, yet
from the first only the faintest hopes were entertained of his
recovery. Pie lingered until Thanksgiving day, Thursday,
November 26. On that day pneumonia set in, and death
ensued at ten o'clock in the evening.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.
A special meeting of the Cayuga County Historical Society
was called Saturday evening, November 28, 1885, to take
action on the death of its founder and president, the Rev.
Charles Hawley, D. D. The meeting was largely attended, and
deep feeling was manifested. The president's vacant chair was
draped in mourning. Gen. W. H. Seward, vice-president,
called the meeting to order and said :
" It is my painful duty to make official announcement of the
death of the respected and much, loved president of this society.
This sad event occurred at his residence in this city, at about
ten o'clock Thursday evening, November 26, 1885. The Rev.
Charles Hawley, D. D., was the founder of the Cayuga County
Historical Society, in the year 1S76, and from then until now
he has remained its only president. He was its earnest and
active friend from the beginning, and has done more than any
other person to promote its welfare and carry forward its laud-
able aim, to collect and preserve correct records of local events.
His work on earth is completed and his memory now passes
into that history which he himself did so much to retain and
perpetuate. His life has been one of usefulness and good
works, and while we now mourn the loss of our faithful presi-
dent, the community regrets the removal by death of a just
and liberal citizen, and many of us here to-night will remem-
ber him as one of our best and dearest friends. We are not to
forget that his good deeds and their influence will live after
him, and that the whole community is better for his life among
us.
The history of Dr. Hawley 's life and public services will, I
trust, form the subject of an extended, interesting and instruc-
- 28 -
tive paper, later on, to be contributed to the archives of this
association in which he took so deep an interest, and it should
be our early duty to secure a faithful record of one whose
labors and untiring energy in behalf of others has entered so
largely into the history of our city for more than a quarter of
a century.
The vacant chair which he occupied with so much dignity at
our meetings for the past ten years reminds us of his pleasant,
genial face and cordial manner, ready to give a hearty greeting
to each associate as they came. Courteous and agreeable to all
alike, he had a way of making those with whom he came in
contact love and respect him. He was the trusted adviser of
many, and those who sought his counsel or sympathy always
found in him a willing far and helpful hand. God has given
to but few all the noble traits possessed by Charles Hawley,
and there was much in his character that we might well adopt
and follow as the example of a pure man, an unselfish neigh-
bor, and a friend to be trusted in time of need.
It is therefore most fitting that this meeting of the Cayuga
County Historical Society should be held, to express the feel-
ings of regret and sympathy which its members entertain at
the loss of their president and fellow associate."
The Rev. Willis J. Beecher, Hon. B. B. Snow, and Professor
Geo. R. Cutting were appointed a committee to report resolu-
tions for the action of the society. The committee subse-
quently reported the following :
Whereas, It has seemed good to our Heavenly Father to
remove from us Rev. Charles Hawley, D. I)., the president of
this society from its organization; who deceased Nov. 26th,
1885, in the 67th year of his age, and the 42nd of his service
in the ministry of the gospel ; therefore,
Resolved, First, that we hereby express our sense of the great
loss we suffer in the removal of Dr. Hawley; the loss to this
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society of a faithful and devoted member and presiding officer ;
the loss to each of us, personally, of a friend, highly esteemed
and deeply loved ; the loss to the community of one, who, as
a citizen and a Christian pastor, was widely known, was trusted
by all, and was greatly influential for good.
Second, that we express our appreciation of the importance
of the services which Dr. Hawley has rendered to this society,
and through this society to the public ; using his gifts and his
influence for securing due recognition of the value of the work
of preserving historical materials, and of making historical
investigations ; and himself accomplishing results in the study
of American history, such as have secured to him an honora-
ble place among men distinguished in these studies.
Third, that we especially express our conviction of the value
of the work he has done, in calling attention to the labors of
the early missionaries of the Roman Catholic church, among
the tribes formerly inhabiting the region of central and western
New York ; we are proud to recognize the heroic deeds of these
men as a part of the history of our country ; and rejoice in the
hope that work of this kind done by Dr. Hawley and by others
of the same spirit with him, will have its influence in promoting
catholicity of feeling among all who bear the Christian name.
Fourth, that in token of our respect for Dr. Hawley, and of
our mourning for his loss, the rooms of the society be properly
draped ; and that we accept the invitation of his family to
attend the funeral services.
Fifth, that this action be entered upon the minutes of the
society ; that a copy of it be presented to the family of Dr.
Hawley, with the expression of our earnest sympathy with
them in their sorrow ; that copies be offered for publication to
the daily papers of Auburn, and that copies of papers contain-
ing it be sent to the societies with which this society is in cor-
respondence.
- 30 -
The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the presiding
officer invited the members to speak, when short and feeling
addresses were made by Judge Hall, Prof. R B. Welch, John
II. Osborne, Prof. W. J. Beecher, James Seymour, Jr., Profes-
sor Geo. \l Cutting, the Rev. W. II. Allbright, the Rev. C. C.
Hemenway, Lewis E. Lyon, John W. O'Brien, B. B. Snow,
F. I. Allen, Major W. Gr. Wise, and Dr. Theodore Dimon.
Messrs. L. E. Lyon, J. IL Osborne, and D. M. Dunning were
appointed a committee to drape the rooms in mourning, after
which the meeting adjourned.
Of the gentlemen who made addresses at the meeting, the
following have kindly, at the request of the society, furnished
abstracts.
REMARKS OF HON. B. F. HALL.
(It n, red .'v ward :
I came here in response to your invitation to participate in
the proceedings of this society to manifest its sorrow for the
decease of its beloved and eminent president, and to pay appro-
priate tribute to his character and memory. Although the
occasion is a sad one for us all, I esteem it a privilege to be
here and to mingle my humble homage with yours.
Doctor Hawley was a superior man in his vocation, and in
all his varied positions and relations— theological, political,
official and social. By nature and by culture he was capable
of filling and honoring any position in society, and in the gov-
ernment, to which he might be called. That qualification was
recognized by your father, when he selected him for the dip-
lomatic mission to St. Thomas. He was capable of searching
deeply into profound subjects, as his papers read before you at
various times amply attest. By his researches into the hazy
depths of American Archaeology and Ethnology, while president
of this society, he became an erudite and famous antiquarian.
- 31 -
And by his genial disposition and manners, he magnetized and
charmed eve^body with whom he was associated in tins soci-
ety, and elsewhere in his summerings abroad. And as he was
the founder of this society, its president since it was organized,
and its principal pillar, this meeting and your address were
timely, to afford us all the opportunity to pay some tribute to
his memory. I cheerfully concur in the expressions of sorrow
and tribute expressed in the resolutions reported by the com-
mittee, and also in your suggestion that a careful biography of
Dr. Ilawley's life and public services shall be prepared and
deposited in the archives of this society to be preserved in a
permanent form. That should be done for the benefit of the
present and future members of this soeiety, as a tribute of grat-
itude to him. It should be done moreover, for the benefit of
kindred societies in this and other lands. But whether his
biography shall be deposited in a printed or written form on
paper or parchment in your archives or not, his great works
will survive long after the contents of your archives shall have
crumbled into dust. Dr. llawley lived for immortality and
attained it. Fie is still alive. I have known Dr. llawley well
for eight and twenty years, and some of the time I have held
confidential intercourse with him. I admired him at first, as a
clergyman of superior talents and qualifications for his voca-
tion. As time rolled apace and duties outside of his vocation
as a pastor devolved upon him, I was charmed with him. I
perceived then that he was an intellectual and courageous Her-
cules, capable of great achievements in great national emer-
gencies. As a divine I then thought that he resembled my
ideal of the great apostle to the Gentiles, more than of any other
character known to history, and, as a statesman, Alexander
Hamilton, who by a marvelous inspiration " had the laws and
the eonstitution by heart." From that time onward, I revered
him as a sage.
- 32 -
After the termination of the war, during which we were
temporarily separated by official duties elsewhere, we renewed
our intercourse with each other, when I found his views, senti-
ments and tastes upon historical subjects, to be in harmony
with my own. During the interval between the death of your
venerable grandfather, Judge Miller, under whose inspiration
I had secured from further desecration the vestiges on Fort
Hill, and erected the shaft to perpetuate the memory of Logan,
I had been entirely alone here, with no congenial associate to
confer with upon the subject of American antiquities or any
similar theme. I esteemed this discovery of his relish for sub-
jects which had for many years been so interesting to me, a
God-send to me. It relieved the tedium of my loneliness very
considerably, and made his company grateful. And I have
good reasons for believing that our friendship was reciprocal,
so that we often revealed and confided to each other our
respective experiences, necessities and premonitions of mental
and physical enfeeblement by disease and age. He was afflicted
for years with an annual attack of what is generally called
" hay fever," and was obliged to seek the climate of the Cats-
kills to endure it. And, although he seemed to recover his
strength and vigor, whilst there during the hay-flowering sea-
son, he often said to me after his return to Auburn and to his
clerical duties, that he was conscious that that disease was grad-
ually impairing his constitution, and rendering his confinement
to his vocation more and more irksome.
He not only had profound esteem for your father in his life-
time, and enjoyed his society and confidence, but had implicit
faith in all his suggestions respecting the means to avoid men-
tal rust. He heard your father say, upon his return home
from his journey around the world, that whilst some thought
him presumptuous at his time of life, to undertake such a
journey, he found that some such change of occupation and
scenery was indispensable to him to avoid inevitable rust. If
- 33 -
I overstep the rules of confidential propriety in reverting to
that circumstance here, I shall hope to be pardoned by those
who, like myself, have known ever since, that that example of
your father, prompted by that reason, was the moving reason
of his early desire to engage in such literary employments as
Historical Societies would demand. He fancied that the em-
ployments of a society like this would produce in him relaxa-
tion from the monotony and steady drag and draft of his voca-
tion, and consequently rest. And he imparted his ideas upon
the subject very freely to me, before he undertook the work.
I promised him all the assistance in my power; but T declined
on account of my age and former services in another similar
society, to take a " laboring oar." Hence, T have since assisted
him in his invertigations in all the ways in my power, and have
been delighted with his success. 1 have feared lately that he
was laboring too hard in this new held to obtain any rest from
the change : but [ feel assured that it was indispensable for him
in the outset, and I have no reason for believing that his labors
in this new field have materially shortened his days.
This, however, I certainly know, his papers upon the Civil-
ization of the Stone Age, upon Hiawatha the Founder of the
Iroquois Confederacy and his translations of the journals of the
Jesuit Missionaries, of their devoted labors among the Indians,
with his enlightened comments, thereon, have secured for his
name an enduring fame, and embalmed his memory in the hearts
of the disciples of enlightened and tolerant Christianity
throughout the land.
REMARKS OF PROF. R. B. WELCH, J). 1)., LL. ]).
On Thanksgiving day, I was summoned to the funeral of a
dear friend in the eastern part of our state. A good and godly
woman who for ten years had suffered from a severe stroke of
paralysis, and bent and broken both in body and in mind, had
- 34 -
at length yielded up her life. Sincere mourners followed her
palsied body to the tomb.
Returning fiom the funeral, as I was in sadness musing on
the deep mystery of human life and death, I casually took up a
paper which startled me with the announcement of the death
of Rev. Dr. Charles Hawley of Auburn, that occurred on the
evening of Thanksgiving day. When I reached home, the
first letter that I opened was a call from the Cayuga County
Historical Society, to attend a meeting of its members, in
memory of its late, lamented president,
I rise to second with all my heart the resolutions of respect
just offered to our deceased and honored president, Rev. Dr.
Ilawley.
The official chair is vacant and draped. This official place
which knew him so long and so familiarly, will know him no
more forever. We shall no more listen to his manly voice and
his words of wisdom, which have here so often charmed and
instructed us.
This society is especially called to mourn.- One of the fore-
most founders of the society, one of its most constant and sym-
pathetic friends, its honored and successful leader for ten years,
its first and only president, has been removed from us by
death. By one fell stroke, in the full strength of his manhood.
and in the maturity of his experience and wisdom, when we had
hoped that Dr. Ilawley might continue to be the president of
this society for another decade, suddenly he was stricken down
bv the ruthless hand of death. " The silver cord was loosed,
and the golden bowl was broken."
All that our lamented president has done for this society,
I do not propose to recount. Indeed it is better known to
some of you who have been with him as its active members from
the first. But in this respect, the Historical Society is itself
his fitting, enduring memorial. To best appreciate this, we ne< d
but trace its steady progress hitherto, and look around us now.
- 35 -
His own choice contributions and annual addresses constitute
an important part of its literature and furnishing. His pains-
taking and skillful translations form an interesting portion of its
lasting endowment. His honored name and noble example
will prove a living inspiration for the time to come. We have
already one who has himself become historic, as a member of
this Historical society. It is an incentive and an encourage-
ment to others. By death he has been removed from us, but
he is living still and will live in his cherished memory, in his
worthy example, in his inspiring influence. We shall remem-
ber him gladly and lovingly in his purity of character, in his
strength of intellect, in his breadth of sympathy.
Seldom have we met with a better balance of strength and
simplicity of character, of manliness and modesty, of general
sympathy and personal affection, of pastoral fidelity and social
activity, of patriotism and prudence, in a word, of civic and
Christian virtues.
We felt assured that he was an earnest and true friend of
others, and that he was a sympathetic and personal friend of
each of us. He was a man of profound convictions and of
fearless utterance, lo}ral to duty and a faithful servant of Christ,
vet if he has enemies, I am not aware of it; and if he has had
enemies, I believe he has won them to respect and friendship
by the purity of his character and the consistency of his life.
During his brief and fatal illness I have heard and answered
anxious inquiries concerning him from every rank of life in
Auburn. With our grief at his loss all our fellow citizens will
personally sympathize, for with one accord they loved and hon-
ored him.
On my return to-day along the valley of the Hudson, I passed
the place of his birth and his boyhood. In my early ministry,
for several years I was a pastor in that town. Dr. Hawley was
then preaching in Lyons. He was a stranger to me; but I
heard the people of Catskill speak of him with affection and
- 36 -
pride. They remembered him with fondness as he grew up
with them. They welcomed his return as he was wont to come
to Oatskill for his vacations; and thence, with lifelong friends,
set out from Catskill for the mountains, near at hand, which
he loved so well.
Last summer I was in Catskill and at the mountains. How
vividly I remember to-night that, as I registered my name at
the Catskill Mountain House, almost the first question which I
answered was : " When is Dr. Hawley coming ?" and that, to
my answer, " Next week, I believe, Dr. and Mrs. Hawley are
coming," how heartily they clapped their hands. If I had at
the moment in the least suspected their sincerity and their
unselfish friendship, every trace of suspicion would have been
banished by the repeated tributes of loving regard for Dr. and
Mrs. Hawley which I heard from the host and hostess at the
Mountain House. Indeed, they spoke of Dr. Hawley as inti-
mately related to the history and success of that historic enter-
prise on the mountain, much as we, this evening, speak of his
relation to the history and success of the Cayuga County His-
torical Society. They of the Mountain House, host and hostess
and patrons, and they of Catskill, all that knew him, will miss
him and mourn for him as for a son and a brother beloved and
honored.
It is not fitting for me to take your time this evening, by
telling you how as my personal friend for many years I have
truly loved him — how I have been increasingly impressed with
his wisdom and loyalty as a tried and true friend of Auburn
Theological Seminary — how I have grown in respect for his
prudence and discretion as a co-presbyter in the Cayuga Pres-
bytery— how I have more and more prized his ministry, and
seen him as my pastor ripening in the Christian graces and
maturing for Heaven — and how deeply I feel that in the pas-
torate of the First Presbyterian Church of Auburn, in the
Board of Trustees of Auburn Theological Seminary, and in the
- 37-
Presbytery of Cayuga, we sustain a loss that seems almost
beyond repair.
Again, I heartily second these resolutions of respect for one
whom we all delight to honor and whose memory should be
embalmed and perpetuated in the records of the Cayuga County
Historical Society.
REMARKS OF MR. JOHN H. OSBORNE.
The judgments of men concerning their fellow men are not
seldom formed upon superficial evidence. The estimates of a
man's character and abilities are often based upon what the
circumstances of his life have made him, upon what in his call-
ing he outwardly appears to men to be. Not a few are the
men able to do something more than they yet have done or
have become, but whose ability has remained all undevel-
oped under the ordinary tests and trials that the ordinary acts
and duties of their vocation have put upon them. This may
be a common and well-worn saying, but we all who knew well
our beloved president, through many years of companionship
and friendship, will agree that the truth of it has received new
illustration and confirmation in his life and character.
Diligent and faithful as he was, first of all, in his sacred call-
ing, yet his active mind was ever busy with all that was pass-
ing of thought or of action in our busy world, and no event of
moment went by unnoticed or unanalyzed by his accurate and
incisive faculties.
His knowledge of men was broad, and keen was his search
into the motives of "human designs'and actions. Keen also was
that fine moral insight, by which, under guidance of the Divine
Word, he drew'.from them and taught to us all the lessons of
wisdom and righteousness. He was intensely practical in every
thing, and was ever learning all facts having a practical bearing
upon our every daypife, and his best thoughts and counsel
-38-
wefe freely given for the better welfare and comfort of all
classes of our citizens.
While firmly conservative in his theological system, he was
fully alive to and sympathetic with all that was good in every
man of every name or clime ; and we have known this when
in private converse with him upon any subject that drew upon
his sympathies, or moved him to the utterance of his always
true and honest judgments. In this last regard, however, he
was most tenderly sensitive and careful, always studious that
naught of ill or wrong, not plainly appearing so to be, should
be expressed concerning the deeds or words of others.
In the exercise of any other business or profession, his strong
mind and proved capacity would have carried him to assured
eminence and success; but he loved the work of his sacred
office and was devoutly thankful, always, that in following it,
he had obeyed his Master's call. He had, in great measure,
that spirit of self-sacrifice which he found and so often loved to
portray in the hearts of those devoted Catholic Fathers who
gave up their lives in endeavoring to plant the cross in this
new world. In his " Early Chapters of Cayuga History," there
is a touching tribute to one of the most faithful and laborious
of these missionaries, quoted and translated from the work of
Charlevoix, which in its spirit might appty, even in these later
times, to the unselfish and zealous soul of our deceased president.
" He ha'l sacrificed noble talents through which he might
" have attained high honors in his profession, and looking for-
" ward only to the martyr fate of many of his brethren who had
"bedewed Canada with their blood, he had, against the wishes
"and larger designs of his superiors, obtained this mission.
" whose obscurity thus placed him far without the circle of
"ambition's strife, and could present to him naught but the
" hardships of the Cross. * * * * He often declared to
" me, that he adored these manifest designs of Providence, per-
" suaded as he was, that the honors and success he might have
-89 -
" attained upon a more brilliant arena would have resulted in
" the loss of his soul ; and that this thought was his unfailing
" consolation amid the sterile results of his long and toilsome
" apostolate."
Not meagre nor sterile, however, were the results that flowed
from the living labors which through forty years of apostolic faith
and zeal Dr. Hawley gave to the work of his ministry and to
doing good for his fellow men. We willingly pay our tribute to
the noble qualities of his mind, but above all these and ruling
them with imperial force, was the will of a tender and sympa-
thetic nature. Endowed with such a mind and heart and will,
what great and good things became possible to him, and with
what fidelity did he make thorough use of them all ! Out of all
our sorrow over this loss, we yet lift up our thanks that his
active life has been fruitful in all he most loved to have accom-
plished ; while it has also been full of blessings toward all who
knew him.
REMARKS OF PROF. WILLIS J. BEECHER, T>. D.
D. M. Dunning, Cor. Secy:
Dear Sir : — My remarks at the memorial meeting were very
brief, as my tribute to the memory of Dr. Hawley had already
been paid, so far as the meeting was concerned, in another form.
It had been remarked by one of the speakers, that Dr. Haw-
ley was a man without enemies. Calling attention to that, I
said that his being so did not arise from his being mainty a man
of negative qualities, since he was not such a man. He had
positive convictions and was not afraid to utter them. When
he felt that the call of duty lay in that direction, he did not
shrink from uttering his convictions, even when he was sure
thus to give offence. In the times of the original " Maine
Law" temperance movement, and also throughout our national
struggle against secession, he was often placed in a position
- 40-
when he was compelled to be outspoken in matters in which
his opinions antagonized those of many of his parishioners
and friends. In such cases, no one was left in doubt as to
where he stood. There were occasions when it cost him some-
thing to be thus outspoken. At one time, before he came to
Auburn, many of his friends who belonged to two of the three
political parties which participated in a hotly contested election
took serious offence at his course in regard to the issues involved.
Some whom he highly esteemed, went so far that they avoided
him on the street. It was to him a source of great gratification,
that in time, he won them all back. His being without enemies
arose not from any lack of positiveness of character, but from
the fact that men were not willing to remain estranged from
one whom they regarded as so manly and so loving.
REMARKS OF REV. WM. II. ALLBRIGHT.
Mr. President:
There are times when silence is more eloquent than speech.
In this presence, and on ti.is subject, one might well be silent.
There is enough to be said, but personally I do not feel like
speaking. A feeling of depression lias rested upon me ever
since the intelligence of Dr. Hawlev's death.
My acquaintance with him covers a period of a little more
than one-third of his ministry in this city. It has been, from
the first, quite intimate and cordial, first as a student in the
Seminary, and a worshipper in his congregation, and later, as
co-pastor and fellow presbyter.
It has been my privilege to enjoy, repeatedly, the hospitalities
of his home, to meet him socially, to be entertained with him
at our ecclesiastical gatherings, and to enjoy, with few, his
genial presence in the meetings of this society. In every rela-
tion, I have found him to be a genial companion, a faithful
friend, a wise counselor, and a Christian gentleman.
-41 -
Without attempting any analysis of his character, I mention
three things which have impressed me in our intercourse with
one another. First, his modesty. No one could fail to be im-
pressed by it. It was innate and genuine. There was nothing
ostentatious or presuming in his make-up. He was retiring,
sometimes, to a fault. He put others forward, when he himself
could have done so much better. We young ministers feel
this. He never treated us as inexperienced young men, but
honored us with his confidence as though we were his equals.
Not even the suggestion of his superiority ever came to us
from anything on his part. For this we loved him, and shall
ever venerate his memory.
Second, he was unselfish. His hand, like his heart, was open
to all. His was a great, generous nature, which took in men of
every condition, creed and color. Nobody can ever charge him
with littleness, or self-seeking.
Third, lie was genial. With all the responsibilities and duties
incident to a large parish and a long pastorate, he was cheerful
and serene. No one will think of him as a dyspeptic and a
grumbler. He had an ear for every form of trouble, and a kind
word for every one seeking advice or help. No one came to
him for counsel who did not leave richer and happier. Such
was the man who has gone. This society will feel deeply his
loss. The community feels it and so does the church. There
is no one left to fill his place.
REMARKS OF JOHN W. O'BRIEN", ESQ.
Mr. President:
I cannot speak, like all who have preceded me, as an intimate
friend of Dr. Hawley. My acquaintance with him was slight,
a casual introduction being the measure of my personal inter-
course with him. I knew him as an outsider, one not within
the circle of his immediate influence, and as such I may speak
- 42 -
of him. Bora and reared as T was in this city, Dr. Hawley
has always been to me a part of its history. His name was as
familiar as that of Governor Seward, or Dr. Condit, or George
Rathbun, or any of the eminent citizens whose names were
household words. He was universally recognized as a man of
high character, broad sympathies and rich culture. His exam-
ple is a stimulus. His life was a helpful one to every one with
whom he came in contact, and the memory of it serves to all
who knew him as an incitement to a higher activity. AH
denominations and men of every walk of life unite in his praise,
and the sorrow for his death is as general. If this society can
do anything toward perpetuating the memory of a man of great
ability, who reared for himself no enduring monument by
political services or literary effort, it will justify its existence.
REMARKS OF WM. G. WISE.
Mr. President :
So much has been said here this evening, and so truly said,
that I feel — For me, at least, silence is the best tribute that 1 can
pay to the memory of Dr. Hawley.
It was my good fortune to be intimately associated with him
in different ways, outside of his church, and I long ago learned
to love and admire him.
As my friend Mr. Snow has remarked, I cannot realize that
he is dead, that I shall never again, in this world, receive the
cordial grasp of his hand, see his genial face, or hear his digni-
fied and eloquent utterances in this place, on themes in which
he was so deeply interested.
All that lias been said of him this evening may be condensed
in one sentence — " None knew him but to love him, none
named him but to praise."
-43
LETTER OF THEODORE DIMON", M. D.
As a clergyman, he brought personal harmony among his
brethren, and cessation of religious jealousy and theological
controversy in our city where they had been rife before he
came among us. He has been known, esteemed, and regarded
for his wise counsels among his professional brethren through-
out the state and country.
As a citizen, he has been active in originating and sustaining
our Historical society ; in keeping here aud endowing the
Theological Seminary, our only institution of learning, in
upholding powerfully the maintenance of the struggle for the
preservation of the Union, in pointing out and supporting sani-
tary improvement in our city. A sermon he preached on the
Sanitary Sunday he caused to be set apart for the purpose, not
only awakened and enlightened our own citizens on this subject
of their welfare but has been called for and distributed all over
the United States. He has always been active in any thing
which has been for the welfare of our people. He has been
our most distinguished citizen since the death of Governor
Seward. We have no other citizen, so known and esteemed
both in and out of our own locality in his profession.
We have no citizen distinguished in law or medicine to rival
his reputation. We have no statesman or politician, no man of
science, no artist, no literary man, no philanthropist to do so.
By his writings, as a historian of the Jesuit missions to the Six
Indian Nations in Central New York, before the country was
settled by whites, he has made himself known and honored in
this country and abroad.
These things, in addition to the affection and esteem that his
personal qualities as a pastor, neighbor, and friend, have excited
among us and endeared him to us, ought not to be forgotten in
the sorrow we feel from these causes on account of his death.
While genial and ardent, he was also prudent, wise and strong.
-44-
LETTER OF HON. W. H. BOG ART.
Too late to present to the meeting, Gen. Seward received the
following appreciative letter from Hon. W. H. Bogart, of
Aurora :
Aurora, N. Y., Nov. 28, 1885.
Dear Mr. Seward: — I wish I could be present at the meeting
of the Historical society this evening, that I might express in
earnest words vl\j sorrow at the death of Dr. Hawley, your late
presiding officer. I have seen and admired his most intelligent
action in directing and leading the historical studies of this
lake country. He came to us at Aurora, in our centennial of
1879, giving it dignity and lustre by the discourse he pro-
nounced. I have watched the unfolding of the acts and labors
of t^e men who dared the savage and the wilderness, as they
proclaimed Christianity in peril and before death, as he skill-
fully portrayed their annals.
I heard his admirable memorial address over the grave of
Henry Wells, whose life of action he estimated clearly. I knew
Dr. Hawley — the scholar — the gentleman — the Christian. Your
city had no exclusive ownership in him. His citizenship was
with literature, and in one of its most useful departments, that
which relates to the heroic and the adventurous. While he
taught men how to die in the only true bravery, he told us how
brave men had lived.
I am very respectfully your friend,
W. H. Bogart.
MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
Given he/ore the Cayuga County Historical Society, in the First
Presbyterian Church of Auburn., March 9, 1886, by the
Rev. Willis J. Beecher, D. D.
THE REV. CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D.
I do not propose to eulogize Dr. Hawley to night. I shall
not even attempt a formal analysis of his life and work, and of
the reasons why his fellow citizens so warmly esteemed him.
He is an unsually complete and well rounded representative of
a certain type of American character. I shall try to present
him as such, not by description or generalization, but by simply
stating a few of the more salient facts of his life, in the hope
that, as I proceed, the facts will draw their own picture of the
man, and of the type to which he belongs. I am the better
content to do this because, in doing it, 1 am following the his-
torical method he liked so well, and because I am confident
that simply to tell the truth concerning him will do him more
honor than would the most glowing eulogy. You will pardon
me, therefore, if I avoid all approach to the stately manner of
a memorial oration, and adopt the more familiar style that bet-
ter suits my purpose. In this Historical Society, we do not
want to pronounce rounded periods ever Dr. Hawley. We
knew him and know one another too well for that. We want
rather to review together the facts which constituted him what
he was.
Fortunately, the materials for a biographical sketch are
abundant. For the early part of his life, we have a paper
- 46 -
written by himself in 1869,* and supplemented by a few anno-
tations of later date. The later years of his life were before
the public ; the record of them is to be found in the newspapers,
and in many published documents from himself and others, to
say nothing of the recollections of him still fresh in the minds
of us all.
HIS ANCESTKY.
In 1390, while Richard II. was King of England, John
Hawley, a rich merchant of Devonshire, waged war against
the navy of the smuggling shippers, capturing thirty four of
their vessels, laden with fifteen hundred tuns of wine. This
man's name. Hair-ley. meadow-hedge, or hedge-meadow, seems
to indicate that his ancestors were Saxon' tillers of the soil. He
was one of the representatives of Devonshire, duriog the great-
est part of the reigns of Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry VI.,
A. D. 1399-1461, and must therefore have been a man of
remarkable longevity and vigor. During the reign of Henry
IV., he received permission to fortify his house at Dartmouth.
Notices of the fortunes of this man's family, of honors won by
them, of the ruins of the mansion at Dartmouth, of their inter-
marriages with the members of the Booth family, and the like,
are traceable until the year 1629. when the three brothers,
Joseph, John, and Thomas Hawley, with Richard Booth, mi-
grated to America, settling at Roxbury, Mass. This was nine
years after the landing of the Mayflower, and one year before
th<> settling of Boston under Winthrop. Ten years later, in
1639, Joseph Hawley and Richard Booth removed to Stratford,
Conn., where they bought land, mostly from the Indians, and
formed a settlement. There the descendants of Joseph Hawley
multiplied, and in that vicinity many of them have ever since
resided.
*This autobiography is quite full and circumstantial. The preparation of it was
owing to an arrangement between him and some of his associates in the First Church,
by which each was to commit to writing a sketch of his own life.
- 47 -
Among these, Ezra Hawley, born Sept. 10, 1782, in Bridge-
port, Conn., married the daughter of the Rev. John Noyes, of
Norfield, Conn. John Noyes traced his descent, on his father's
side, through seven generations of ministers, and, through his
mother, to John Alden, one of the signers of the compact in
the cabin of the Mayflower; the John Alden who married
Priscilla Mullens, and who is the hero of Longfellow's poem,
" The Courtship of Miles Standish." John Noyes himself la-
bored for sixty four years in the ministry.
Our friend Charles Hawley, the son of Ezra Hawley, was
born Aug. 19, 1819. The facts we have just been considering
show that he was, by descent and inherited character, a Puritan
of the Puritans. His ancestors, both through his father and
his mother, came over either in the Mayflower, or in one of the
vessels that earliest followed the Mayflower. He came of strains
of English Puritan blood, the blending of which can be traced
as far back as we can trace English Puritan blood. His family
participated in the founding of New England society; and the
branch of it to which he belonged early established his ancestral
home in that part of Connecticut where, if anywhere, the blue-
laws were the bluest and most rigidly enforced.
HIS "childhood.
The home training and the other surroundings of the early
life of our friend were such as the facts of his ancestry would
lead us to expect. He was bom in Catskill, N". Y. His father
had removed thither to engage in trade. At the time of his
removal, the Erie canal was not yet in existence, and Catskill
was the present and prospective centre of an immense trade
between New York city and the inland regions, much of which
afterward followed the line of the canal, and went through Al-
bany. Our own lake region of central New York was then a
portion of the tract of country whose trade went to New York
city largely by way of Catskill. At an early date, Ezra Hawley,
- 48 -
with other enterprising New England men, men bearing such
names as Cooke, and Hale, and Day. and Elliott, had the sagacity
to see that trade must needs grow with the settling up of the
great west (that is to say, the region now known as central and
western New York), and moved into the staid old Dutch town,
to take advantage of its prospective growth. For some years
they made the town brisk and busy. Ezra Hawley occupied a
block of buildings, in the different stories of which he carried
on both a wholesale and retail trade in dry goods, groceries,
provisions, produce of all sorts, liquors, and other goods. lie
was also a director in the village bank, an active man in all
local enterprises and public affairs, and an elder in the Presby-
terian churoh. This last statement is significant, in view of the
fact that Mr. Hawley and his New England friends in Catskill
had probably been members of the Congregational churches in
their New England homes. These men and their fathers had
readily made provision, while they belonged to the established
church, in Connecticut and other New England states, lor per-
mitting those who wished a different form of worship to organize
separate churches ; but they themselves, as they moved west-
ward, joined the Presbyterian or the Dutch churches, rather
than multiply denominations in the communities where they
came. The religious doctrines held in these bodies were those
to which the New England men were accustomed ; but they
often brought along with them a broader intellectual life, and
a more earnest spirituality.
In the circumstances, we should expect to find that the sur-
roundings of Charles Hawley's childhood were as thoroughly
Puritan as was his descent; and the expectation is eonrirmed
by the facts in the case. The home at Catskill was a typi-
cal Puritan home, a representative home of its class. It is
worth while, therefore, to inquire what sort of a home it was.
A great deal is said nowadays, about the sternness and rigid-
ness of the Puritanism of the last generation and of previous
- 49 -
generations ; about its harshness, its bareness of beauty, its
lack of mirth and joy, its forbiddance of the ordinary pleasures
of life, its repression of spontaneity on the part of children, its
cruelty in the matter of the parental use of the rod, and above
all, its dismal and gloomy Sabbath observance. If a person is
irreligious or dissolute, many seem to regard it a sufficient
explanation of this to say that it is by. revulsion from the
strictness of his Puritanical training. The notion seems to be
prevalent that the Puritans lived in plain homes, and wor-
shiped in plain churches, not because they had learned to be
content with the limited means which Providence had placed
at their disposal, but by reason of their hardness of taste, and
their perverse dislike of the beautiful. The latest information
of this sort which has reached us, is that the Puritans were too
stiff and ungenial to drink wines and liquors together moder-
ately, like good fellows, and therefore formed, instead, such
habits of hard drinking as made the total abstinence reforma-
tion a matter of absolute necessity to them.
Representations of this sort, if the}^ are true, promise pretty
hard lines for our friend Charles Hawlej7, during his boyhood,
in his typical Puritan home. If they are true, then I have evi-
dently-reached a painful part of my subject. I shall not dis-
cuss the question whether they are true ; I shall simply give
two or three pen-pictures, containing Dr. Hawley's testimony
in the matter. He was there, and had opportunities for know-
ing. He was an honest man, of good memory and judgment,
and therefore qualified to state what he knew. I make but two
or three brief extracts from his autobiography; it vfouid be
easy to make a dozen of like character. In contrast with, the
grim, straight-laced Puritan house-father of the present style
of literature, see what our friend says of his own Puritan
father :
" He had a great flow of spirits, enjoyed humor, and was a
good laugher. He loved young company, and his presence
- 50 -
was never a bar, but rather a spur to all healthful and innocent
enjoyment He was an indulgent father, and yet we children
knew, I can hardly tell how, there was a line which must not
be crossed. lie was moreover a generous host, and took a
heart}' pleasure in entertaining his friends at his table, which
in the earlier times, when as yet the temperance lecturer was
not abroad, did not lack the accompaniment of the choicest old
Cognac and the " nutty " .Madeira. I can now see my father,
on such occasions, with the very glow of hospitality in his
whole manner, making every one around him happy, and draw-
ing his pleasure not so much from the feast, as from the enjoy-
ment manifested by those whom he would serve. Those were
strange old days. Free as liquor wras on the sideboard, on the
dinner table, * * "x" I never saw either host or guest or
any one within the dear old home, who could be suspected of
having lost his wit or reason, much less of being intoxicated.1'
Evidently, the set of people whom little Charles Hawley saw
at his father's home were mirth-loving, jovial, convivial, and
temperate. If their Puritanism had a sour-visaged aspect, it
must have turned in some different direction from that in
which we have looked at it. May it possibly be that the)' were
opinionated men, ready to crucify some temperance reformer,
if he had come among them, because his doctrines contradicted
theirs? The answer is ready. The temperance reformer came
to Catskill. Elder Hawley, trafficker in ardent spirits that he
was, received him to the hospitality of his home, listened to
his arguments, and banished intoxicating beverages from his
table and from his business. A similar course was pursued,
in those days, by men of like antecedents with Ezra Hawley,
in hundreds of American villages.
On the whole, things look more and more unpromising for
the little boy. Since the Puritanical sternness found no vent
in"these more public directions, we arc prepared to find it con-
centrated in the bringing up of the family. With some shrink-
ing for fear of the possible answers we may receive, we are led
to inquire whether the rod was faithfully used, whether the boy
-51 -
was regularly talked with twice a week in regard to his lost
condition, and his wickedness in not being elected out of it,
whether his life was made wretched by the disagreeable means
used to render him properly moral and religious, and especially
whether he got a double dose of all this on Sundays, begin-
ning at sunset of Saturday. We need not have been anxious
over our question. Dr. Hawley's prompt reply to it is found
in the following excerpts :
" My boyhood is filled with sunny memories. The restraints
of home were those of love ; and I have now no recollection
of anything in the way of force, in all my home discipline.
Doubtless I tried the patience and indulgence of my parents in
many ways, but I am not conscious of anything like willful
disobedience to their known wishes. These had the power of
a positive command. Our Sabbath began with Saturday eve-
ning, and was as strictly observed as at any New England
home. But such was the impression made upon me by the
mingled piety and gentleness of my father and mother, that I
have none of the repulsive memories of which some speak, in
recalling the rigidness of the old Puritan discipline."
And again :
"The whole family economy was pervaded with the spirit of
religion, and at the same time it was never a restraint upon
that cheerful enjoyment, and that large indulgence of innocent
pleasures which made our home so attractive to us, and now
serve to invest it with such happy memories. The Sabbath
began with us, after the manner of the New England observ-
ance, at sundown, Saturday. The store was closed ; all of us
were expected to be at home ; no visitors were allowed to
divert preparation for the Sabbath. We went with father and
mother to the prayer-meeting, which they never failed to attend,
or remained quietly at home. The day was kept holy ; no sub-
ject of week-day concern was ever introduced ; no book, except
of decided religious character, or the bible, was suffered to be
read. We never thought of staying from church, whatever
the weather, and the whole discipline was so a matter of course,
that we never thought of questioning its propriety, or complain-
ing of its rigidness. It was the same with morning and even-
- 52 -
ing family prayers ; they were not in any sense things of com-
pulsion, but a part of the family arrangement, like our daily
meals. In short, religion was the law of the house, and we
would as soon have thought of complaining that we had a home,
as that it was a religious home. From my earliest recollection
it was never otherwise. And yet I do not now remember that
my father ever talked with me directly or personally on the
subject of religion. There was no occasion that he should, to
convince me of the necessity of religion, or of his desire that I
should be a Christian. I never had any other idea."
The home at Catskill was not the only Puritan home with
which the child Charles Hawley was familiar. Once a year,
usually, he was taken to visit his relatives in Connecticut,
dividing four weeks between his father's friends in or near
Bridgeport, and his mother's friends at Norfield. Of these vis-
its he says :
" Those were halcyon days, among uncles, aunts, and cous-
ins, eight or ten to a family, the old folks grave m habit, quaint
in their ways, but kind and gentle, always glad to see their
friends, never weary of their stay, and administering their gen-
erous hospitality in an easy, every day style, which made you,
for the time being, one of the family."
No doubt some of the homes of our Puritan forefathers were
pretty disagreeable places for the little children who had to stay
in tbem ; but so are a great many homes where they do not
keep the Sabbath or have family prayers. That the ordinary
Puritan home was not of this sort, but was, with all its strictness,
a sweet, glad, happy place for boys and girls to grow up in, a
place where they were trained to a genuine appreciation of
beauty and refinement and geniality, as well as to knowledge
and virtue and religion, might be proved, not by the recollections
of Charles Hawley alone, but also by those of very many middle
aged and elderly people now living in nearly every American
community.
One of the results of this home training, in the case of Dr.
Hawley, was the peculiarly tender and affectionate relations
-53 -
which always existed between him and his parents. I resist
the temptation to quote his language concerning this. His
father died in 1855, after which his mother resided with him
until her death, in Auburn, in 1877.
HIS CONVERSION.
Concerning the boyhood of our friend, I add one more passage
from his own pen, a passage which gives a glimpse, first of his
school life, and then of his religious experience, as a boy of
twelve years of age. After naming, with expressions of appre-
ciation, several of the teachers whose instructions he enjoyed,
he mentions one — the only severe one among them — of whom
he says :
''The unlucky boy that was caught in a whisper was imme-
diately arraigned at the desk, and told to hold out his hand,
which the teacher grasped firmly around the fingers, bending
up the palm for some half a dozen rapid blows with his hard
maple ruler some two inches wide and half an inch thick. I
think I should know that old ruler by sight anywhere to this
day ; certainly I have the most vivid recollections of its peculiar
qualities ; the sting it left so many times on the hand with
which I write this seems even now to tingle along each nerve
of the burning palm. This teacher had red hair, and I remem-
ber him as rather quick tempered, and in my simplicity I was
wont to regard all men of red hair with peculiar aversion. A
change came over him, however, and the whole discipline of the
school, in the great revival of 1831 ; and one morning, as the
school assembled, he told us in simple and tender words his new
experience as a Christian, and then, for the first time, opened
the school with prayer, after reading a scripture lesson. He
read the tenth chapter of Romans, and commented in the light
of his own fresh experience on the verses : ' Say not in thine
heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down
&c.' I was then scarcely twelve years of age, and came to
school that morning greatly troubled about my sins, and ear-
nestly desiring to know what it was to believe in Christ. A
clear light came in upon my mind at that part of the passage
which says : ' The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in
-54-
thy heart. &c.' It was a happy day for master and pupils, and
one which stands out singularly prominent in my memory.
Shortly after, I united with the church, under the venerable
Dr. David Porter, — when he was permitted to gather the har-
vest of his own sowing, in the accession of a hundred or more
to the communion of the church on a single communion Sab-
bath."
This was what might have been expected as the outcome of
the religious home training, and a happy result of that training
it was. It was a sudden conversion, indeed ; and there are many
who are suspicious in regard to sudden conversions. But such
a sudden conversion as that of the boy Charles Hawley, a con-
version which consists in the clear recognition of personal re-
sponsibility, and therefore of personal sinfulness and need, and
in view of this of the intelligent, conscious, clear acceptance,
once for all, of Christ as Saviour and Master, is a spiritual ex-
perience which every thoughtful person must respect, and must
count as of the highest value ; and which every religious person
is compelled to recognize as a genuine work of the Holy Ghost.
Not less genuine was the spiritual change, sudden though it
were, which led to the substituting of the law of love for the
thick maple ruler, in the discipline of Charles Hawley 's auburn-
haired schoolmaster.
HIS EDUCATION.
It seemed to me desirable to treat somewhat in full of these
early surroundings, in the midst of which the character of our
friend was formed, even at the cost of being obliged to dismiss
with a few cursory sentences, all that portion of his life which
passed between his childhood and his settlement in Auburn.
His boyhood was divided between study, work, and the usual
outdoor sports. In hunting, fishing, swimming, skating, and
the like, he experienced at least his full share of adventures,
and of hairbreadth escapes. He entered Williams college in
1836, graduating in 1840. He was president of the Social
Fraternity, received the valedictory in his class, and was elected
- 55 -
to the Phi Beta Kappa society after graduation. During a time
of especial religious interest in the college, shortly before he
completed the course, his own religious life was decidedly
renewed. This had something to do with the fact, that a few
months later, he gave up his intention of studying for the law,
and entered the Union Theological Seminary, in New York
city.
I am the less reluctant to pass thus hastily over his college
and seminary experiences, since, at the approaching anniver-
saries of the Union seminary and of Williams college, to be
held in May and Jane next, papers commemorative of him will
be read.
HIS WORK AT NEW" ROCHELLE AND AT LYONS.
He graduated from the seminary in June, 1844. For three
months he supplied the American church in Montreal, Canada,
whose pastor, the Rev. Caleb Strong, was then traveling in
Europe. Immediately upon the expiration of this engagement
he became pastor of the Presbyterian church in New Rochelle,
N. Y., near his home in Catskill, where he remained four years.
During his pastorate, the church grew in membership and in
financial strength. At the time of his leaving, plans for erecting
a new church edifice were being laid. Some years later, these
plans were successfully carried out. Dr. Hawley always remem-
bered with great pleasure his pastorate in New Rochelle. The
historical and social atmosphere of this delightfully situated
old Huguenot town was congenial to him, and made a lasting
impression.
In 1848, Mr. Hawley removed from New Rochelle to Lyons,
N. Y., where he had a pleasant and successful pastorate of ten
years. The church, previously divided, became united and
strong. A new church edifice was built. The community was
blessed with revivals of religion. It is no wonder the people
were reluctant to part with their pastor, when, twenty-eight
- 56 -
years ago, he was called to the First Presbyterian church in
Auburn.
On the tenth of September of 1850, Mr. Hawley was married
to Miss Mary Hubbell, of Lyons. A happier or more beauti-
ful married life has seldom fallen to the lot of man.
The years of Mr. Hawley's residence in Lyons, and the few
years that followed, were years of excitement in public affairs,
far beyond anything that has occurred in the last two decades.
The great questions connected with American slavery were
forcing themselves more and more prominently upon public
attention ; and during the years from 1852 to 1855. the ques-
tion of prohibitory law, in most of the northern states, became
so prominent that, for a time, it pressed even national issues
into the background. Mr. Hawley, while avoiding all needless
controversy, was outspoken in his utterances on public ques-
tions. In the campaign in which Myron Clark, prohibitionist,
was elected governor over Horatio Seymour, democrat, and
Millard Fillmore, know-nothing, Mr. Havvley preached two
sermons on the "Maine Law," which caused, for the time, a
great sensation in the community. Then and afterward he was
equally unambiguous in regard to the " Higher Law " doctrine,
in the conflict over slavery. Of necessity, he sometimes gave
offense, in dealing with these affairs. It is not a little to the
credit of his manliness and bis wisdom, that the alienations
thus caused were seldom permanent.
The circumstances which led Mr. Hawley to accept the call
to Auburn were in a marked degree providential. He had
previously refused overtures from many places, including
Geneva, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, and St. Paul. In some of
these previous instances, his decision to remain in Lyons had
been determined by his love for the people there, and his wish
to remain with them, together with their judgment and that of
the Presbytery that he ought to remain, rather than by his own
judgment as to what was best. It was by these circumstances
- 57 -
that he was held there till the call from Auburn reached him.
HIS PASTORATE IN AUBURN.
Dr. Hawley's principal work in Auburn was that which he
did as pastor of the First Presbyterian church. The last sermon
that he preached before his death was the anniversary sermon
that marked the beginning of the twenty ninth year of his pas-
torate. Probably he had never been stronger in the united love
of his people, or in his influence over them, than on that day.
As a preacher, he fed the people. I suppose that two classes
of his sermons are remembered with especial interest by those
who were accustomed to listen to him. Those of one class were
sermons which more or less touched upon public affairs, either
in the way of direct treatment, or for illustration of other themes.
Several of these discourses were published.* They showed
*It would not be easy to make a complete list of Dr. Hawley's published works. I
have learned of the following :
1. Address introducing Mr. Seward, 18G5, published, with Mr. Seward's address on
the same occasion, in a pamphlet, and republished in Mr. Seward's works.
2. History of the First Presbyterian Church in Auburn, 1869.
3. Memorial Address for the Hon. William H. Seward, 1873.
4. In Memoriam, James S. Seymour, 1875.
5. Jesuit Missions Among the Cayugas, 1870.
ti. Memorial Address for the Hon. Henry Wells, 1879.
7. Biographical sketch of Col. John L. Hardenbergh. the first settler of Auburn,
1879. This was published in the first volume of the Collections of the Cayuga Co. His-
torical Society, introducing Col. Hardenbergh's Journal, with General John S. Clark's
notes thereon.
8. Early Chapters of Cayuga History, 1879. This is No. 5, with extensive correc-
tions, notes, and additions, especially a map and notes by Gen. John S. Clark.
9. Public Health and Sanitary Reform, 1880.
10. Centennial Address at Aurora, N. Y., 1880.
11. Ecclesiastical and Civil Relations of a local Presbyterian Church, 1881, as chair-
man of a committee of Cayuga Presbytery.
12. Anniversary Sermons, many of these published in the local papers ; the sermon
for the year 1882 was published in a thick pamphlet, with other matters, connected
with the celebration of the completion of the twenty-fifth year of his pastorate.
13. Annual Addresses before the Historical Society, especially those on Iroquois
antiquities, beginning with 1881. Those for 1881 and 1882are in the Collections No. Two
of the Cayuga County Historical Society, and were likewise bound as a separate pam-
phlet.
14. Early Chapters of Seneca History, with annotations, including a map and notes
by Gen. Clark, forming the body of Collections No. Three, 1886.
15. Early Chapters of Mohawk History, published in the Auburn Advertiser in 1885
(the previous works of this kind were also originally published in this paper). It has
since been annotated, and is substantially ready for publication in more permanent
form.
- 58 -
breadth of thought, and practical familiarity with affairs, such
that some of his friends sometimes thought that he should have
been a statesman rather than a preacher. The sermons of the
other class were simple, plain presentations of the common doc-
trines of the gospel, always in excellent literary form, but with
little else to distinguish them. They were utterances of com-
mon truths, never commonplace, and yet as far as possible from
being pretentious. He had a voice of marked sweetness and
power, and an unaffected earnestness of manner, that will long
be pleasantly remembered by those who love him.
In his pastoral work, he displayed a thorough business-like
understanding of what needed to be done, and was punctual
and faithful in doing it. It was a gift that must often have
served him in good stead, that he knew how to listen, as well
as how to speak. He made very little fuss and display in the
doing of a great deal of work. He was wise enough to avoid
acting prematurely. He could wait till the time came, even at
the cost of being thought slow ; and when the time came, he
was usually ready. He was sympathetic without being demon-
strative, and helpful without being officious.*
During his pastorate, the church was blessed with several
seasons of revival, and with large accessions to its member-
ship ; but the keeping up of its own membership is only a
very small part of the work done by such a church, and is
therefore only a partial indication of the success of its pastor.
Some of his work outside the church we shall presently con-
sider. On March 7, 1869, the First Church worshiped for the
last time in its old edifice, which it had occupied for fifty-two
years, and which was then pulled down and re-erected as the
Seymour Chapel, now Calvary Church, in the growing eastern
part of Auburn, while on its old site was erected the present
*An appreciative characterization of Dr. Hawley's methods as a preacher and pastor,
from the pen of his fellow pastor, the Rev. S. W. Boardman, D. D.. for many years
in charge of the Auburn Second Church was published in the New York Evangelist
of Dec. 10, 1885.
- 59 -
handsome stone edifice of the church. On that occasion, Dr.
Hawley preached a historical discourse, which was afterwards
published with notes and additions. In 1882, a celebration
was made of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate, an
account of which, including his anniversar}^ sermon for that
year, was published, in a pamphlet of eighty-two pages. From
these pamphlets and from other sources, it would be possible
for any one who wishes, to learn very fully of Dr. Hawley 's
work, and of the estimation in which he was held.
DR. HAWLEY AS A PRESBYTERIAN.
Dr. Hawley's influence in the Presbyterian Church was not
confined to Auburn. In the church at large he was known for
his thorough fidelity to Presbyterian doctrine and polity. For
nearly twenty-five years, he was stated clerk of the Presbytery
of Cayuga; discharging his duties with the most punctilious
exactness. His books, always neatly written, and always at
the meeting of synod, never failed to be fully approved. He
was a member of the general assembly at which the revised
book of discipline was sent down to the churches, was on the
committee which had charge of that matter, and rendered ser-
vices whose value was widely recognized. He loyally sub-
mitted to the decisions of the church judicatories, in the few
instances in which they were contrary to his judgment. An
instance of this is the adoption by the First Presbyterian church
of its present custom of re-installing elders and deacons.
Since 1876, Dr. Hawley has been one of the trustees of the
Auburn Theological Seminary, and has been especially useful
and prominent in that board. His prominence in these and
other matters connected with Presbyterianism in America has
not remained without recognition. In 1861, Hamilton College
conferred upon him the decree of Doctor of Divinity, and he
- 60 -
has constantly been the recipient of expressions of the confi-
dence felt in him by his brethren.*
HIS INTEREST IN AUBURN INSTITUTIONS.
The public institutions of Auburn will miss him greatly.
His relations to the Seminary we have just considered ; those to
the Historical Society are reserved for future consideration.
But he was also one of the corporate members of the Seymour
Library Association, founded by his friend, James S. Seymour,
and its vice-president from the beginning of its existence.
With the work of the Young Men's Christian Association,
with that of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, with
that of each of the beneficent charities of our city, he was in
hearty and helpful sympathy. As Auburn has grown, since
his coming among us, his presence and influence have been an
element more or less affecting for good all the growth of the
city.
THE CITIZEN PASTOR.
If the times were stirring while Dr. Hawley was at Lyons,
they became yet more so after he moved to Auburn. In 1856,
the republican party made its first national campaign, with Fre-
mont for leader. That was the year before Dr. Hawley came
among us. Three years after his coming, in 1860, Abraham
Lincoln was elected president. Dr. Hawley, like every other
*In a letter published in the Evangelist of Jan. 21, "1880, the Rev. Henry Kendall. D. D.,
speaking of Dr. Brown, formerly president of Hamilton College, who died Nov. 4. 1885,
relates the following interesting incident :
" He called on me, and as there was to be a meeting of the trustees at Hamilton Col-
lege within a few days, we agreed that we ought to have a trustee from Auburn to fill
the place of Dr. Gridley of Waterloo, just deceased, and that we would support Dr.
Charles Hawley for the place. Finding soon after that I could not be at that meeting,
I wrote out my estimate of Dr. Hawley, and sent it to Dr. Brown, to use in the board if
need be, and the letter reached his home a few hours after his death. The board did
not elect a trustee at that meeting, and in less than two weeks after the meeting of the
board, Dr. Hawley himself had also died. Thus the names of these three men, Drs.
Brown, Gridley, and Hawley, will hereafter be linked together in my memory."
- 61 -
American citizen who had convictions and was governed by
them, took an interested part in these movements. Politics
had become, for the time being, no longer a matter of contest
between political parties, but a struggle between moral right
and moral wrong. The spiritual teachers of men could not be
indifferent, or hold their peace, while such battles were raging.
As a general thing, they made their influence felt, boldly and
effectively ; and no minister of the gospel was bolder or more
effective, or at the same time wiser than Dr. Hawley. In 1861
the civil war broke out; Lincoln was inaugurated; William
H. Seward was made secretary of state. The first regiment of
volunteers recruited in this vicinity, afterward known as the
" old nineteenth," attended service in the First Presbyterian
Church, the Sabbath before leaving for the field, and were
addressed by the Pastor from the words : " P>e of good cour-
age, and let us play the men for our people and the cities of
our God," 2 Sam. x. 12. In the various regiments afterward
raised, the congregation of the First Church was well repre-
sented, often by its active church members, and its most prom-
ising young men. Not long after the opening of the war, Dr.
Hawley preached a course of sermons on the duties of citizens,
and especially the duty of obedience to law. These sermons
are not yet forgotten. To myself they have an especial inter-
est, as my acquaintance with Dr. Hawley began at about this
time, and these were, with a single exception, the first sermons
of his to which I listened.
Dr. Hawley 's interest in public affairs was not diminished
by the warm personal friendship which existed between him
and Secretary Seward. When Mr. Seward made his visits home
from Washington, Dr. Hawley was one of the first friends with
whom he met and talked. Frequent visits were exchanged ;
the whole political and military situation was earnestly dis-
cussed ; Dr. Hawley's position, the interests which he repre-
sented in the community, and his readiness to take pains that
- 62 -
he might be of service, rendered him, in Mr. Seward's opinion,
a valuable counselor. Mr. Seward thought of him as being
not only the pastor of the oldest church in Auburn, and a lead-
ing clergyman, but as a public-spirited citizen, in whose judg-
ment and sagacity his fellow townsmen had confidence, and
who was able to do much to mould public opinion, and shape
and direct public action.
In 1864, Mr. Seward came to Auburn to cast his vote for
the re election of Abraham Lincoln as president. On the
evening of November 7, he addressed an audience in Auburn
on the issues of the election. This address is now to be found
in the fifth volume of Mr. George E. Baker's edition of Sew-
ard's works, page 505. On the afternoon of the following day,
having cast his vote, he started on his return to Washington,
taking with him as guests, Dr. Ilawley and Messrs. James S.
Seymour and Richard Steel. An account of this visit, in Dr.
Hawley's handwriting, is still in existence, and should be
printed.* Mr. Seward went with them to the office of President
Lincoln, who treated them with the most informal cordiality,
and told them a story ; under guidance provided by Mr. Sew-
ard, they inspected the interior of several of the departments
at Washington ; they crossed the lines of the Potomac, taking
the prescribed oath of allegiance ; they enjoyed the delightful
hospitality of the secretary's Washington home, and on Satur-
day started on their return Auburnward.
Eleven and a half months later, the citizens of Auburn paid
Mr. Seward a visit at his residence in this city, and very nat-
urally selected Dr. Ilawley as their spokesman on that occasion.
Ilis address and that of Mr. Seward in reply were published in
pamphlet form, and also appear in the volume of Mr. Seward's
works already cited, on page 515. The intervening months
had been eventful. On the 31st of January, 1865, the national
house of representatives had passed the bill for submitting to
♦Read before the Hist. Soe., Jan., 1887.
- 63 -
the states the thirteenth amendment of the constitution, thus
making it certain that the freeing of the slaves, already accom-
plished by President Lincoln's proclamation, was 10 remain a
permanent and inviolable fact. Sixty seven days later, the
army of Lee surrendered to General Grant, and the war of the
rebellion was over. Yet six days later, assassins took the life
of Abraham Lincoln, and attempted that of Mr. Seward, who
escaped only by a hair-breadth, with wounds whose scars he
carried to the grave.
Mr. Seward had been spending some time at home, for recov-
ery and rest. He was now about to return to Washington.
He was to face the problem of the rehabilitation of the seceded
states; a problem in many respects, graver than any which had
preceded it; a problem whose difficulties were enhanced by the
fact that the president with whom he had to deal, was no longer
Abraham Lincoln, but Andrew Johnson ; and by the fact that
he must now face the opposition, not only of secessionists and of
political opponents, but of all the little great men of his own
party. The words of Dr. Hawley on this occasion, with those
of Mr. Seward in reply, are marked by a feeling of personal
tenderness, a breadth of view, and an exaltation of sentiment
worthy of the men and the time.
In October, 1867, a treaty was agreed upon at Copenhagen,
providing for the cession of St. Thomas and other Danish
West India Islands to the United States. Among its articles
was one looking to the submission of the question to the popu-
lar vote of the inhabitants of the islands, both governments
deeming it advisable that the transfer, if made, should have
the sanction of the people most deeply interested. Commis-
sioners were accordingly appointed to proceed to the islands to
take the votes. The Danish government appointed Commis-
sioner Carstensen, and our government Dr. Hawley. In the
election, the vote stood 1,24-1 in favor of annexation to the
United States, and only 28 against annexation. The treaty
- 64 -
was ratified in the Danish parliament, but failed of being
approved in the senate of the United States. Neither Mr.
Seward, however, nor Dr. Hawley are to blame that those valu-
able islands do not now belong to our country.
A believer in omens might well imagine that the powers of
nature in those islands resented the proposed transfer of sove-
reignty. After the election,as the commissioners were preparing
to start on their return, the islands, especially St. Croix, where
Dr. Hawley then was, were visited by an earthquake, with a
hurricane and tidal wave, working fearful destruction of life and
property. Among other incidents described by Dr. Hawley in
his letter, the United States ship of war Monongahela was lifted
from her anchorage about half a mile off shore, and thrown high
and dry on the beach.*
In other affairs, public and private, Dr. Hawley was associated
with Secretary Seward. It was peculiarly fitting, therefore,
that, after Mr. Seward's decease, the Young Men's Christian
Association of Auburn, through a committee consisting of
principal John E. Myer, Byron C. Smith, and Henry Hall, in-
vited Dr. Hawley to deliver before the association an address
commemorative of the life and work of our distinguished towns-
man. The address was given Feb. 19, 1878, and published en-
tire in the Auburn Advertiser of the following day. One of the
few copies of it still in existence is among the possessions of
the Historical Society.
VACATIONS.
Thus far we have been watching Dr. Hawley in the various
phases of his work. No one understood better than he that
pla}^, as well as industry, is essential to the best living. In my
own recollections of my first winter in Auburn, no picture is
more vivid than that of Dr. Hawley, Professor Hopkins, James
R Cox, esq., the Kev. Henry Fowler, and other distinguished
*See Appendix I.
- 65 -
citizens, some of them with their wives, as well as with the
young men and women of their familes, skating on the big dam,
with hundreds of their fellow citizens, including, of course, all
the small boys in Auburn, or skating in more select parties on
the Owasco lake. That was before there was a rink in Auburn,
when good ice depended on the weather, and when, conse-
quently, prime skating on the big dam was understood to have
the precedence of all other ordinary engagements.
It was while seeking recreation that Dr. Hawley found some
of the most important parts of the work of his life. In 1823,
when he was four years old, his father and his father's friend,
Mr. Beach, hnd organized a company for building the now cel-
ebrated Mountain House, in the Catskills. The Mountain House
was Charles Hawley 's summer home, from childhood. He was
associated with all its traditions from the beginning. His inti-
mate relations with it did not cease when the property was
purchased by Mr. C. S. Beach, the son of his father's friend.
Mr. Beach says :
" When I purchased the property, I told him it might still
be a summer home for himself and family. I knew him from
infancy ; to a great extent we were co-travelers and co-workers ;
a strong brotherly feeling of esteem and love existed between
us ; I liked to give him pleasure, and he liked to receive pleas-
ure at my hands."
Thus came about a condition of things with which we were
all familiar. In the months of June and July of each year, our
friend Dr. Hawley suffered from hay fever. In the beginning
of it, it would seem as if he had caught a cold, affecting the
nasal passages. Then his nose swelled, and his eyes became
watery. When we met him, he smiled and we smiled, though
not in the sense which a stranger might have imagined, from
the growing redness of his face. These symptoms were to him
the intimation that the time had come for his summer trip to
the Catskills. There the troublesome symptoms vanished ; he
- m -
rested from the labors of his usual calling ; he himself became
to his fellow guests one of the attractions of the place. Among
other things, it is said of him :
" Dr. Hawley was a great walker, and found great pleasure
with congenial companions in rambling over and among the
mountains, opening new paths and ways to the grand and beau-
tiful in which the region abounds. His familiarity with the
topography and points of interest enabled him to give pleasure
and gratification to others, thus heightening his own."*
HISTORICAL STUDIES.
Dr. Hawley looked upon his historical studies, much as he
looked upon his summer trip to the Oatskills, as a form of
recreation. He held that every man should have some side
line of pursuit, which might serve to divert his mind from the
graver work of his habitual vocation. For himself he found
this side line of pursuit in historical researches. He was a his-
torian, indeed, by nature and by habit. This more or less col-
ored all his work. In anniversary and other memorial dis-
courses preached by him, he has put on record the history of
the First Church, and largely that of this community. He may
fairly be said to have followed a historical method in conduct-
ing funerals. If his short discourses on funeral occasions have
been preserved, and could be collected, they would constitute
an invaluable body of historical and biographical material.
Early in his pastorate, he adopted systematic measures for
securing trustworthy information concerning the men with
whom he was associated. His own autobiography was written
in the carrying out of these measures. It is to his taste for
historical study, and his appreciation of the importance of
placing historical material on record, where it can be found for
use, instead of allowing it to vanish in oblivion, that our Cay-
uga County Historical Society owes its existence. But while
♦Letter of Mr. C. S. Beach.
- 67 -
all these things are true, and while they show that Dr. Hawley
put serious labor into his historical studies, it is yet none the
less true that he regarded these studies as merely auxiliary
and for diversion, while the pastorate of the church and the
care of souls was to him the one great work of his life.
I must omit all details respecting the part he took in found-
ing this society, and respecting his service as its president dur-
ing the first decade of its existence. This I could not properly
do, except for the fact that these matters have been fully and
competently discussed and placed on record in the addresses
made at our memorial meeting, held the 28th of November
last,* and in the admirable address of Mr. William H. Seward,
his successor in office, at our annual meeting held last month.
THE IROQUOIS AND THE JESUIT MISSIONS.
I must not, however, pass by the most important historical
work done by him, namely, his calling attention to the history
of the Iroquois tribes, and to the work of the Jesuit mission-
aries amona; them. It was during one of his summer vacations
at the Catskill mountain house, that his friend Mr. Lenox, of
New York, conversed with him respecting this field, and put
him into possession of important literature on the subject.
This circumstance, together with his relations to certain citi-
zens of Auburn and of Cayuga County, had much to do with
leading him to the investigations which ultimately proved so
fruitful. But it is in itself also an interesting fact that this
son of the Puritans should thus become the historian of the
Jesuits.
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous ninety-five theses
to the door of the castle church. Seventeen years later, in
1534, Ignatius Loyola and his six companions took the vows
♦See Auburn papers of Dec. 1, 1885. The addresses referred to are printed in pp. 3-44 of
these Collections (pp. 3-20 of this memorial pamphlet).
- 68 -
which constituted them the founders of the society of the
Jesuits. The movement headed by Luther, and that headed by
Loyola, differed widely in many respects, but they were alike
protests against evils then existing in the 'religious world.
They were also alike in the intense vitality and earnestness
that characterized each of them. One of the manifestations of
this new life, both among Roman Catholics and Protestants, was a
revived interest in the work of the conversion of heathen peoples
to Christianity. To the men thus interested, the then newly
discovered continent of America afforded an attractive field
of operations. The Jesuits were doing missionary work in
Brazil as early as 1550. In 1556, John Calvin and the
church at Geneva sent fourteen religious teachers with the
Huguenot colony that came to Villegagnon, near Rio Janiero
(McClintock and Strong, vol. VI., page 856). In 1564, the
Huguenot colony in Florida had for one of its aims the con-
version of the natives. John Gilmary Shea says that Roman
Catholic missionary efforts attended the expeditions of De Soto,
in 1539, and of Menendez in 1565. Nowhere did this mission-
ary zeal make itself more manifest than across the belt of
country through which now runs the Canada frontier. The
Puritan colonies in New England, and the French colonies in
Canada, alike kept in mind from the first the idea of the con-
version of the natives.
According to the first paper in our Historical Collections Num-
ber Three, the first Roman Catholic missionary within the pres-
ent limits of our state was the Franciscan Father Joseph
dela Roche Daillon, who visited the Neuter nation, then living
on both sides of the Niagara river, in 1626. At that time the
associates of the ancestors of Dr. Hawley's father were seeking
the charter which they finally obtained in 1628, the charter of
the Massachusetts colony. Their seal, when they obtained it,
bore as its device an Indian uttering the Macedonian cry :
" Come over and help us" (Library of Universal Knowledge
- 69 -
x : 30). Already in 1621, Robert Cushman, an associate of
Dr. Hawley's maternal ancestor, John Alden, had written to
England of Indian converts near Plymouth (Ibid.). In 1646
occurred the martyrdom of Isaac Jogues among the Mohawks.
From 1642, John Megapolensis of Albany had been making-
endeavors to evangelize the Mohawks, and in time, numbers
of them were received to the membership of the Dutch church
in Albany.* Meanwhile, during these same years, and in some
instances earlier, Roger Williams, Thomas May hew, Bourn,
John Eliot, and others, were laboring among the natives of
New England. The Jesuit Relations used by Dr. Hawley cover
the period from 1632 to 1672. At this later date, just before
the breaking out of King Philip's war, it is said that there were
4,000 praying Indians within the limits of the New England
colonies, including fourteen settlements in the colony of Massa-
chusetts^— Indians who had made progress in civilization, who
practiced agriculture and trade, and who had their own con-
gregations and native preachers, and the Bible translated in
their own language.
It is true that the missionary work of both Jesuit and Puritan
was largely rendered fruitless, through the rum, the greed, and
the immorality of adventurers and public men, French, English,
and Dutch ; it is further true that the Protestant and Roman
Catholic differed widely both in their methods of work, and in
the kind of the immediate results which they sought ; but it is
equally true that, in the matters of personal heroism, of devotion,
and of skillful working for a purpose, the Jesuit, the Baptist, the
Dutchman, and the Puritan alike made records that are simply
magnificent.
*Once. at least, Jogues owed his escape from a violent death to the influence of this
Protestant Dutch pastor and missionary.
f'When King Philip's war broke out, there were in the fourteen towns in Massa-
chusetts, some 1,150 praying Indians, as they were called, besides others in the other
colonies — in all perhaps 4C00." Richard Markham's Narrative History of King Philip's
War, page 100. See also Library of Universal Knowledge x : 30.
-70-
In one important respect, the Jesuits have had greatly the
advantage of their Protestant contemporaries. From the begin-
ning of their operations in America, they were an organized
body — probably the most strongly organized body on the earth,
with resources like those possessed by great nations ; and with
arrangements for preserving full records of their doings, written
from their own point of view. The Protestant laborers, on the
other hand, were comparatively unorganized, with small re-
sources, less careful in preserving the records of their work.
When Dr. Hawley undertook his studies in this direction, he
had access, in his own library or in those of his friends, to sets
of the reports made by the early Jesuit missionaries. There
had been a time when the Relations had become rare books, dif-
ficult to obtain for use; but they were in existence, and capable
of being restored to the public ; and this fact renders the work
of the Jesuits far easier to trace than that of most of their con-
temporaries of the 17th century.
Dr. Hawley's successive historical productions were published
in the Auburn Advertiser, before appearing in pamphlet form.
The first of them was " The Jesuit missions among the
Oayugas," published as a pamphlet in 1876. It was simply a
translation of selections from the Relations, with a few not
very important notes explaining the selections. This was repub-
lished in 1879, with notes and enlargements, the latter including
a map and many yaluable notes by General John S. Clark. In
the same year, the Historical Society published the journal of
Lieut. Hardenbergh, and extracts from other journals, giving an
account of Sullivan's campaign in 1879, with notes and maps
by Gen. Clark, and a biographical sketch by Dr. Hawley. At
about the same time occurred the centennial celebration at
Aurora, commemorating events in General Sullivan's campaign,
with the publication of Dr. Hawley 's address at the celebration.
Then came the successive annual addresses, from 1881 on, made
up of matters pertaining to Iroquois antiquities, and along with
- 71 -
these, the successive installments of the " Early Chapters of Sen-
eca History." These have been extensively annotated since their
first publication, the annotations including a map and many notes
by General Clark, and will soon appear in our Cayuga County
Historical Society Collections No. three. In 1884 and 1885
Dr. Hawley was publishing his "Early Chapters of Mohawk
History." This work, yet more important than either of the
preceding, has been subjected to the same processes of annotation
and map illustration with the others, and it is to be presumed
that, when the Society is ready to publish it, the copy will be
forthcoming. The publication of the last section of it in the
Advertiser was the last work done by Dr. Hawley before he died.
He intended to complete the series by similar works on the
Onondagas and the Mohawks. It is to be hoped that some one
will be found to take up this unfinished labor of his, and also
that the sections already done will be published by some one in
more popular form.
These translations, themselves, are but a small part of the
work which Dr. Hawley has accomplished in making the trans-
lations. Another might have made the same selections and
turned them into English, without at all approximating to the
results which he has reached. He has succeeded in getting the
ear of the public, and calling the attention of Roman Catholic
and Protestant alike to these portions of our history. As his
work progressed, he came into correspondence with other men,
distinguished in similar studies. He became a medium through
whom Cayuga county men, who had collections of books or of
objects, or who were otherwise interested in local history, were
brought into communication with one another, and with distin-
tinguishecl men at a distance. It came to be the case that when
a farmer anywhere in this vicinity ploughed up an old medal
or other aboriginal relic, he sent word to Dr. Hawley concerning
it. He stimulated the work of all individual collectors, and
of all historical societies, in the region formerly inhabited by
- 72 -
the five nations. Many were eager to join him, so far as they
could, in these studies. I am not well enough informed so that
it would be fair for me to undertake any account of his rela-
tions with his co-laborers; he himself mentions, with especial
expressions of appreciation, the help of Mr. T. P. Case in trans-
lation work, and the collections of rare and valuable maps and
books and other objects, as well as the personal assistance, of
Mr. John H. Osborne and General John S. Clark. It was
especially an important thing that Dr. Hawley did so much to
place the chain and compass of General Clark, and the big brain
of their owner, at the service of men who are engaged in the
study of American history.
It is not merely, therefore, that Dr, Hawley translated a few
pages of the old French of the Jesuit Relations into English
but that, in so doing, he became the centre of a movement in
American historical studies. In the course of the movement,
through the labors of the men engaged in it, many hundreds
of sites have been located ; the locating of them has thrown
light upon the meaning of such old records as existed ; the
old records and the local traditions have thus been brought
together so as to interpret one auother, and be interpreted by
the topography ; in fine, whole sections of local history have
been changed from a half-intelligible, and therefore obscure and
uninteresting condition, into a clear and living body of facts.
He who should compare the " Jesuit Missions Among the Cay-
ugas," as published in 1876, with the works that have succeeded
it, could not fail to see the progress that has been made.
In much that ten years ago was vague and uncertain, we are
now able to sift the true from the false, and to see the events,
truthfully and vividly, as they occurred.
There is something well worth notice in the appreciation
which Dr. Hawley's efforts have met. In his publications con-
cerning the Jesuits, he abstained from criticising their methods,
or drawing comparisons between them and others. He simply
- 73 -
selected those parts of the records that were best worth read-
ing, and then let them tell their story in their own way. His
point of view was that of an American citizen, interested in
all great deeds that have been wrought on American soil, and
as proud of all that was admirable in these men, as if he had
been separated from them by no bar of difference of creed. I
have heard the spirit he thus displayed spoken of as if there
were something rare and remarkable in it. Doubtless it is less
common than it ought to be, but I do not think it is very un-
common. Test this statement for an instant. Some scores of
times, Dr. Hawley's work respecting the Jesuits has been men-
tioned in the secular papers, and in those of the Protestant
denominations,^ and often in terms of warm admiration ; can
any one point to a single instance in which leading Protestants
have found fault with it, on account of his kindliness of spirit
toward the Jesuits? Certainly, we do not approve the things
that seem to us wrong, in the Jesuits and in their deeds and
teachings ; we earnestly hold that our disapproval is not mere
prejudice, but an intelligent verdict, founded on evidence.
But this circumstance constitutes no reason why we should be
blind to any great or good achievements they have accom-
plished ; we know that we ought to admire them when they
deserve admiration ; we mean to do it, and we think that we
succeed in awarding to them a fair and candid appreciation.
It is pleasant to put on record the fact that Dr. Hawley's
services were not unrecognized by Roman Catholics. When
he died, kind things were said of him in the churches of that
persuasion in the city.* Three clergymen of the Roman church,
and many of their parishioners, were present at the funeral
services in the First Presbyterian church. f Distinguished
Roman Catholic clergymen wrote, expressing their apprecia-
tion of the man and their regret for his loss.* It goes without
*See Appendix II.
tSee the accounts of the funeral, published in the Auburn papers of Dec. 1, 1885.
- 74-
saying that all manifestations of this sort are gratifying to
every patriotic American. The theological differences which
part us are fundamental ; we are never likely to ignore or to
compromise them ; but we fought together, shoulder to shoulder,
when we saved the union; we ought to be fighting together
now against intemperance, and against public corruption, and
against illiteracy, and against the growing tendencies to com-
munism, and against all other forms of social evil. Unless
Roman Catholic and Protestant can join hands for overthrow-
ing the common enemy, our country is in grave and imminent
peril. If we were well united for these aims, where is the form
of organized evil that could stand before us for a moment ?
If Dr Hawley's work has contributed something to a better
understanding between us, that is one of the great things which
his life has accomplished.
HIS CATHOLICITY OF SPIRIT.
Dr. Hawley's catholicity of spirit was not displayed toward
men of the Roman church only. During his pastorate, the
Presbyterian churches of the city increased in number from
two to five, and he was a sort of senior pastor in every one of
them. He succeeded in making his young fellow pastors for-
get his seniority of position, in the love and respect they paid
him for his friendliness and his personal worth. The churches
of other denominations in the city increased in number and in
strength, but they never outgrew the mutual cordiality that
existed between them and the pastor of the First church.* If
our Jonathan had a David, to whom he was knit more closely
than to any of the rest of us, that David was Dr. Brainard,
the rector of St. Peter's church, and next to himself the senior
pastor in the city. If this intimacy had any influence on the
feelings of the rest of us, it was not that we loved Jonathan
the less for it, but that for his sake we loved David more.
*See Appendix III.
- 75 -
THE END.
The career of our friend closed suddenly. A completed
year of pastoral labor, with its customary anniversary sermon ;
three days later, a completed section of his work on Iroquois
history ; a day later, a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain,
attended by a swift recognition of the fact that the time of his
departure was at hand, and that he was ready to go; then a
few days of partly conscious existence, not unattended by hope
on the part of his friends ;* and then, on the evening of Thanks-
giving day, the final closing of his eyes. His funeral was
thronged by clergy and citizens of all classes and all religious
persuasions. The six clergymen who carried the casket were
of five religious denominations. The services were conducted
by his tried friends, Dr. Hogarth, of Geneva, whom he had
known longest, and who had officiated at his marriage, with
Professors Huntington and Hopkins of the seminary, and Dr.
Brainard. The following Sunday evening a memorial service
was held in the First church. Dr. Brainard presided. In it
participated the faculty of the seminary, the chaplain of the
state prison, and the pastors and people of fourteen of the city
churches, of eight different ecclesiastical connections, f Few
men in Auburn have ever been as much honored, and none
have ever been so honored with demonstrations of posthumous
respect, as Dr. Hawley. And in his case, these tributes were
spontaneous. They expressed the verdict of his fellow citizens
concerning him. He was a gifted man, and a good man ; but
especially he was a man who aimed to be useful to his fellow
men, rather than to exercise power over them ; who desired to
be loved and to love others, rather than to be admired by them ;
and who, consequently, was powerful as well as useful, and won
admiration as well as love.
♦Accounts of the seizure, and notes of his condition from day to day may be found
in the files of the Auburn papers.
tSee Appendix IV.
APPENDIX.
Note. — This appendix is not a general collection of interest-
ing utterances by Dr. Hawley or concerning him. It is not
even a representative selection of such utterances. At the
time of his illness and death, and afterward, notices of him
appeared in the dispatches of the Associated Press, in the edi-
torial columns, the correspondence, and the news columns of
the several local papers, and of the New York Evangelist, the
Philadelphia Presbyterian, the Utica Morning Herald, and. several
other papers secular and religious. Official action was taken
by the Presbytery to which he belonged, by the church of
which he had been pastor, by some of the other Presbyterian
churches, by the several Boards of the seminary, by various
other Boards and Societies with which he was connected, and
by bodies that were interested in his historical researches.
Notices of him appeared in the memorial papers of the insti-
tutions at which he graduated, or which he served in some
fiducial capacity. Many private letters concerning him were
received by his friends. If all these materials, so far as they are
suited for publication, were printed in full, they would form a
volume of some size. A reasonably full selection from them,
so made as fairly to represent the whole, would be dispropor-
tionately bulky for a pamphlet like the present one.
In fine, the first and the last of the following five articles are
appended because of their distinctive character ; the interve-
ning three, as interpreting what is said in the memorial address
in regard to the attitude of the different Christian bodies in
Auburn toward Dr. Hawley.
- l\
Note on Page 64.
Extract from a Letter of Dr. Hawley, from St. Croix,
Nov. 20, 1867.
" I write you after two days of most fearful excitement, now
partially allayed. Monday, at about three o'clock P. M., the
island was visited by an earthquake, which with brief intervals
of quiet has continued until nine o'clock this morning. The
first shock was the heaviest, and was so terrible that no words
can convey to you the awful scene. Not a breath of air stirred
in the burning beat ; the sun was pale, and the sky of an ashy
hue ; a rushing sound, and then the earth rocked, so that it
was difficult to keep one's feet, the whole shock lasting about
a minute and a half. It seemed as if the earth must open and
swallow us up. I was in the court yard of the Government
House, the only place of escape from the reception room of the
governor, where we were awaiting an interview with him by
appointment, and from which we ran clown a long flight of stone
steps, the vast building rocking like a cradle. The marble pave-
ment literally waved like water under our feet ; the trees swayed
to and fro as if in a tempest, though the air was still as death.
I thought of none in the awful moment but the dear ones at
home, and lifted a prayer that God would be merciful.
Scarcely had the shock ceased, when a cry of terror was
heard in the street, and on passing out the gate of the court-
yard, we met the people flying panic-stricken to the more ele-
vated parts of the town, for the sea was coming in like a wall
of water some thirty feet high, and threatening to engulph the
town. Here was a new peril, but it was quickly over, though
great damage was done, and some lives lost. It was in this
way that the Monongahela, our noble ship of war, lying about
half a mile from the shore at anchor, was in about three min-
utes thrown high and dry upon the beach. Buildings have
been thrown down, or so rent as to be unsafe ; and almost every
conceivable injury inflicted, which an earthquake could produce.
The night was one of great terror. Every few minutes a
shock of greater or less severity would come, until the welcome
morning. The whole population which is largely negro, was in
- 79 -
a state of passionate excitement, screaming, praying, not daring
to remain in their homes, and scarcely trusting the ground on
which they stood. Some two or three thousand came in from
the country estates, excited, bewildered, and reckless. A strong
police force, with the soldiers, prevented plunder. The shocks
were repeated through Tuesday, keeping up the fearful uncer-
tainties^ to the ultimate result. We could not tell from one
hour to another what might occur. The earth was in a constant
tremor during the intervals of the shocks, and it was by no
means difficult to think that the island might disappear at any
moment. The sense of insecurity was awful. The sickly look
of the sun and the ashen paleness of the sky, with the whole
unnaturalness of the face of nature continued. The heat was
intense. Sulphurous fumes were distinctly detected. The sec-
ond night was, with some alleviations, a repetition of the first.
But to-day we are hoping the worst is over.
The Susquehanna with Admiral Palmer came over from St.
Thomas this morning. The disaster has been even more severe
there."
II.
Note on Page 73.
From the Auburn Dally Advertiser of December 1, 1885.
"In St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, Sunday morning,
Rev. Father Mulheron referred to the death of Rev. Charles
Hawley, D. D., in the following terms:
It may not seem the place to speak the eulogy of a Protes-
tant from a Catholic pulpit. Especially may it seem strange
when the object of it is a Protestant minister ; but in the case
of Rev. Dr. Hawley, who lies dead at this moment, I feel that
an exception can and ought to be made. He was a gentleman
of the highest order of social and intellectual qualities, and a
citizen truly worthy of the esteem and love of all. For us
Catholics, he was a 'man who was superior to all petty preju-
dices, dealing with our church and its history in that spirit of
- 80 -
justice which is at once the product of a large mind and of a
heart loving the truth. We owe him a deep and lasting grati-
tude, and it is our great loss, as it is that of this community,
that death has taken him from us. His Relations of the early
Jesuit missions is written with an elegance and ease which
speaks of ripe scholarship, and so Catholic is it in its tone that
I commend it to you as a book of great merit. Every family
ought to possess these memoirs as it tells the story of the early
missionaries and their labors, in a manner to entertain old and
young and to interest and edify all. Would that we had more
men of Dr. Hawley's stamp, to break down the cold .barrier of
social and religious prejudice, and to lead men to that common
fellowship which ought to be the distinguishing feature of our
American citizenship. Whatever manner of respect you can
show to the memory of this noble gentleman, I hope you will
display it, for he is certainly deserving of it in no ordinary
degree.
And at the church of the Holy Family, Rev. Father Sey-
mour, before closing his sermon, said that in Dr. Hawley's
death a great loss had been sustained, not only by the people
over whom he had presided for over twenty-eight years, but by
the people of Auburn in general, and Catholics in particular.
Catholics of the state owe to Dr. Hawley a debt which they
could never repay, for placing before the public the true history
of the suffering and exposure and martjn'dom of the early
Catholic missionaries. The Catholics of Auburn should sym-
pathize with his family in their bereavement, and he trusted
that the First Presbyterian church will be blessed with a succes-
sor worthy of him."
From " Letters to the Editor" Daily Advertiser, Dec. 3, 1885.
"St. Joseph's Church, )
Troy, Dec. 1, 1885. j
Mr. Geo. R. Peck, Editor of the Auburn Daily Advertiser :
Dear Sir : — Through your paper of the 27th ult, I received
the sad news of Dr. Hawley's death. He sent me, last April,
- 81 -
two very kind letters in relation to his interesting works, the
" Early Chapters " of the Cayuga, Seneca and Mohawk history.
He took a deep interest in the early history of the state of
New York, and with a very liberal mind brought to light, in
the English language, the wonderful works of the Jesuit fath-
ers in North America.
T personally and deeply regret the death of Dr. Hawley; his
historical knowledge and his pen would have been very useful
in our present work, the early mission of the Jesuit fathers in
the Mohawk valley, and most particularly the Beatification of
the Rev. Isaac Jogues, S. J., Rene Goupil. S. J., and Cather-
ine Tegakonita, the Iroquois virgin. Dr. Hawley said in one
of his letters to me, last April. ' I read the Pilgrim with special
interest.'
General Clark of Auburn, J. G. Shea of New York, and Dr.
Hawley have [been] great friends and great helpers in the cause
of Father Isaac Jogues.
Please accept this tribute of respect and esteem in favor of
Dr. Hawley.
Truly and respectfully yours,
JOSEPH LOYZANCE, S. J."
III.
Note on Page 74.
From the Advertiser of December 1, 1885.
" An unusually large congregation attended divine service in
St. Peter's church, Sunday. In the course of his sermon, the
rector, Rev. Dr. Brainard, made touching allusion to the decease
of his co-laborer in the ministry, Rev. Dr. Hawley, referring to
his lovely and symmetrical character, and to the fact that the
deceased had honored him with his friendship for twenty-three
-82 -
years. He closed by reading the following memorial, which
was adopted by a rising vote of the whole congregation :
To the Conaregation of the First Presbyterian Church, Auburn, K Y.:
Greeting : — The rector, wardens and vestry of St. Peter's
church, Auburn, N. Y., with the congregation assembled for
worship on Sunday, Nov. 29, 1885, having heard that it has
seemed good to our Heavenly Father to call to the rest of par-
adise our friend and brother, the Rev. Charles Hawley, D. D.,
pastor of the First Presbyterian church of this city, desire to
express their profound sympathy with the afflicted family and
bereaved church, in this dark hour of grief.
Three years ago we rejoiced with you in the celebration of
the twenty-fifth anniversary of a pastorate so honorable alike
to pastor and people ; and now in the sad trial and deep sorrow
which come from the knowledge that the pastor is taken from
the flock which he so gently led in green pastures and beside
still waters, and that his beloved face will never again be seen,
nor his kindly voice be heard within the earthly temple, we
would weep also with you who weep.
May the God of all the families of the earth send to the
widow and the fatherless, the rich treasures of his divine com-
fort; and to that dear home and church alike grant the peace
and sweet assurance which are treasured in the words of Holy
Scripture : ' I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me,
Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord ; even so saith the Spirit ; for they rest from their labors
and their works do follow them.'
' They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firm-
ament and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars
forever and ever.'
In behalf of the vestry and people of St. Peter's church,
Auburn, N. Y.
JOHN BRAINARD, Rector.
Fred I. Allen, Clerk.
Many moistened eyes were seen as the touching services
closed with singing the 260th hymn from the Hymnal, ' Asleep
- 83 -
in Jesus, blessed sleep.' Prayers for the afflicted family were
offered and selections from the burial office read, closing with
the benediction."
From the Advertiser of December 4, 1885.
" The pastor and officiary of the Wall street Methodist
Episcopal church met last night and adopted the following
resolutions :
Whereas, The Rev. Charles Hawley, D. D., late pastor of
the. First Presbyterian church, Auburn, has been called from
toil to rest, from the church militant to the church triumph-
ant, therefore be it
Resolved, That having recognized in Dr. Hawley a faithful
and honored ambassador of our Lord Jesus Christ, a kind and
loving brother, and a wise counselor ; we desire to express
our profound sympathy with the bereaved family and afflicted
church in this dark hour of trial.
In behalf of the church and congregation,
THOMAS SHARPE, Pastor,
Dec. 3, 1885."
- 84 -
IV.
Note on Page 75.
At the Memorial Service a printed program was used, the
contents of which were as follows:
FIKST PAGE.
PASTORS'
MEMORIAL SERVICE,
Sunday Evening, December 6, 1885.
IN MEMORY OF
REV. CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D.
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church.
Auburn, N. Y.
1857— 1885.
*
Born August 19, 18 19.
Died November 26, 1885.
" He being dead yet speaketh." — Heb. 11:4,
SECOND PAGE.
Pastors and Churches Participating.
Rev. John Brainard, D. D., Rector St. Peter s Episcopal Chivch.
Rev. F. A. D. Launt, - Rector St. John's Episcopal Church.
Rev. Jos. K. Dixon, - Pastor First Baptist Church.
Rev. D. Moore, D. D., - Second Baptist Church.
Rev. G. P. Avery, - Pastor First Methodist Church.
Rev. Thomas Sharpe, - Pastor Wall St. Methodist Church.
Rev. W. H. ALLBRIGHT, - Pastor Second Presbyterian Church.
Rev. C. C. Hemenway, - Pastor Central Presbyterian Church.
Rev. F. H. Hinman, - - Pastor Calvary Presbyterian Church.
Rev. A. S. Hughey, Pastor Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Rev. J. J. Brayton, - Pastor Universahst Church.
Rev. A. S. Hale, - Pastor Disciples Church.
Rev. Geo. Feld, - - Pastor St. Lucas1 German Church.
Rev. G. C. Carter, - - - - Pastor A. Z. M. £ Church.
Rev. Wm. Searls, D. D., - - - - Chaplain Prison.
Prof. E. A, Huntington, D. D., - Theological Seminary.
- 85 -
THIRD PAGE.
SERVICES.
Organ Prelude.
" Abide with me."
Scripture. — Psalm 90 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 1-10.
Memorial Hymn, - - - Flagler.
PRAYER.
Sentence, " Blessed are the dead."
ADDRESSES.
" It is not death to die." 1203.
ADDRESSES.
" Let saints below in concert sing." 852.
ADDRESSES.
" My Jesus as thou wilt." 992.
BENEDICTION.
FOURTH PAGE.
" They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they
that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." — Dan. 12 : 3.
+
" I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith :"
— 2 Tim. 4 : 6.
*
" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea saith the
Spirit that they may rest from their labors ; and their works do follow them. —
Rev. 14: 13.
REV. JOHN BRAINARD, D. D., Presiding,
For twenty-two years associated with Dr. Hawley in friendship and the work of
the Gospel ministry in this city.
The service as actually held differed from that announced in
the program, mainly in the fact that Drs. Moore and Searls
were not able personally to be present. The following account
of it, is, with a few abbreviations and other changes, that pre-
pared by the reporters of the Advertiser and published in the
issue of that paper of December 7. That report says of the
congregation :
" It was composed of the representatives of all creeds hav-
ing a foothold in the city, and was in every sense a representa-
- 86 -
tive audience. It was an occasion unprecedented, perhaps, in
the church history of Auburn. Much feeling was manifested
and the spoken tributes to the departed from the city's pastors
were in the tenderest strain. Long before the bell had ceased
to toll the spacious auditorium was densely packed with a
sympathizing people.
The pastor's large chair was heavily draped, and also the
pulpit. Two bunches of calla lilies, tied witli white ribbon,
on the back of the chair and in front of the pulpit, contracted
with the deep mourning with which they were surrounded."
The platform was occupied by the clergymen who partici-
pated in the services. The scripture lesson was read by Pro-
fessor Welch of the Theological Seminary, and the prayer
offered by Professor Beecher.
DR. BRAINARD
was the first speaker, and he said it was because of his long
association (extending over a period of twenty-two years) with
Dr. Hawley, that he had been chosen to preside at this meet-
ing. He would rather have occupied a humbler position in
this house of God to night, and mingle his tears with those
that suffer a great loss. We are here to-night, said Dr. Brain-
ard, to testify of our great love and admiration for him who
so long occupied this pulpit and filled this place so well. We
are here to ascribe glory to God for the gift of such a brother,
for the blessed gift of grace which so equipped him for his
noble work, and for the ability with which during all these cir-
cling years, he filled joyously the place in this community as pas-
tor, teacher, guide, and public-minded citizen. We are assem-
bled to testify to our loss, and to our sympathy for the afflicted
family. How thoroughly did Dr. Hawley, as a Christian minis-
ter and as a citizen, fulfil the duties of his calling ! He was not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and held it up as the only
cure for the sins of the world. It is not our purpose to pre-
sent any lengthened sketch of his character. More time and
preparation than we now have at our disposal would be
required. We are here as a band of pastors to give God the
glory of his life. I think of him to day as full of rest and
peace in the paradise of God, with those with whom he has
held sweet communion and seen them pass to their reward.
- 87 -
I think of him as one who has washed his robes in the blood
of the Lamb. We should not have this earnest man pass from
oar midst and we not be better, (rod help us to live honest
Christian lives and to go home as calmly and triumphantly as
did our dear brother.
DR. SEARLS.
Dr. Brainard then read a letter from Dr. Win. Searls,
regretting his inability to be present on account of ill health.
He said in his letter : " None could hold Dr. Hawley in higher
esteem than myself, and it would afford me a mournfnl pleas-
ure to be with you, and take some part in the service. I have
known Dr. Hawley intimately for the past twenty years, and a
nobler and truer friend I never found. His catholic spirit
manifested itself everywhere, and at all times. His charitv
was as broad as the gospel he so long and faithfully jDreached,
and his sympathy knew no bounds."
REV. J. J. BRAYTON
was next introduced, and after saying that he was standing on
holy ground, said that he was a better man for having known
Dr. Hawley. He said that when he came here a stranger, he
found a brother and friend in Dr. Hawley, and he had often
thought that if he were sick and dying he would like to have
Dr. Hawley come and pray over him, for since his mother died
he had never listened to a prayer that impressed him as did
that of Dr. Hawley. This man wore no disguises. To know
him briefly was to know him thoroughly. In his address was
courtesy without studied style. Men are like coins, however
garnished on the exterior, they have no value except in the
quality of the material. His joy and sorrow, his sympathy
and love, and his religion were all genuine. In his presence,
passion ceased to rage. Because of the genuineness of his
character his influence increased with the radius of the years.
Mr. Brayton said : Show me a man who is a true friend and I
will guarantee him in all other things. It is as a true friend
that we must mourn his loss. Such men are rare. He belongs
to the common family of those on earth and those in heaven.
REV. A. S. HALE
next spoke and said that his acquaintance with Dr. Hawley was
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slight, but in all he had seen and read and heard of Dr. Haw-
ley, his Christian manhood had most impressed him. This was
the highest possible praise. Those are the truest who live clo-
sest to the Master. " What I do thou knowest not now but
shalt know hereafter," Jesus said. It applies to occasions like
this. Winter goeth before spring, seed time before the harvest,
and from the dead seed come the ripened fruits Jesus himself
was made perfect by suffering. For us there is no crown with-
out a cross.
REV. G. P. AVERY
then spoke. He said that it frequently happens that the gospel
minister is called into the home of those who have been visited
by death, where he may be an absolute stranger. There seems
but one thing for the friends to do ; they can speak of the vir-
tues of him whom they mourn ; from this the minister comes
to understand in some degree their loss. It has seemed very
inappropriate that I, who had never looked into the face of Dr.
Hawley, should lake part in these services. I never saw him;
and yet as I listen to the speeches and words of love and sym-
pathy from the lips of those who knew him, I feel that I, too,
have some idea of the large place he occupied here, and the
extent of your loss. There is no better proof of his character
than that Christians of all denominations should come together
to pay respect to his memory. I know of no better evidence
of a man's usefulness than when he dies and the multitude
mourns his loss.
At the close of Mr. Avery's remarks, the choir and congre-
gation joined in singing the 1203d hymn, " It is not death to
die," and then
REV. F. H. HINMAN
was introduced, who said that he must speak from the stand-
point of first impressions, and perhaps the tribute will be the
greater, though not the tribute of the lips. The characteristic
which drew him closest to Dr. Hawley was the simplicity of
his greatness. It is no small thing to take out of the dull out-
line of past history, the early Jesuit missions of this state, and
so arrange it as to be quoted as authority at the Vatican. But
it is greater honor to be the honored and successful pastor of
- .89 -
such a church as this through the long range of twenty-eight
years. Yet in the midst of all this greatness was his simplicity,
which is the crowning jewel of all greatness If asked
to-night to mass in one word the expression of his heart, Mr.
Hin man said it would be loneliness, because he whom his
heart had learned to love has gone to the world above us. The
last sentence of the sermon which Dr. Hawley preached at the
ordination of the speaker was in these words : " The Spirit is
lovino-ly saying. Come ; * * * may they both but be the
growth of that comforting word, ' Come unto me all ye that
labor and I will give you rest.' " The Spirit has called him
and said, "Come unto me."
REV. G. C. CARTER
next spoke ■ " He being dead yet speaketh !" says the bible,
and true it is, for Dr. Hawley speaks to-night. He is speaking
through the pastors and this large congregation. Mr Carter
had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Hawley once. When his
appointment to Auburn was announced, his predecessor said to
him " You will find a firm friend in Dr. Hawley. That
meant no small thing to the speaker, for he was in a different
situation from the other pastors who have spoken. He was
placed in a position to feel great love for this great man Dr.
Hawley had °-iVen him the hand of love, and he felt that he
was in the presence of a friend. It is the prominent men in a
community that mould the others. Mr. Carter felt as if he
and his people had met with a severe loss in his death, but we
shall be benefited by his life, for he has moulded your minds.
You ask how I know it ? I see it in your faces.
REV. C. A. SMITH.
Mr Carter read a letter from the former pastor of Zion
church Rev C. A. Smith, in which he stated he would like to
be preint at the memorial services, for he esteemed Dr. Haw-
ley very highly and always found in him a true friend and a
friend of the colored race. Dr. Hawley resembled God in
doino- o-ood to his fellow creatures. The good he has done will
not bVknown in time ; it will take eternity to reveal it
- 90 -
REV. A. S. HUGHEY
said it was very fitting that the youngest church in the city
should be represented, as it was very dear to Dr. Hawley, who
was chairman of the first meeting called to consider the sub-
ject of starting a mission in west end. He was also chairman
of the last meeting of pastors and elders of this city to organ-
ize another Presbyterian church. He was chairman at all the
intervening meetings and he was always interested in the enter-
prise. The speaker had gone to Dr. Hawley for advice and
obtained it. Westminster church feels her loss ; the elders on
whose heads he laid hands feel the loss. It is Dr. Hawley
ripened to maturity that I remember. I am glad to haveknown
him. Westminster joins in your sorrow.
REV. J. K. DIXON
said that the next saddest words to " a dead mother," are " a
dead pastor." I have a tribute I would like to lay upon the
altar of this memorial service. There were many sides to the
noble character of this grand man. but I shall speak of but few
of them. Of his catholicity of spirit, you need no greater dem-
onstration than is seen in this meeting to-night of the pastors
of the churches of this city. Dr. Hawley did not set the psalm
of his life to the key of self. Our friend was large in sympa-
thy and tender in his dealings with men because the gospel of
Christ was in him. Next I wish to speak of his spirit of
prayer. He was a profound believer in its efficacy, and at the
great rink meetings he prayed as though the breath of Heaven
was streaming through his white hair. The last sermon I
heard him deliver was from the text, " What shall I do to be
saved? * * * Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved," preached as only one can preach who is Hear-
ing last things. If he were here tonight he would repeat it.
The mourning of our hearts bids you heed his voice, and the
pure whiteness of these lilies on this vacant chair bids you
heed it. His life was a sunny one. Of his boyhood days he
once said : " I have only sunny memories." Coleridge and
Ruskin tell us that the leaders of the race were men who kept
their hearts young. This man's hair was white, but summer
was in his soul ; winter crept upon his brow, but only spring
- 91 -
was in his heart, and he went out with whiteness of snow into
eternal summer and eternal song of the glory which he had in
his soul.
REV. C. C. HEMENWAY
had been associated with Dr. Hawley during a quarter of his
ministry to this people, and no words could express the kind-
ness of Dr. Hawley to the speaker. He had been a blessing to
him in his ministry. He loved him, though how much he
never knew until he was gone. Dr. Hawley was not only pos-
sessed of a rare grace of character in his association with men,
but he was staunch and true to that branch of the church
which he espoused. There are many who are all things to all
men, but nothing to anybody ; not so with Dr. Hawley. He
was liberal to all yet true to his own, catholic in the true
sense of the Apostle's creed and faithful to the church in which
he was born and lived, and he freely contributed his strength
to its service. He retained his loyalty. He was one of a
thousand whose catholicity of thought took nothing from his
loyalty to the Presbyterian church. The other day some one
asked a gentleman : " Did Dr. Hawley die a Catholic 7" He
answered : " Yes." Then continuing : " Not a Roman Cath-
olic, but a ' holy catholic' ': God give us more men in the
pulpit whoi3an be broad without being weak.
The congregation and choir then joined in singing the 852d
hymn — " Let saints below in concert sing," when
REV. GEORGE FELD
was introduced. He said that if he could speak in his native
tongue he could express himself more appropriately. The
first time [ saw him I loved him. He won my heart. by his
kindness when I was a stranger here. He spoke to me of the
difficulties I would encounter. He sympathized with our
church and spoke to his people about us. Not long after a
gift of $100 was received from the Sunday school of the First
Presbyterian church. When our church was dedicated, Dr.
Hawley said that he hoped all Germans who had never gone
to church would do so then. To me Dr. Hawley has always
been the same kind friend as on the day I first met him. It
seemed when I heard of his death that I had lost a kind rela-
- 92 -
tive. Tears of sorrow filled my eyes as I stood by his coffin.
Dr. Hawley had learned the apostolic commandment, Love the
brethren and love the brotherhood. May we never forget that
he set us this example. His heart went out to all of the
Christian churches. Men of other faith love him. " Blessed
are the peacemakers for they see God." May this be our lot,
and may we one and all be gathered with our dear brother in
the kingdom of God.
REV. DR. E. A. HUNTINGTON"
spoke of the relations of Dr. Hawley to the seminary. He
reviewed briefly the exciting times of 1872, when the effort
was made to remove the seminary to Aurora, and how Dr.
Hawley with untiring energy labored to secure the necessary
funds to retain it in Auburn. * * Dr. Hawley
presided at the frequent meetings of our citizens, and proved
just the man for the place. Through the sixty days of anxi-
ety he was calm and hopeful. Without the aid of Dr. Hawley
I know not how the desired end could have been reached.
God bless his life and ministry to the seminary, church and city.
REV. THOMAS SHARPE
said that the fact that Dr. Hawley is dead is too keenly felt to
need utterance. Reviewing the expression, we are compelled
to say he is not dead but lives in greater royalty. He being
dead yet speaketh. Dr. Hawley possessed a high order of
social and intellectual qualities, lie was a man of great beauty
and symmetry of character. He was a man of great force of
character. He always exhibited a christian bearing. The
grave cannot and will not entomb him. Dr. Hawley's influ-
ence is and was not confined to his own church and denomina-
tion. His heart was too large to be contracted by denomina-
tional views; his influence was not confined to Auburn. The
leading associations connected with his life in this city would
form the most fitting monument. Dr. Hawley's influence for
the betterment of humanity cannot be estimated. You cannot
confine the influence of such a man to one church, town or
state. It overbreaks all bounds. He has bequeathed a pre-
cious legacy to us — a pure, devoted Christian life.
- 93 -
REV. W. H. ALLBRIGHT
was the last speaker. My tribute to Dr. Hawley, he said, is
last because it has reference to the last days of his life. There
was a marked preparation for this final end, unconscious to
himself but noticeable to his family. Frequent allusions to
death and heaven were on his lips. The church was not with-
out its mementoes in this regard. People spoke of his growing
mellowness, and one Sunday not long ago some one said : " Dr.
Hawley brought down heaven in his prayer." Was there no
significance in the text of his last sermon? If he could have
chosen his own time of departure it could not have been at a
more suitable time. He died at the post of duty. His end
was peace — a fitting close for such a man and such a life. At
no time in the last ten years could he have been better spared
than now. He left this church a united people. During the
past years the other churches have needed him to teach catho-
licity and humility. The community needed his benevolence.
He has fought the good fight, he has finished his course, he
kept the faith, and he was called : Servant of God, well done,
rest from thy labor.
The 992nd hymn was sung, and Rev, F. A. D. Launt pro-
nounced the benediction.
V.
On Thanksgiving day, Nov. 26, 1885, the congregations of
the First Presbyterian church and of the Calvary church held
united services in the edifice of the First church, conducted by
the pastor of Calvary church. This was a few hours before
the death of Dr. Hawley, which took place the evening of that
day. As a part of the services, the choir and congregation
sang the following hymn, written for the occasion by the Kev.
Lansing Porter, a member of the congregation :
PRAYER FOR OUR PASTOR.
O, God ! on this Thanksgiving day,
While in thy courts we meet to praise,
Deem not these mournful notes we sing,
Discordant with our grateful lays.
- 94 -
While countless blessings crown our lives,
While all hearts glow with happiness,
We pause in praise to lift the prayer —
" O, God ! our stricken Pastor bless !"
Spare our dear Shepherd, Lord, we cry ;
This is our plea before thy throne.
Yet give submissive grace to add —
" Father ! thy will, not ours be done ?"
And when his work is finished here,
The true faith kept, the good fight fought,
Bestow on him the promised crown,
When safely over Jordan brought !
Bestud that crown with shining stars,
Seals of his faithful ministry ;
And grant that he and we may share
Thanksgiving day eternally !
A few days later, Mr. Porter wrote and published a compan*
ion hymn.
OUR PASTORS BURIAL,
Oppressed with overwhelming grief,
With solemn step and bended head,
We bring to these enshrouded courts.
O, God ! our well-beloved dead.
These crowded aisles, this mourning throng,
Tell of the universal grief ;
They further speak our christian faith
That God alone can give relief.
Where can we go but unto Thee !
Submissive to Thy high behest,
We leave our Zion in Thy care,
And bear our Pastor to his rest.
And here we end our mournful strains,
From bended knees exultant rise,
And make these vaulted arches ring,
With loud hosannas to the skies.
Why should we mourn departed dead —
Departed dead who die to live —
Who live to share forevermore
The bliss our risen Lord will give ?
We glory in our Pastor's life,
His life of faith and toil and love ;
We glory in our Pastor's death,
Translated now to realms above.
Console the flock he leaves behind !
Our Shepherd gone, be Thou our guide,
Till we shall reach Thine upper fold,
Pastor and People glorified !
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION.
We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, residing within the
County of Cayuga and State of New York, and being also citizens of the State
of New York, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, do hereby associate
ourselves and form a corporation, pursuant to the provisions of the Statutes of
the State of New York, known as chapter 267 of the laws of 1875, as amended
by chapter 53 of the laws of 1876.
The name by which such corporation shall be known in law, is " The Cay-
uga County Historical Society."
Said corporation is formed for social, literary and historical purposes, and
the particular business and objects thereof, shall be the discussion of general
and local history, and the discovery, collection and preservation of the histori-
cal records of Cayuga County, aforesaid, comprising books, newspapers, pam-
phlets, maps and genealogies ; and also of paintings, relics and any articles or
materials which may or shall illustrate the growth or progress of society, relig-
ion, education, literature, art, science, agriculture, manufactures, commerce,
and the trades and professions within the United States, and especially within
the County of Cayuga and State of New York.
The principal office and place of business of said Societv, shall be in the city
of Auburn, Cayuga County, N. Y.
The said corporation shall be managed by seven trustees. The names of
said trustees for the first year of the existence of said corporation are, Benja-
min B. Snow, Blanchard Fosgate, James D. Button, Lewis E. Carpenter,
David M. Dunning, John H. Osborne, and J. Lewis Grant, all of Auburn,
N. Y.
It is hereby intended to incorporate an association heretofore existing under
the name of " The Cayuga County Historical Society," but heretofore unin-
corporated.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals the 23d day of
January, 1877.
CHARLES HAWLEY, [l. s.] BLANCHARD FOSGATE, [1.. s.]
WILLIAM. H. SEWARD, [l. s.] JOHN S. CLARK, [1.. s.]
JAMES D. BUTTON, [l. s.] A. W. LAWTON, [l. s.]
B. B. SNOW, [l. s.] W. D. BALDWIN, [l. s.]
F. L. GRISWOLD, [l. s.] D. M. OSBORNE, [l. s.]
J. H. OSBORNE, [l. s.] OTIS M. GODDARD, [l. s.]
W. A. BAKER, [l. s.] BYRON C. SMITH, [l. s.]
D. M. DUNNING, [l. s.] GEO. R. PECK, [l. s.]
L. E. CARPENTER, [l. s.] JOHN UNDERWOOD, [l. s.]
- 98 -
DENNIS R. ALWARD, [l. s.] CHAS. A. SMITH, [l. s ]
T. W. DUNNING, [l. s.] E. S. NEWTON, [l. s.]
H. T. KNAPP, [i.. s.] J. T. M. DAVIE, [l. s.]
A. G. BEARDSLEY, Jr., [l, s.] JAS. SEYMOUR, Jr., [l. s.]
S. L. BRADLEY, [l. s.] D. H, ARMSTRONG, [l. s.]
C. J. REED, [l s.] GORTON W. ALLEN, [l. s.]
SAMUEL W. DUFFIELD, [l. s.] W. H. CARPENTER, [l. s.j
NELSON B. ELDRED, [l. s.] F. P. TABER, [l. s.]
State of New York, )
Cayuga County. f
On this first day of February, 1S77, personally appeared before me, a Notary
Public, in and for said county : Charles Hawley, William H. Seward, James D.
Button, Blanchard Fosgate, Benjamin 1). Snow, John S. Clark, Franklin L.
Griswold, John H. Osborne, William A. Baker, David M. Dunning, Lewis E.
Carpenter, Dennis R. Alward, Joseph W. Dunning, Horace J. Knapp, Alonzo
G Beardsley, Jr., Silas L. Bradley, Charles J. Reed, Nelson B. Eldred, David
M. Osborne, Otis M. Goddard, Byron C. Smith, Charles A. Smith, John
Underwood, George R. Peck, John T. M. Davie, James Seymour, Jr, , David
H. Armstrong, Frank P. Taber, Ed. S. Newton and A. W. Lawton, to me per-
sonally known to be thirty of the persons described in, and who executed the
foregoing instrument, and severally acknowledged that they executed the same.
CHARLES M. BAKER,
Notary Public, Cayuga County.
Cayuga County, ss.
On the 2nd day of February, 1877, personally appeared before me, Samuel
W. Duffield, Gorton W. Allen and William H. Carpenter, tome known to be
three of the persons described in, and who executed the foregoing instrument,
and severally acknowledged the execution thereof.
CHARLES M. BAKER,
Notary Public.
The undersigned, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court for the Seventh
Judicial District of the State of New York, hereby consents to and approves of
the filing of the foregoing certificate.
Dated Auburn, N. Y., February 2, 1S77. CHARLES C. DWIGHT,
Jus. Sup. Ct., 7th Jud. Dist. S. N. Y.
BY-LAWS.
i. The name of the Society shall be, " The Cayuga County Historical
Society."
2. ' The object 'of the Society shall be to discover, procure and preserve
whatever relates to the natural, civil, military, industrial, literary and ecclesias-
tical history, and the history of science and art, of the State of New York in
general, and the County of Cayuga in particular.
3. The society shall consist of resident and honorary, and, corresponding
members. Resident members shall be nominated by a member in open meet-
ing, and the nominations referred to the membership committee, which shall
report thereon at the next regular meeting. A ballot shall then be taken in
which five negative votes shall exclude. Resident members only shall be enti-
tled to vote. Honorary and corresponding members shall be elected in the
same manner.
4. The annual dues shall be at the rate^of ten dollars each year, payable on
the first day of February in each year in advance. The sum of fifty dollars
paid at one time shall be in full for all annual dues during life. A failure or
refusal to pay annual dues within the three months after the same become due,
shall work a forfeiture of membership, and the Trustees shall erase the name of
such delinquent from the roll of members unless said dues shall be paid or
remitted'by a vote of the Society.
5. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice-President, Corre-
sponding'Secretary," Recording Secretary, Treasurer, I-ibrarian, and seven
Trustees, all of whom shall be elected by ballot from the resident members
only, and shall hold their offices for one year, and until others are chosen to
fill their places.
6. The annual'meeting of the Society shall be held on the second Tuesday
in February in each and every year hereafter, at which a general election of
officers shall^'take place. Imsuch election of officers a majority of the ballots
given for any officer shall constitute a choice ; if no choice is made on the first
ballot, another ballot shall take place, in which a plurality shall determine the
choice.
7. If a vacancy shall occur in any office the same may be filled by the
Board of Trustees.
8. The Society shall meet statedly for the transaction of business on the
second Tuesday of each month, at such hour of the day as may be decided
upon, unless otherwise specially ordered. The President, or in his absence,
the Vice-President, may call special meetings for special purposes, the nature
thereof being fully set "forth in^the call.
- 100 -
g. At the stated meetings of the Society, the following shall be the order of
business :
i. Reading the proceedings of the last meeting.
2. Reports and communications from officers.
3. Reports of the Board of Trustees, and of standing committees.
4. Reports of special committees.
5. Election of members previously proposed.
6. Nomination of new members.
7. Reading of papers, delivery of addresses, and discussion thereon.
8. Miscellaneous business.
10. Seven members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
11. The President, or in his absence the Vice-President, or in their absence
a Chairman pro tempore shall perform all the duties pertaining to that office.
12. The Corresponding Secretary shall have charge of all the correspond-
ence and perform all the duties pertaining to the same.
13. The Recording Secretary shall have charge of the seal, charter, by-
laws and books of record, and perform all the duties pertaining to his office.
14. The Treasurer shall collect and keep the funds and securities of the
Society, and they shall be deposited in a safe bank to the credit of the Society,
and only drawn therefrom on his cheek, for the purposes of the Society, and by
the approval of the Executive Committee. He shall keep a true account and
report the same to the Society and to the Finance Committee whenever either
of them shall require.
15. The Eibrarian shall have charge of the Library and be general custo-
dian of all the books, maps, pamphlets, pictures, and all other property con-
tributed to the Society. He may receive and arrange articles loaned to the
Society and sign a receipt for the same to be returned when called for by the
owners thereof.
16. Library regulations :
1. No book or other article shall at any time be lent to any person to be
removed from the library, except by express consent of the Board of
Trustees.
2. No paper or manuscript read before the Society and deposited there-
with, shall be published except by the consent of the Trustees and
the author.
3. All members may have access to the rooms at any reasonable times,
and may consult and examine any book or manuscript except such as
may be designated by the Trustees. But no person not a member
shall have such privilege except a donor, or one introduced by a
member, or by special authority of the Executive Committee.
4. Any injury done to books or other articles shall be reported by the
Librarian to the Executive Committee, and the damage shall be
required for such injury.
17. The Board of Trustees shall have charge and control of the business
and property of the Society.
- 101 -
The Vice-President shall be ex-officio Chairman, and the Recording Secretary
shall be Secretary of the Board. They shall have charge and general super-
vision and management of the rooms and all the property and funds of the
Society. They shall meet monthly at the rooms, the evening before the regular
meeting, and four members shall be a quorum to do business.
The Chairman shall appoint from their number :
ist, An Executive Committee.
2d, A Finance Committee.
3d, A Membership Committee, consisting of three members each.
4th, A Committee on Rooms.
18. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to solicit donations and
contributions, to propose and digest business for the Society ; to authorize dis-
bursements and expenditures of unappropriated money in the Treasury for the
payment of current expenses of the Society, and for Library, purchase of books,
printing and binding ; but no expenditure or liability shall be made at any time,
exceeding the amount of cash in the Treasury, and the available assets of the
Society.
The committee shall have a general superintendence of the interests of the
Stociety under the control and direction of the Board of Trustees, and report to
them as often as may be required.
19. The Finance Committee shall examine the books and accounts of the
Treasurer, and audit all bills and accounts against the Society, and be able to
report at all times the condition of the Society as to funds, etc.
20. The Committee on Membership shall report on all nominations for mem-
bership before an election shall be had.
21. The Committee on Rooms shall have the immediate care of the rooms
and furniture of the Society and shall determine applications for the temporary
use thereof for other than Society purposes.
22. The President shall appoint a committee of five members of the Society,
to which shall be referred all papers and addresses presented to the Society, and
said Committee shall examine the same, and give notice of the time of the
reading of any paper before the Society, Tt shall also be their duty to solicit
and provide some paper on a subject in the second by-law designated, to be read
at each meeting ; and shall give public notice of the same.
23. Amendments or alterations of the By-Laws may be made by a majority
vote at any regular meeting, provided such amendment or alteration shall have
been prepared and entered upon the minutes at a meeting held at least four
weeks previous, with the name of the member proposing the same.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
HO NO RA R Y
Hon. Andrew D. White,
Ithaca, N. V.
Hon. Frederick W. Seward,
Washington.
Hon. Henry Farnham,
New Haven, Ct.
Hon. Roscoe Conkling,
Utica, N. V.
William P. Letchworth, Esq.,
Buffalo.
Henry Ivison,* Esq.,
New York City.
Joseph Thomas, LL. D.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Hon. Samuel R. Wells,
Waterloo, N. Y.
Sevellon A. Brown, Esq.,
Washington.
Wm. H. Lewis, Esq.,
Katonah, N. Y.
REST D ENT.
Rev! Charles Hawley,*
Gen. William' H. Seward,
Rev. Samuel W. Duffieid,!
Benjamin B. Snow,
Rev. William Searls,
J. Lewis, Grant,*
Dennis R. Alward,
David M. Dunning,
Dr. James D. Button,
Tohn II. Osborne,
Dr. Bi.anchard Fosgate,
Lewis E. Carpenter,
Dr. David H. Armstrong,*
James Seymour, Jr.,
William G. Wise,*
Dr. Sylvester Willard,*
Silas L. Bradley,*
Frank' P. Taber,
Edward S. Newton,
William H. Carpenter,*
Delemar E. Clapp,
Albert W. Lawton,
Bradley A. Tuttle,
Orlando Lewis,
Rufus Sargent,*
William H. Meaker,
Henry A. Morgan,
N. Lansing Zabriskie,
David M. Osborne,*
Otis M. Goddard,|
Franklin L. Griswold,*
Byron C. Smith,
William A. Baker,!
Charles A. Smith,
W. Delevan Baldwin, f
Gorton W. Allen,
* Deceased.
tRemoved from city.
- 103 -
WADSWORTH HOLLISTER,
Edwin R. Fay,
Alonzo G. Beardsley, Jr.,
Charles J. Reed,|
David Wadsworth,
•Charles M. Baker,
Horace J. Knapp,
George R. Peck,
Gen. John N. Knapp,
E. Delevan Woodruff,
Nelson B. Eldred,
Charles Standart,
Charles E. Thorne,
Joseph W. Dunning,
Terrpnce J. Kennedy,*
Lewis E. Lyon,
Josiah Letchworth,|
E. H. Underbill,!
Horace V. Howland,
Ebenezer B. Jones,
Clinton D. MacDougall,
Frederick I. Allen,
Edward H. Townsend,
James. R. Cox,
George W. Elliott,
Willard E. Case,
Charles H. Carpenter,
Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr.,
Rev. Charles C. Hemenway,
Arthur A. Boyd,
Rev. Prof. Willis J. Beecher.
Rev. Prof. Ransom B. Welch,
Rev. W. Hervey Ai.lbright,
William F. Wait,
Darius W. Adams,
Arthur E. Slocum,
Mrs. Hannah L. Howland,
Henry D. Woodruff,
Dr. Amanda Sanford Hickey,
Mrs. T. M. Pomeroy,
Mrs. William H. Seward,
Henry D. Titus,
James Lyon,
Richard H. Bloom,
Joseph N. Steel,
George R. Cutting,
George W. Richardson,
Rev. Joseph K. Dixon,
Mrs. B. B. Snow,
Henry T. Keeler,
Mrs. Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr.,
John W. O'Brien,
Frank W. Richardson,
Leroy W. Stevens,
John D. Teller,
James G. Knapp,
Mrs. D. M. Osborne,
Mrs. James G. Knapp,
Warren A. Worden,
Thomas M. Osborne,
George B. Longstreet,
Thomas Choate,
Miss M. A. West,
Miss J. C. Ferris,
Miss J. R. Selover,
Miss Anna Conover,
Eber O. Wheeler,
Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald,
Dr. Theodore Dimon,
Mrs. Elizabeth C. Bolter,
H. Laurens Storke,
John T. Hemenway,
Amasa J. Parker,
Rev. Jay J. Brayton,
Rev. Prof. James S. Riggs,
Benjamin M. Wilcox,
* Deceased.
t Removed from city.
2.
^ 9 a ?
3 $-3
CAYUGA COUNTY
Historical Society
COLLECTIONS
Number Four.
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11