iiiiii
IliliN
- .1 ' "■ ■" 1 r. . ■ . J ' ■ '1- 3
■^iiJ_>Ai_i-.i-_i ^-UB iMMm- Mrm I ■ * '■■ -T
J'f I,! ' Si l'
■.'li'l ,1
m
CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
FROM
_ Cornell University Llbrarv
F 129W29 W29
"'®'''ilIXi.iRJ!.,.te,.,9^"**""3' celebration W
olin
3 1924 028 826 639
Cornell University
Library
The original of this bool< is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028826639
ELIZUR WEBSTER
HISTORY OF THE
CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION
Warsaw, Wyoming County
New York
June 28 - July 2. 1903
1 803 - 1903
LAURA BRISTOL ROBINSON
Editor
Published by authority of the^Warsaw Centennial
Association by The Western New-Yorker
Warsaw,. New Yorli
CONTENTS
Intkodtjction
PART ONE
Historical Discouesbs
Presbyterian Church, Rev. L. M. Sweet
Methodist Church, John B. Small wood
Congregational Church, Rev. H. E. Gurney
Baptist Church, Rev. A. S. Cole
Episcopal Church, Rev. H. S. Gatley
Evangelical Association, Rev. I. K. Devitt
Roman Catholic Church, Sketch by the Editor
PART TWO
Address ov "Welcome, Hon. E. E. Farman, LL. D.
Address, Hon. William Henry Merrill
Address, Merrill Edwards Gates, LL. D., L. H. D.
Address, Harwood A. Dudley
Centennial Hymn, Mrs. Merrill E. Gates
Resolutions
PART THREE
Symposium
Rev. George D. Miller, D. D., Miss Elizabeth
Young, Mr. William E. "Webster, Miss Elizabeth
Bishop, Mr. Palmer C. Fargo, Miss Emma R.
Mmiger, Mr. Lewis E. Walker, Mrs. Belle Bristol
Kurtz, Miss Blanche L. Thayer, Commander Zera
L. Tanner, Miss Mabel E. Smallwood, Prof. Horace
Briggs, Mr. J. Edwin Dann, Harrison Darling
Jenks, M. D., Mrs. Eliza Gates Milne, Mrs. Ella
Hawley Crossett, Prof. Irving B. Smith.
Sketch of Hon. Augustus Frank
Sketch of Hon. Wolcott J. Humphrey
Sketch of Hon. Lester Hay den Humphrey
PART FOUR
IsTTEonucTOET Addeess, Col. A. B. Lawrence
Letters, Hon. William P. Letchworth
Address, Hon. William Bristol
Dedicatoey Address, Gen. E. S. Otis, U. S. A.
Addeess, Commander Zera L. Tanner, U. S. N.
Address, Gen. John S. Koster, G. A. R.
Remaeks, Frank Coffee, Jr.
Poem, Mrs. Bessie Chandler Parker
Addeess, Gen. S. F. McAiiliff
Remaeks, Col. Charles A. Orr
High School Banquet
Poem, Miss Mary E. Dann
PART FIVE
Address, Governor B. B. Odell, Jr.
After Dinner Talks
Governor Odell, Justice Albert Haight, Hon.
James W. Wadsworth, Hon. James H. Loomis
Parade Program
INTRODUCTION
The idea of celebrating in some appropriate man-
ner the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement
of Warsaw originated with Major Harwood A. Dud-
ley, and to him, primarily, belongs the credit of
our beautiful "Centennial". At his call and under
his direction and inspiration, public meetings were
held during June and July of 1902 which resulted
in the organization of the Warsaw Centennial As-
sociation, with Hon. Elbert E. Farman, LL. D. as
president; Mrs. Laura Bristol Robinson, secretary
and Wolcott J. Humphrey, treasurer. Subsequently
a number of vice-presidents and committees were
chosen.
Meetings of the Association were held at frequent
intervals for many months and reports received from
the various committees which were, meanwhile, doing
a large amount of work in preparation for the great
event looked forward to with so much interest and
pleasure.
It was decided that the centennial celebration
should begin on Sunday, June 28, 1903, with his-
torical sermons in the local churches, and end with
a grand parade on Thursday afternoon, July 2nd,
10 HISTOllY OF THE
and every interest in the town gradually became
centered on these dates.
The finance committee did its work so energetic-
ally and met with such cheerful and generous
response to appeals for money that the sum of
$2,720 was soon at its disposal. This was appor-
tioned according to an estimate made by the differ-
ent committees of their probable needs and expen-
ses in carrying out plans for the centennial obser-
vances. Everything was done on a broad and gen-
erous scale yet such good judgment was shown in
all expenditures that instead of a deficit, as might
have been expected, a balance remained in the treas-
ury after all bills had been paid.
At last, after much care and thought and hard
work, the programs were made out and all arrange-
ments for the celebration completed, including the
erection of a large tent on Mrs. Frank's lawn,
south-east corner of Main and East Court streets, in
which to hold the meetings.
When the sun had dispelled the mist and clouds
hovering over the sleeping Wyoming valley on Sun-
day morning, June 28, 1903, its rays fell upon a
scene of wondrous beauty. It was the beginning
of Warsaw's Centennial Celebration. Willing hands
of men and women, boys and girls, whose hearts
were filled with civic pride and a glad welcome
for the home-comers, had joined in this labor of
love, and the whole town was decked in gayest
color. The thousands of visitors who came to
WAdasAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 11
''arsaw during centennial week, marvelled at the
sauty and splendor of its decorations.
The reception in the Town Hall on Monday
ening was one of the happiest thoughts of the
itire program, the hostesses being representatives
many of the oldest famihes in town. At least
ght hundred people were in attendance and there
as a cordiality and heartiness of greeting, a kind-
less of spirit, a sincerity of manner which one
3ver finds at any merely formal affair. It was a
eeting of old friends after long separation, a
ivival of names familiar in the old days; all were
)oys" and "girls" again, forgetting for an hour
le changes which time had wrought. All plans
id arrangements for this social event, as well as
ir the Governor's banquet, were in charge of the
ispitality committee, and under direction of the
)mmittee on decorations the hall had been trans-
•rmed into a place of beauty worthy of the occa-
on.
The whole celebration was a most successful and
ippy affair in every detail, a fine exemplification
■ what can be accomplished by systematic, well-
irected, harmonious effort. "Warsaw was ready
ith a warm greeting for her returning sons and
lughters, her grandsons and grand-daughters, worthy
ascendants of worthy ancestors who founded this
>wn in the early years of the nineteenth century;
icestors who stamped upon the town those charac-
jristics which make men and women proud of
12 IiistoHy ot- Tiiw
their birth-place. The week was rich in the gloriow
of noble ancestry, heroic history and happy roniinis-
censes. It revealed Warnaw's title to honor and
her strength to mahitain the nobility oi lior heri-
tage. There were many tender moniorios of days
that are past and friends that aro gone, wliicli
brought now and then a tinge of sadness into the
festivities; but all in all Warsaw's "ConUiunial
week" was a happy and glorious one, to be hallow-
ed forever in the hearts of her people.
Officers and Committees
President, Hon. Elbert E. rarmaii, LL. D. ; St^crtv
tary, Mrs. Laura Bristol Robinson; Treasiiror, Wolcott J.
Humphrey.
Vice-Presidents— Hon. William Bristol, Hon. Myron I).
Bartlett, Hon. George M. Palmer, M. I)., Hon. Hyroii
Healy, Simeon D. Lewis, Hon. 1. Sam .lohnson, lion.
James E. Norton, I'rof. Irving U. Smith, Nathan 8.
Beardslee, Eben O. McNalr, John B. Suiallwood, Frank
W. Brown, Dr. Zera J. Lusk, Dr. Wllllnni C. Goulnlock,
Palmer C. Fargo, (Jeorge C. Otis, 0. Tallnyraiul Hartlett,
Noble Morris, Col. Abram B. Lawrenuo, Kdward M. Jen-
nings, Lewis E. Walkor, Romalne Warner, Albort Lyon, H,
Mills Fisher, William D. Martin, James A. Main, Silas 1''.
Mann, William J. Ballintlne, Daniel E. Kcionoy, Samuel U.
Humphrey, Asa A. Luther, Sylvanus E. Brady, William W.
Smallwood, John Brown, Samuel 1). I'lirdy, MarHhall A.
Richards, Niles Keeney, James E. HIhMop, William W.
Prentice, Dr. Romanzo ]'erl<ins, Duane Chaso, (Miarles T.
Watkins, James R. Smith, John W. Montgoniery, .Joseph
Cheney, Martin Stortz, Alfred Wadswortli, I'alrnor Kimball,
John ICohler, W. W. Fluker, Henry Ryan, Ii'rod II. Pierce,
Edwin C. Stearns, Rollin R. Buck, Charles L. Steward,
Ami H. Carpenter, .lohn Truesdell, Benjamin I'\ Fargo,
Samuel J. Munger, Allen D. Fargo, Frank C. Oonld,
Aurora 8. Perkins, Loman Whltlock, Ilezeklah I'Virgo,
WAESAW CENTENNIAl, CEI.EBKATION 13
Walter Hatch, Charles H. Gardner, Frank D. Hnrd, Henry
Handyside, William D. Miner, Eobert Bamett, Eliznr
Mar«hant, John B. Crossett, William E. Webster, Cornelius
H. Bradley, Harwood A. Dudley, J. C. Buxton.
ExEciTTVE Committee— H. A. Dudley, John Uuderhill,
Thomas S. Glover, S. B. Whitlock, John Hanigan, Nathan
S. Beardslee, James E. Slavight, William Watson, Dr. M.
J. Wilson, Alfred Wadsworth, Warren W. Hawley, William
P. Knmhold, Ed^vard H. Morris, Marshall W. Campbell,
William H. Cheney. E. B. Everingham, Frank Roberts,
James O. McClure, William C. Gouinlock, G«orge C. Otis,
John Brown.
Committee ox Ftsaxce— Onias S. Humphrey, Warren
W. Hawley, S. B. ^Vhitlock, W. J. Humphrey.
Committee on Intitatioks — Simeon D. Ijewis, Newton
S. Wells, James O. McClure, Henry R. Bristol, George W.
Lemon, Mrs. William Bristol, Mrs. George A. Lewis, Mrs.
William W. Smallwood, Miss Elizabeth Young,
CoMXiriTEE on Pi-BLiciTY— X S. WeUs, John Under-
bill, Mrs. L. B. Robinson, Col. J. O. McClure, H. L. Burr,
Levi A. Cass.
Committee on Hospitautt— Mrs. S. B. IMiitlock, Mrs.
WlUiam Bristol, Mrs. George C. Otis, Mrs. Joseph C. Bux-
ton, Mrs. E. E. Farman. Mrs. Augustus Frank, Mrs. Byron
Healy, Mrs. J. B. Crossett. Mrs. C. T. Bartlett, Mrs.
James E. Bishop, Mrs. Charles G. Purdy, Mrs. W. D.
Martin, Mrs. L. E. Walker, Mrs. J. E. Slaught, Mrs. Mar-
garet Allendorph, Mrs. L. H. Humphrey, Mrs. D. M. Cauff-
man, Mrs. Kate Emery, Mrs. A. C. Manson, Mrs. X. S.
Beardslee, Mrs. Z. J. Lusk, Mrs. E. H. Morris, JMrs. W.
D. McKinley, Mrs. B. B. Conable, Mrs. F. E. Bliss, Mrs,
M. W. Campbell. Mrs. W. W. Smallwood, Mrs. D. M.
Mills, Mrs. Loman WMtlock, Mrs. I. Sam Johnson, Mrs.
W. J. Humphrey, Mrs. Albert P. Gage.
Committee on Speakers— Irving B. Smith, I. Sam
Johnson, Addison W. Fisher, M. L. Coleman, George W.
Botsford, John L. Woodworth, James E. Xorton, Rev. L.
M. Sweet, Rev. F. W. Berlin, Rev. J. J. Rogers, Rev, W.
D. McKinley, Rev. H. S. Gatley, Rev. H. E. Gumey.
Committee on Music— William E. Webster, Charles E.
14 HISTORY OF THE
Ketchum, J. W. Bolton, W. H. Eberle, E. E. Baker, W.
H. Conner, John W. Sparrow, Mrs. George Luce, George
M. Lawrence.
Committee on Pabade.— Edward T. Montgomery, W. J.
Ballintine, Elmer E. Charles, David M. CaufEman, Charles
G. Purdy, Patrick Higgins, Onias S. Humphrey, Charles
H. Fargo, J. Wesley Wiggins, Eobert D. Miller, Fred Her-
ington, Edward D. Burghart, Walter Gay, Eobert Brewer,
Fred Lester, Harold Hovey, George A. Martin, Henry B.
Bristol, Harry Vosburgh, Bert P. Gage, John B. Miner,
Mrs. W. E. Webster, Mrs. E. E. Bowe, Mrs. Onias S. Hum-
phrey, Mrs. Frank C. Gould, Mrs. J. C. Hofstetter, C. Will
Benson, L. L. Thayer.
Committee on Dbcoeations.— Joseph C. Buxton, Wm.
P. Eumbold, John W. Sparrow, H. de B. Justison, Robert
C. Mann, George M. Lawrence, Harvey Cornell, Dr. W. H.
Prentice, Mrs. Frank Montgomery, Miss Virginia Law-
rence, Miss Ida McClure, Mrs. Fred Eice, Mrs. Franli
Salisbury.
Committee on Teanspoetation. — Wm. Bristol, Elbert
E. Farman, George E. Jennings, H. J. Ward, Joseph C.
Buxton, W. C. Gouinlock.
G. A. E. Committee. — J. W. Hatch, I. Sam Johnson, J.
M. Smith, Homer 0. Holly, W. H. Cornell, Maj. H. A.
Dudley, Col. A. B. Lawrence.
Monument Executive Committee.— Hon. William P.
Letchworth, Maj. H. A. Dudley, John W. Hatch, Col. A.
B. Lawrence, Capt. Francis Murphy.
Govbenob's Eeception Committee.— Hon. Wm. Bris-
tol, Hon. M. E. Bartlett, Hon. I. Sam Johnson, Nathan S.
Beardslee, Judge James E. Norton, William E. Webster.
Eeception Hostesses.— Mrs. Samuel Fisher, Mrs. Eliza-
beth Garretsee, Mrs. J. E. Ketchum, Mrs. S. D. Purdy, Mrs.
Augustus Frank, Miss Lucy Bishop, Miss Etta Bishop, Mrs.
Wallace Sherwin, Mrs. Elizabeth Frank Nassau, Mrs.
Adelia Miller McKinley, Mrs. Mary Buxton Healy, Miss
Franc O. Benedict, Mrs. James A. Webster, Mrs. James O .
McClure, Mrs. Mettle Bingham Older, Miss Caroline Kiiapp,
Mrs. Harriet Knapp, Mrs. Eichard Taylor, Miss Ellen
Bassett, Mrs. Emma Hurlburt Thayer, Mrs. John W. Mont-
gomery, Miss Aphia A. Bartlett, Miss Linnie Bartlett,
WAKSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBBATION 15
Mrs. James E. Bishop, Mrs. James Wilkin, Mrs. Laura
Hovey Mapes, Mrs. Julia Gates Humphrey, Mrs. Margaret
McCagg AUendorph, Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, Mrs. Wm.
Bristol, Mrs. Milton Brown, Mrs. Harwood A. Dudley,
Mrs. B. F. Fargo, Miss Helen Fargo, Miss Lona VanLiew,
Mrs. Kitty Hayward Bartlett, Miss Eunice Conable, Mrs.
Helen Peck, Mrs. Louise Thayer Cauffman, Miss Adelia
Walker, Miss Elizabeth Young, Mrs. Lucy Young Purdy,
Miss Martha Young, Miss Mary Young, Mrs. Mary Darling
Jenks, Miss Laura Jenks, Mrs. George C. Otis, Mrs. Joseph
C. Buxton, Mrs. Louise Lamberson Sturdevant, Mrs. Mary
Cole Johnson, MissEmily Peck, Miss Flora Peck, Mrs.
Mary Frank MillerTTCs^ Alta Thorpe lrincent~M!fs." Wol"
cott J. Humphrey, Miss Eliza Foster, Miss Mary Foster,
Miss Hettie Foster, Mrs. Homer O. Holly, Mrs. D. M. Mills,
Mrs. Walter Fargo, Mrs. Eliza Gates Milne, Mrs. Frances
Judd Babbitt, Mrs. Eva Knapp Manson, Mrs. W. D. Martin,
Miss Emaret Martin, Miss Helen Carpenter, Mrs. Abram
B. Lawrence, Miss Mary Silliman, Mrs. William E. Webster,
Mrs. Daniel E. Keeney, Mrs. Albert A. Andrews, Mrs.
Blanche Webster Gardner. Mrs. Mary Young Waterbury.
P R O G R AMS
SUNDAY, JUNE 28th
At 10:30 A. M., appropriate religious services
and historical sermons in the local churches.
Centennial Union Choral Service in the tent at
4 P. M., John W. Sparrow director, and the chorus
made up of choirs of the different churches, accom-
panied by the Warsaw Concert Band, John W.
Bolton, leader.
Opening Chorus Old Hundred
Prayer Bev. E. G. Gilbert
Chorus When Shall the Voice of Singing
Address— Childhood Rev., H. S. Gatley
Male Quartette Heaven is My Home
Messrs. Montgomery, Webster, Ketchum, Conner
Address— Youth Prof. I. B. Smith
Chorus Onward Christian Soldiers
Address — Manhood Rev. L. M, Sweet
Chorus Oh, Could I Speak the Matchless Worth
Address— Old Age Rev. H. E. Gurney
Chorus Nearer, My God, to Thee
Closing Chorus America
Benediction Rev. P. W. Berlin
WARSAW CENTENTSriAL CELEBRATION 17
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 30th
OLD HOME DAY -Exercises In Tent at 2 p. m.
Music, Warsaw Concert Band
Invocation, Eev. W. D. McKuiley
Address of Welcome, Judge E. E. Earman, President
Music— "Great God of Nations," from Tannhauser Wagner
Congregational Church Choir, directed by
Mrs. George Luce
Address, Hon. W. H. Merrill, of New York
Music, Warsaw Concert Band
Address, Dr. Merrill E. Gates, of Washington
Music— "God of Our Fathers, Known of Old,"
Congregational Church Choir
Address Major Harwood A. Dudley
Benediction Rev. Henry S. Gatley
Music Warsaw Concert Band
TUESDAY EVENING. JUNE 30th
AT 8 O'CLOCK
^ vivi i=cr)^i \-} rvi
Introductory address by Rev. George D. Miller, D. D., of
Kochester.
SHORT TALKS
Miss Elizabeth Young, Mr. W. E. Webster, Miss Eliza-
beth Bishop, Mr. Noble Morris, Mr. Palmer C. Pargo, Miss
Emma Munger, Mr. Lewis E. Walker, Hon. William Bristol,
Miss Blanche Thayer, Capt. Zera L. Tanner, Miss Mabel
Smallwood.
Address — Warsaw Academy Fifty Years Ago,
Prof. Horace Briggs, of Buffalo.
Solo, Mrs. Nellie Webster Knapp, of Boston
SHORT TALKS.
Mr. J. Edwin Dann, Dr. Harrison Jenks, Mrs. Eliza
Gates Milne, Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, Prof. Floyd J.
Bartlett, Prof. Irving B. Smith.
Solo, Mr, Albert T. Brown, ofi,Buflalo
18
WEDNESDAY. JULY 1st
MONUMENT DEDICATION DAY
Morning — Artillery, National Salute
11 to 12 A. M.— G. A. E. Dinner
1 P. M— G. A. R. Parade
2 P. M. — ^Assemble at Monument
Keveille
Music— Oyerture Warsaw Concert Band
President's Introduction
Invocation Rev. George D. Miller
Address Hon. William Bristol
Only surviving member of War Committee of this district
Presentation — Tributes to Veterans, 1861-1865
President Letchworth
Music Warsaw Concert Band
Oration General E. S. Otis, U. S. Army
Music, Presbyterian Church Quartet
Address, Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. Navy
Response, Department Commander Koster, G. A. R.
Music— "Rally 'Round The Flag Boys."
Address, Prank Coffee, Jr.
Poem, Mrs. Bessie Chandler Parker
Music— "Red, White and Blue."
Reading, Mrs. Ellen B. Day
Music — "We've Been Tenting Tonight."
Responses — Gen. John A. Reynolds, Gen. Crawford, Hon.
James W. Wadsworth, Hon. P. C. Stevens, Hon. H. J.
McNair, President J. C. Buxton.
Music — "America," Band and Assemblage
Benediction Rev. W. D. McKinley
"Taps."
THURSDAY. JULY 2d
GOVERNOR'S DAY
Morning — Sunrise Salute of 100 guns.
11 :30 A. M.— Address by Governor B. B. Odell, Jr.
12 :30 P. M.— Banquet in honor of Governor Odell
at Town Hall, Judge Parman pre-
siding.
Part One
HISTORICAL DISCOURSES
Sunday, June 28, 1903
B
o
u.
>-
Q
<
a:
NINETY-FIVE YEARS OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY
Historical Sermon. PresDyterlan Church. Warsaw.
N. Y., June 28. 1903
By the Pastor, Rev. Louis M. Sweet
Ti:XT: Psalnis 87: 5. And of Zion it shall be said:
This and tlmt man was horn in her; a)id the Highest hinv-
self shall estahKsh her.
There is a point where the road from Bethany winds
about the brow of the Mount of Oliyes that the traveller
gains suddenly and unexpectedly a full view of the Holy
City. In the days of its glory it rose fair and beautiful
sheer out of its deep-cut surroiuidiDg valleys, as if soar-
ing on wings of white and gold, to meet the New Jerusa-
lem that John saw in his vision.
And one can imagine the emotions with which a de-
vout Hebrew, coming perhaps from a distance and after
years of exile, would gaze upon the City that he so
fondly loved. With tear dimmed eyes and voice choking
with the stress of feeUug imfeigned, he might well say :
"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand
forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my
tougue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not
Jerusalem to my chief joy."
And then, mindful of history, with the vision of
Prophet and Law-giver, King and Poet crowding the heroic
jMist — ^he might naturally speak the words of the text : "And
of Zion it shall be said: This and that man was bom
in her, and the Highest himself shall establish her."
With feelings akin to those of the ancient Hebrew, my
people, we gaze this morning upon this Zion, beloved of
man and honored of God, from the height of nearly one
hundred years.
It sounds a very simple thing when you tell it in so
many words, that on the 14th day of July, 1808, a com-
pany of pioneers gathered jn the house of ope of them to
20 HISTOBY OF THE
form a Christian Church. It was a primitive group meet-
ing under primitive conditions.
The settlement had been made but five years ; the lit-
tle community of perhaps a hundred rather widely scat-
tered families was surrounded by a vast and almost un-
broken wilderness. The surroundings were bald and crude
and the conditions of life were hard. But the word
" pioneers " implies that there were others to come. These
men held the great future in their grasp.
It is never the part of wisdom to despise the acorn,
the small boy or the new community.
Besides, though the community was new, it struck its
roots deep into the past. In order to understand the
religious history of Warsaw, you must go back to Pil-
grim New England, Plymouth Bock and the Mayflower;
to Leyden and John Robinson; to the historic origin of
our branch of Protestantism in the reforming zeal, the
doctrinal clearness and creative statesmanship of John
Calvin and his associates. It was a strong ancestry
that went to the making of these new American coni-
munities. The germ that was planted here in the
wilderness had a wonderful history.
It was characteristic of the stock from which these
men came that at the earliest possible moment in the
growth of the settlement, the church and the school
house were established. Religion and education are the
pillars of the arch upon which the temple of American
Liberty stands. Right here the strength of our pioneer
stock was exhibited and the drama of American history
enacted. A number of years ago a distinguished Ameri-
can orator in the course of an address on the English-
speaking race said: "That it is the founder of Common-
wealths, let the miracle of Empire which it has wrought
upon this western continent attest. It has advanced
from the sea-board with the rifle and the axe, the plow
and the shuttle, the teapot and the Bible, a rocking chair
and a spelling book, a bath-tub and a free constitution,
sweeping across the Alleghanies, overspreading the
prairies and pushing on until the dash of the Atlantic
in its ears dies in ■ the murmur of the Paciflc ; and as,
wheneyer the goddess of the old mythology touched the
WAESAW CENTEISTNIAI, CEIEBEATION 21
earth, flowers and fruits answered her footfall, so in the
long trail of this advancing race it has left clusters of
happy states, teeming with a population, man by man,
more intelligent and prosperous than ever before the sun
shone upon, and each remoter camp of that triumphal
march is but a farther outpost of English-speaking civil-
ization. "
Of this creative colonizing type were the founders of
this community and this church.
Scant justice, however, would be done to the vigor
and devotion of the founders of the church, if we should
forget that they had other difficulties to face and over-
come than the crudities of nature and the severities of
climate.
From enthusiastic writers on the subject one might
draw the very erroneous impression that all colonists, who
entered these wilds, were religious pilgrims, and that
every new settlement was a little Bethel in the forests.
On the contrary many of the settlements were notori-
ously wicked and irreligious — and if the truth must be
told. Western New York was rather conspicuous in this
respect. "We have abundant contemporary testimony to
the existence of wide-spread irreligion and immorality in
this region. It was even a proverb that there was "no
religion west of the Genesee Eiver. "
There was a club of missionary atheists in the neigh-
borhood of Batavia, who with a zeal worthy of a much
nobler cause, filled the whole region with anti-christian
literature. A document of the time, describes this coun-
try as "among the most destitute in the United States."
All the greater honor, therefore, to the men and
women, who rose above their surroundings, and, resisting
the drift, anchored their little community to the Eock of
Ages.
Let us listen again to their names : Edward Good-
speed, Eliphalet Parker, Luther Parker, Ezra Walker,
Abraham Reed, Israel Branch, Polly Day, Prudence
Walker, Martha Parker, Rhoda Parker.
As might be expected from their New England an-
cestry, and from their circumstances, the form of gov-
en^ment was independent, but the first minister was
22 ttlSTORT OF THE
Presbyterian. Throughout this region the majority of
church members, early in the century, were New England
Independents, but the ministers were nearly all Presby-
terians.
Of the personality of the Bev. John Lindsley, who
met with our pioneer band on that eventful day in July,
we know almost nothing.
In 1800 the Presbyterian General Assembly meeting at
Philadelphia, appointed Jedediah Chapman and John
liindsley missionaries to the "Northwestern frontier."
Mr. Chapman was settled at Geneva, where he was to
spend one half of his time — the other half was to be
spent in itinerant missionary work. Lindsley was settled
at what is now the town of Covert in Seneca County, in
the same way. In the course of a missionary journey
eight years later, he performed the important service of
presiding at our first church meeting.
The church was formed upon two documents: A Con-
fession of Faith and a Covenant.
The first of these is a remarkably clear, comprehen-
sive and simple paper, of most tremendous and thorough-
going Calvinism.
The 9th, 10th and 11th articles read thus:
"That man in his fallen state is totally depraved and
performs no act acceptable to God before he is regene-
rated by the Holy Spirit.
"That holiness is disinterested love, so that all saints
love God for what he i& in himself and are benevolent
towards all his intelligent creatures.
"That all who truly love Christ will persevere in holi-
ness, being kept by the power of God through faith un-
to salvation."
The Covenant is a most beautiful utterance of con-
secrated devotion: "You do now in the presence of God,
Angels, and men avouch the great Jehovah, Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, to be your God. You receive the Lord
Jesus Christ as your all sufficient Savior and only Redeemer.
Renouncing every sinful way, you devote your all unre-
servedly to God and engage to obey all His . commands
and ordinances in His word."
I wonder whether you catch the significance of those
WAESAW CENTEiraiAL CELEBRATION 23
two documents ? Here was a handful of men and women,
surrounded by wild beasts and' wilder men, g^rt about by
the illimitable forests, yet consciously in the presence of
God, the angels and the assembled Universe, affirming con-
victions that reach out into the unseen, range the two
eternities past and to come and bind the humble group
to the very throne of the Infinite.
You may agree with their statements of truth, or you
may not, but it is a fact, that great men and great states
have been formed by just such ideas.
When we come back again to that pioneer group the
scene has lost its barreness, its crudeness and insignificance
— we are in the presence of something great, broad, im-
perial.
For the first five years the. infant church was minis-
tered to almost entirely by missionaries. The names of
John Lindsley, Oliver Ayer, John Spencer, Eoyal Phelps,
Mr. Alexander, Reuben Parmele, Allen HoUister appear at
intervals in the church records in connection with some
service rendered as they passed upon their journeys.
"We read such items as this: "On Monday, February
30, 1812, a lecture was preached on the West Hill by Kev.
Oliver Ayer, and Polly, Cyrus, Eebekah, Ora and Eliza,
children of Zerah and Janet Tanner were baptized." The
cycles of human experience, birth and death, baptism,
confession, marriage and burial fill these artless records
and at many points the life of the community was touched
and blessed by these journeying men of God, that like
Paul were always reaching out for "the regions beyond."
It would be well for us to have in mind the type pre-
sented by the frontier missionaries. Among the names
on the earliest records of the church appears that of John
Spencer— Father Spencer, as he was affectionately desig-
nated throughout Western New York. From the accounts
that have reached us he was a sturdy and eminently lov-
able Christian man. He was one of those of whom it has
been happily spoken, "He was called to be a preacher
of the Gospel, but not called to be a Bachelor of Arts."
For many years a deacon in the Congregational Church
of Worcester, Otsego County, without other education than
that of common schools of his day, he felt impelled by
24 HISTORY OF THE
the religious destitution about him to become a preacher
of the Gospel. He was a clear thinker, a plain, ready
speaker and a most devout Christian, and these were the
qualifications for his office. He was ordained by the
Northern Associated Presbytery, October, 1800. His work
was difficult, he had long distances to cover, the roads
were bad; his entertainment was sometimes of the scan-
tiest, but he had the genuine missionary devotion, and the
true pioneer pluck, and went steadily and cheerily on his
way bringing a blessing wherever he went. He died in
1826 at the age of 68 years.
With such clear cut doctrinal views and strict ideas
of the conduct befitting a member of the church, cases
of discipline, both in doctrine and morals were inevitable.
The church dealt with these cases, regularly and char-
itably, but with a firmness of touch, a minuteness of in-
vestigation, and finality of judgment of which we know
very little. One case of discipline in those early days
especially interested me.
A member of the church was brought under accusa-
tion on the following charges : 1. Neglecting to walk with
the church. 2. Making use of profane language. 3. Join-
ing in scenes of carnal amusement and dancing. 4. Mak-
ing intemperate use of ardent spirits.
After full and careful investigation the charges were
sustained and a letter of admonition was sent him. Tliis
was on June 4, 1812. On November 25th, the disciplined
member appeared before the church and made confession
of wrong doing. Under date of November 30th, appears the
short and simple record: "A. B. removed by death." The
whole case had been taken to a higher court. Nothing could
more clearly show the real and vital grip of the Church upon
the minds and consciences of the people. Its authority
was respected, its admonitions were usually heeded, and
its condemnation was always dreaded.
In spite of the brevity and dryness of ecclesiastical
records interesting glimpses of personal character are now
and then obtained through them.
We see the man of tender and scrupulous conscience.
Josiah Royce, an applicant for church membership asked
to be released from giving assent to the last clause of
WJLRSAW CKSrKSXIAL CKUKKRATIOX :J5
tke IStti, AitMe of the ContesioTi of Faitii, irltMi is a
st»t>»ae&t ti»t af^ier C>iri$i's :)[ilkimial leign iqicai eaxtlt
"ttieie will be a tidtii^ a^r»T tor a little sae*swtt." After
inaitni>e deiibexation tb« ehuveli deeided to £:r:ir.T the r>-
^v.e$t. It \r»s jui exMlKtiaii of Mmsrie:]itiOii&uess <hi one
sKV and coDdlatary sneiousuess <m the other, rerr in^
sfametiTe to ccuteiDplato.
The tooiuiue tonoa^aiit aUt kiitst tinee a|^(>e!jiis amoi^
tiie saintly 6»<;*s in this gallnj itrf poitzsdt sirwhr*. A
"traiujui futiKM- back than the moMHir of any peism Ut-
iK? extends -n^as posse^aed of a tvH^ue not to be de-
s^pased by any, be he ciak or layman. A ^pieeimea oi her
Tltap«atiTe gifts is ^lead upon the minaies anl wold
have done eiedit to Shimei the son of Geta, irbose eois-
irur made him Mstoiic
The men of that eaudy day -were schcv>"oa in pati«iee
by a mascnSne speeimen of the Gienns quameisome. They
were all men "witti the baik on," bwt baik *ws not
neoessanly imply tilKMnis.
The man \riMHn I hare jv^ ntentionedl eimtiniiaUy le^
apjviars as a center rf trooMe and distivrtsuaee, and a
quanel in vhich he 15 the eential wroie dra^ its veaiy
\r»y tiaoogh three vesjs of tie Church's Hfe.
It was a nohte eshiMticHi of the seii^e oif ie£$x>imbil-
itv for the s«>al <tf a biother and the peace of a eMumo-
nity tliat levi them w deal with a>e affiur at alL Less
p»ti«nt men woiiM haxe thrown the eutiie nnpteasantne^
o«i of dsXHS loiwr befoie,
Doetrinal exaetne^ w»s leqniied of ehundt memb«s
in tiM»9e dar*- "R*^ ^H''^^ which the Dean of TTesstnunster
was cmce accvsed <rf luting loose np«Hi the city erf Lad-
don by the (^nung trf Ms window w*s not in fiivor in
jHimitiTe Puritan ccannninities. They weie men wiHi
stalwart cemrkWoEs, dta^ply ptmdeied and well wiwaffbt
out. Xow and sirsin s>iHae m»aber would emhiace what
w*ie ^vvkcvt upon as dangeivH^ and hevetieal Tie-«-s- These
wiere ps«H^ptiy dealt with, but it fe wwithy of note that
they used wes^^ons of persiasaoa. ieas>ou and scripture,
and <mlT i«s«vted to the power of the keys in extnane
^6 SISTOKY OF THE
cases and after attempts to work legitimate change of
conviction.
My own reading of the old records has immeasurably
increased my respect for the pioneers, Their intense and
earnest sincerity has been universally acknowledged, their
genuine Christian charity has received less general recog-
nition.
And it is to be remembered that without strong con-
victions of one's own, charity becomes a mere name.
The first settled pastor of this church was the Rev.
Silas Hubbard, who was installed October 27, 1813, by a
committee of Geneva Presbytery, with which the church
had connected itself a month previous. The amount of
Mr. Hubbard's salary was not stated, but the church
purchased for him ten acres of land, implying that the
minister was expected to have other gifts than that of
digging out sermons.
The pastorate of Mr. Hubbard was terminated in 1815,
because of his continued ill health.
His successor was Eev. Hippocrates Rowe, who gave
half his time to Warsaw and half to Orangeville, receiv-
ing two hundred and fifty dollars from each church.
The years between 1817 and 1821 were largely spent in
planning and erecting a church building. The meetings
were held at first in private houses, as in the days when
the church was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla —
later in the center school house then standing on Main
Street, That the building of a church was a considera-
ble of an undertaking for the struggling congregation in
a new community is shown by the fact that between the
first mention of the project and its completion more than
eight years elapsed. After the land was obtained, the
building went on slowly and with considerable difficulty.
On March 1819, the partially completed structure, owned
by Presbyterians and Bfiptists together, was sold at auc-
tion to the Presbyterians in the Society for 76 per cent,
of the cost value.
At the annual meeting held at the house of N. B. Lee,
October 24, 1820, steps were taken looking toward the early
completion of the church. It was voted: 1st. That any
amounts paid towards the completion of the meeting house
WAUsAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 27
should be credited in ownership of pews for which deeds
should be given. 2nd. That any sums paid toward the
same object in grain or any other article might be paid
at- an average price equivalent to wheat at 75 cents per
bushel. The plans seem to have been successfully carried
out for the new building was finished in 1821. The first
recorded meeting of the Union Society held in it occurred
February 21, 1826.
Among the original pew owners appear several well
known names: Elizur Webster was the owner of slips 1,
7, 13, 17, 35, room enough even for a pioneer family of
twelve children.
John Hunger owned 19, 3, 14 and 24.
Julius and Samuel Whitlock were joint owners of No. 9.
Lot Marchant of No. 34; David Young 21, William
Patterson and James Crocker No. 4; Zera Tanner of 42;
Nehemiah Pargo of 26 ; William Webster of 5 : Dr. Augus-
tus Prank of 28; Jonathan Young and Amos Barnett of
No. 6.
Prom the beginning of the history down to the coming
of Dr. Nassau in 1855, the ministers succeded each other
rapidly. Most of these men were stated-supplies for a
year at a time.
A mere recital of the list will give you an idea of the
rapidity of the changes.
Silas Hubbard, 1813-1815. Hippocrates Kowe, 1816-1818.
Reuben Parmelee, Ebenezer Everett, Elihu Mason, 1818-
1819. Norris Bull, 1819-1821. Abial Parmele, 1823-1827.
Julius Steel, 1828-1831. E. S. Hunter and Isaac Oakes, 1831-
1833. Ezra Scovel 1833-1835. Ward Childs, Stephen Porter,
1835-1836. Powell, Sackett, Waterbury, Bridgman, Pres-
ton, Crampton, succeeded each other rapidly between 1836
and 1840.
In 1837 occurred the disruption of the Presbyterian
Church. That it should have no effect upon this church
was impossible; just as in a storm at sea, every bay,
inlet and indentation of the shore feels the throbbing and
agitation of the waters, so the storm that burst upon our
28 HIST05BY OF THE
church at large was felt in every local and individual or-
ganization.
In looking upon this struggle, the echoes of virhich
have come down to us from a former generation, we
must remember that strife and pain are incidental to the
progress of truth, and, while at the time nothing is ap-
parent but the anguish and division— in after time these
disappear and are healed, leaving apparent the substan-
tial gains that have been made.
The internal controversy which went on for a number
of years in the church, culminated in 1840 in the with-
drawal of forty-seven members to form a separate organ-
ization.
In speaking of this event I can do no better than to
quote the words of Dr. Nassau, to whom with his great
friend, Dr. Williams, belongs the blessing of the peace-
maker.
"To say that by that event bitter and unbrotherly
feelings were aroused would be a mild statement of the
fact. But these have long since died out. Time, with
its many and great changes, the blessing of God upon
wise and conciliatory action and healing grace, have soft-
ened, and to human view dissipated the asperities that
were born of the separation. The two churches have ac-
cepted the situation in the spirit of Christian concord and
are striving in their respective spheres to do the work
of their common Lord in their own way, keeping the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace."
As you are well aware this church adhered to the Gen-
eral Assembly in the division and became part of what
was known as the Old School Branch. In 1842 the church,
acting under the direction of the General Assembly,
united itself with the Presbytery of Caledonia. This
Presbytery was afterwards called Presbytery of Wyoming.
In 1853 it became part of Genesee River Presbytery which
remained until the reunion of 1870 when the Presbytery
of Genesee was re-established.
The Rev. Richard Kay was the first minister after the
disruption. He was most earnestly loved by his people,
who resisted a determined effort of the Presbytery to re-
move him. One of the ablest documents in the Sessional
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 29
ecords was a reply, signed by E. B. Miller and "William
)rocker, Committee, to the interrogation of Presbytery in
egard to Mr. Kay. This pressure on the part of Presby-
siy probably hastened the contemplated union with the
'resbytery of Caledonia. However that may be, Mr. Kay
emained for three years longer.
The next supply was the Rev. A. Craig McClelland, a
icentiate of the Presbytery of Blairsville. Upon his de-
parture the session took occasion to express very cor-
iially their appreciation of the young preacher and their
lopes for his future success. That they rightly estimated
heir young minister is sufficiently shown by his subse-
[uent career. He was afterward pastor of the fourth
i'resbyterian church in Pittsburgh and Secretary of Board
or Preedmen. He was followed by Dr. Hugh Mair.
In 1847 the Rev. Abram Young ministered to this con-
gregation for three years. Mr. Young was well known to
nany of you. He made periodic visits to Warsaw and
)ften preached in this pulpit, and was loved by the peo-
)le. In 1894 he was laid to rest here.
His wife, an unusually strong and attractive woman,
vas a sister of Dr. William Hogarth of Geneva, and
shared many of his marked and able characteristics. She
iva.s laid to rest beside her husband by our hands a little
)ver a year ago.
During the ministry of Mr. Young the parochial school
ivas established. This was maintained by the church un-
ier the direction and with the assistance of the Presby-
;erian Board of Education. Frequent notices in the min-
ites indicate the great interest taken in this valuable in-
stitution.
The first teacher was Miss Wolcott. Other teachers
ivhose memories are cherished by many, were Miss Cor-
aelia McKay, afterwards Mrs. Paulkner; Miss Jennie Pat-
terson, afterward Mrs. Stuart Mitchell; Miss Mary A.
Frank, afterward Mrs. Brown; Miss Elizabeth Leaven-
kvorth, Miss Lee and Miss Stewart.
Irregular supplies filled the pulpit until the coming of
Rev. Stuart Mitchell, who was pastor from October, 1852,
to the spring of 1855. Mr. Mitchell was about two gen-
30 HISTOEY OF THE
erations ahead of his time. He refused to preach funeral
sermons, and refused to candidate when ministers did
both. Upon leaving here in 1855 he went West, gathered
his own church and built both church and parsonage. He
returned East and was, for a time, at Groveland. He after-
ward went to Bloomsburg, Pa., where he built a new
church. He had lost strength and felt that his voice
was inadequate to the new edifice; he thereupon w«nt to
Mt. Carmel in the coal region, formed another new
church, which he brought to strength and self-support.
He now resides in the parsonage at Mount Carmel, weak
and suffering, but patient and cheerful, awaiting the call
Home.
In the month of August, 1855, the Kev. Joseph E.
Nassau, then a licentiate of the Presbytery of Newton,
was unanimously called to become pastor of this church.
This was and remains one of the remarkable pastorates
of Presbyterian History. For thirty-seven years within a
month Dr. Nassau stood in this pulpit and in this com-
munity. And one cannot look anywhere into the life of
this people, religious, moral or civic without seeing that
commanding and steadfast personality.
He was a scholar, a gentleman and a Christian. I
never saw him and yet since I have come to know this
church, it seems as if I had known him long and inti-
mately. In a thousand incidental ways have come to me
revelations of what he was and what he wrought among
you. It is no wonder that his coming to the church
marked a new era in its history. Before flfty-flve, a
score or more of pastors paying flying visits to the church!
Then think of the magnificent unity of impression
which follows. One strong, dominant personality stamp-
ing itself upon an entire generation from the cradle to
middle life; one consistent, logical system of belief taught
through all the plastic years of life; one heralding voice
familiar in all its accents and yet the more compelling
from its familiarity. Such a pastorate as Dr. Nassau's is
a certificate of character both for the man and the peo-
ple. There must have been an inexhaustible mental fer-
tility in one who could feed an intelligent congregation
so many years, something very true and deep and noble
in a character that could win and keep such enduring
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 31
affection and respect. And there must have been solid
thoughtfulness and steadfastness in a people who could
listen to one man so long without being led astray by the
desire for novelty and change. A paragraph from Dr.
Nassau's last published sermon so happily describes him-
self and his people that I transcribe it.
"This church stands today for soundness in the faith;
for Presbyterianism ; for vital godliness; for Sabbath ob-
servance ; for missions ; for genuine practical temperance ;
for family religion ; for holy living ; for generous and
systematic beneficence; and generally as the exponent of
whatsoever is lovely and of good report." It will be nec-
essary to summarize in very small space the history of
Dr. Nassau's pastorate. "We are told that even before he
actually came upon the field his heart was set upon a
new church. In ten years this was accomplished. If you
seek his monument, look about you. Towards the end of
his ministry he greatly desired that the church should be
refitted and the buildings enlarged for new conditions of
work. This, too, was done, and from a sick-bed, from
which he was never to rise a well man, he sent a letter
of congratulation to the congregation. But this is but a
small part of his achievement. Of the one hundred and
thirty who were in the church when Dr. Nassau came
but twenty were alive at the close of his pastorate, and
a number of those were not living in town. But the mem-
bership at the same time was 274 and this means that
about five hundred members were added during his pas-
torate.
The congregation contributed an aggregate of one hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars to the support of the
church and benevolences, increasing from eight hundred,
the year before he came, to over six thousand the last
year of his ministry.
Dr. Nassau preached 3632 times, aside from lectures
and addresses; he solemnized one hundred and sixty-nine
marriages; and performed two hundred and seventy-six
baptisms. What a range of service is here exhibited.
And no one can imagiae that the influence and value of
such a life as Dr. Nassau's can be measured by statis-
tics. His greatest work was unseen, in the hearts and
32 HISTORY OF THE
in the lives of the men and women whom he touched
and blessed by his ministry.
Dr. Nassau truly belongs to "the Choir invisible," of
those immortal dead who live again
"In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self,
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars.
And with their mild persistence urge man's search
To vaster issues."
Dr. Nassau resigned his pastorate March 4, 1893. He
entered the Heavenly life on the 21st of February, 1894, and
in December 1894, his successor, Bev. George D. Miller,
D. D., now pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of
Rochester, was installed.
Dr. Miller's pastorate of six years is written in all
your hearts. The events of it are too recent to require
ai ixtended review. It is not necessary to say that it
was a happy and successful pastorate.
The first pastorate after such a career as Dr. Nassau's
presents certain trying elements both to the minister and
the people. These tests were successfully met both by
the congregation and its leader, and the issue was har-
mony and power.
During Dr. Miller's time here, one hundred and thirty-
eight united with the church upon confession of their
faith in Christ, an average of twenty-three yearly. In
addition to these sixty united by certificate. The church
may well follow their late pastor with affectionate grati-
tude and cordial wishes for his continued success.
The present pastorate was begun the first Sunday in
May, 1901, and has now been in continuance two years.
I have thus sketchily reviewed the pastorates from the
beginning of its history until now. But I would not have
you think, for a moment, that I consider it a fact that
the history of a church can be accounted for by the work
and achievement of any or all of its pastors. Ministers
come and go but the church remains. And ministers are
dependent for success upon the character and service of
that permanent body of consecrated people that makes
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 33
the church. And our church has always given large place
and large honor to her devoted laymen. And no organ-
ization with which I am acquainted has better reason to
be grateful to God for the men and women who have
blessed it by their love and devotion, than this church.
Very briefly let me review the history of its governing
boards. Organized as a Congregational Church its first
officers were Deacons. The first deacons were Eliphalet
Parker and Israel Branch. Deacon John Hunger, as he
was always known even for years after he became a rul-
ing elder, was elected in 1815. Somewhere between the
years 1828-31 a session was formed of four deacons already
in ofiice and four ruling elders newly elected. The first
session therefore consisted of John Frayer, Gideon John-
son, John Hunger, Peter Young, John Crocker, James
Crocker, Koderick Chapin and Samuel Whitlock. Very
shortly after this William Buxton was added to this his-
toric group. In 1840, Edwin B. Miller became a member
of the session and shortly after and for many years its
clerk.
Mr. Miller was a very accomplished penman and the
minutes were kept with great accuracy and beauty. In
1845, Luther Foster and Samuel Fisher 1st, father of S. MiUs
and Frank M. Fisher, were called to the eldership. The
session at the time of Dr. Nassau's coming consisted of
John Munger, Edwin B. Miller, Luther Foster, and Samuel
Fisher 1st. The next year Harlow L. Comstock was
added. In 186.3, Timothy H. Buxton and Samuel Fisher
2d, were elected; in 1863 Edwin B. Miller; in 1871 John
W. Montgomery; in 1876 Charles Herbert Foster; in 1885
Harwood A. Dudley and William A. Morgan, since moved
to Silver Springs; iq 1895 Edward B. Everingham; in
1896 William C. Fowler and Frank C. Adams; in 1900
WiUiam H. McConnell ; in 1903 Duane E. Chase and Robert
D. Miller, the latter the third of his name to occupy the
same position, were successively added to this body.
The session has ever been loyal and devoted to the church
and pastor.
The Board of Deacons was constituted in 1875. The
first deacons were Samuel Mills Fisher, who remains with
34 IIIHTOBY OV THE
US after twenty-eight years of service, llarwood A. Dudley,
C. Herbert Poster and Edward T. Buxton.
After tliis date tiiere were several resignations from
tiie board and no elections so ttiat at tiie end of 1885
Mr. Fisher was serving alone.
Wednesday evening, February 24, 1886, E. B. Evering-
ham, Samuel J. Crawford, E. T. Buxton were set apart
to the oiHce of deacon. Of these Mr. Crawford is still
in service.
On October 29, 1895, Mr. F. C. Adams and Mr. F. A.
Owen were elected, Mr. Owen remaining on the board to
the present time.
In 1896, Mr. Adams was elected an elder and in March ,
1807, Mr. Edwin Fargo was made deacon in his place.
The Board of Trustees began its existence with Union
Society January 14, 1812. The first Trustees were Isaac
Phelps, Abraham Keed, John Munger, William Bristol and
Zera Tanner. On a board to which elections are held
yearly the changes are rather bewildering to follow in
detail.
The senior member in point of service Is Mr. William
Watson who was elected to the office In 1886.
The filling of these offices front the beginning until
now has called for much devoted and unselfish service
from many busy people.
And among those who have performed such faithful
service are many whose names we do not know. The
Lord knoweth them that are His and their reward is
sure from Him who never forgets.
The apostolic succession has often been exemplified in
this church. The blood of tlie founders still enriches ttie
life of the present.
The great great grand-daugiiter, and the great, great,
great grand- children of Bliphalet Parker, one of the first
deacons, Mrs. Merchant and her children, are members of
this church.
Miss Elizabeth Young, Mrs. Purdy and Mrs. Waterbiiry,
all earnest members of the church, are grandchildren of
the first settler of the town, who was also one of the
first pew owners of this church.
Mr. William E. Webster is a grandson of the first
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 35
settler's brother who came here as a boy of sixteen and
was a member and trustee of the church for many years.
Mr. Emery Webster, our student for the ministry, is a
great grandson of the original William Webster.
In the present Board of Elders is the son of an elder
and the grandson of the noble woman who taught the
first class in the Sunday School, Mr. Eobert D. Miller,
and until a year ago another son of an elder, Mr. Herbert
Foster, a beloved and honored member of session.
Mrs. Mary Frank Miller is the grand-daughter of one
of the first pew holders of the church, Dr. Augustus
Frank.
On the Board of Trustees are two grandsons of elders,
Mr. Buxton and Mr. Whitlock, and the son of an elder,
E. T. Montgomery.
The present organist. Miss Nellie Fargo, is a great
grand-daughter of Nehemiah Fargo, who was one of the
first pew owners of the church.
On the Board of Deacons is the son of an elder, Mr.
S. M. Fisher, and a grandson of that same elder, Mr.
Addison Fisher, is our treasurer. And throughout the
work of the church many are active who are more or
less closely related to those who have gone before. The
God of the everlasting covenant has often been manifested
among you.
Among the faithful members of this church have been
several widely known outside the limits of their own com-
munity. Among them two deserve especial mention; The
Hon. Andrew W. Young and Hon. Augustus Frank. Mr.
Young, who was active and prominent in the church from
an early age, by his intellectual and literary ability won
a permanent place among the thoughtful writers of our
country. His book on Civil Government is still a recog-
nized authority. He was a man of sturdy piety and of
solid character and attractive personality. Mr. Frank was
a trustee of the church for forty-five years. His term
began when he was a very young man and continued to
the time of his death in 1896. He was a Member of
Congress for three terms during the war period and rend-
ered much faithful and patriotic service. He was twice
delegate-at-large to ^.Constitutional Conventions, and con-
36 HISTOBY OF THE
spicuous in its advocacy of moral reforms. His large
public services, however, were scarcely equalled by his
usefulness as a private citizen and a member of the church.
His personal life was marked by earnest devotion, great
generosity and genial kindness.
The memory of such men of whom this church has
happily had not a few, is worth much to the generation
following ;
It is our joy that some of those who have been iden-
tiiied with the life of the church for so many years are
with us still. Among these are, Mr. John W. Montgomery,
whose voice in prayer-meeting is a benediction from one
week's end to another;
Mr. H. A. Dudley, the youngest man of his years in
the Presbyterian church ;
Mrs. Lucy M. Fisher, who is identified with many years
of service in church and Sunday School;
Mrs. Cameron who is so faithful in all her duties;
Mrs. J. E. Ketchum, who is such an enthusiastic and
devoted friend to all her pastors;
Mrs. Euth Cleveland, the oldest living member of the
church, dating her connection with the church from
about 1826, who remains in as serene and winsome an old
age as could be imagined. All these a perpetual invi-
tation ;
Come, grow old along with me,
The best is yet to be,
The last of life for which the first was made.
Our times are in His hands who said
A whole I planned.
Youth sees but half,
Trust all, nor be afraid.
This church has been signally blessed by having minis-
ters and ministers' families in the congregation. The
Rev. John Eeid, a devout and able man was a respected
and helpful member of the congregation. He is re-
membered with especial affection for his teaching in the
Bible Class.
The Rev. "W. D. McKinley, who has been one of you
since 1882, ig spending the serene and kindly afternoon of
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 37
his life with us, a most inspiring and helpful friend to
the pastor and a guide and counselor to many in the
congregation, especially the boys whom he has gathered
into a Bible class and upon whom he lavishes so much
thought and afEection. May he be long spared to us
and find the promise true " At evening time it shall be
light. "
And Mrs. Nassau, who made during so many years
what Dr. Nassau called his "precious home," and who
has been friend and mother to so many among you. "We
call down blessings upon her here today ! If ever young
ministers attempting to follow in the hallowed footsteps
of a great man, had a true and more loyal friend, they
must be counted among the fortunate of earth.
And here we pause. And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her. Isn't this just what
you are saying today? Many of these lists are simply
names to some of us, who have been here so short a
time; but to others they are more than mere names. The
name calls up face, figure and personality, now and then
a beloved one whom the heart follows wistfully into the
unseen world. Time turns backward in its flight and the
men and women of the long ago are with us again. To-
day some of you are in the old church with its high
galleries, north, west and south. You do not see this
beautiful organ; the little instrument that the first leader
of the choir carried on Sunday mornings, \mder his arm,
furnishes the music. You hear other voices than ours,
and other faces smile back into yours. Strong men and
noble, saintly women they were, not faultless, but genu-
ine and aspiring.
Deacon Munger, Judge Comstock, the Pishers, Samuel
1st and 2d and Dean; the Franks, father and son, the
Millers, the Youngs, Peter and Andrew; the Whitlocks,
the Posters, the Buxtons, father and son; Tanners; Silli-
mans, the Pattersons and others more recent, but not less
dear.
And the noble army of mothers in Israel, Mrs. Mun-
ger, Mrs. Juliann Buxton, Mrs. Jane Prank, Mrs. Lois
Miller, Mrs. Marilla Gould, Mrs. Ardelissa Crocker, and a
host of others, whom you will recall.
38
Of Zion it shall be said, that such and such a one
was born in her. And this is Zion's Glory, that such
men and women were born in her. Her title to fame,
her claim to honor is that by her teaching, her hopes
and inspirations she gave such characters to the world.
For this shall men honor her and for this the Highest
Himself shall establish her.
METHODIST CHURCH
Address by John B. smauwood, Sunday, June 28, 1903
It would seem an easy task to write in outline the
history of an individual or of an association of indi-
viduals. Especially does this seem true when we think
how we are all given to history. We all like to talk,
and to tell something we have done or said, have seen or
heard. Can the life that has required seventy-five years
to live, be told in the brief time of a half hour? Can
the united lives of hundreds, lived the same length of
time, their private life and their public life, be squeezed
into the same brief time?
As events pass in review before us, memory seizes
them, changes them to crystalline forms, and stores them
away for future use, and these crystals are history. Each
of us has his own crystallization, differing in detail from
every other, all true, yet not all together will they tell
the whole truth.
The history of a church is the history of the invisible
as well as a visible church. To write of a church, gilded
it may be, and hung with votive offering, were worse
than useless, did we omit the lives that had been lived,
the burdens that had been borne, and the faith that had
triumphed. Has the church made home purer, has it dig-
nified labor with its approval, has it cultivated the old
homely virtues, has it done its part in suppressing the
old homely vices, has it been in labors abundant, has
it fought the good flght ; above all, has it ever borne about
that mantle of charity which covers a multitude of sins?
These are questions to. be answered in the history of a
church.
But what necessity was there for the Methodist denom-
ination? Already there was a "Union Society" and
church. The Methodist church, born in England's great
University at Oxford, inheriting the confession of faith
of the established church, of what use would it be in the
40 HISTOEY or THE
wilds of this new world? It doubtless commended itself
to many by its ease of access, its doors standing open
with this inscription: "Whosoever will let him Come,"
and the invitation to its communion by "Ye who do truly
and heartily repent of your sins, and intend to lead a new
life, draw near." Methodism offered, not so much a creed,
as a life, and it the life that was of value. So it had
its work to do, and as the work was worthy, there was
sufficient apology for its being.
Some might think that the history of a church reach-
ing back four score years might reveal many new things
in morals and even in religion itself. Never in the world's
history have there been such eventful years as the ones
just behind us. Discoveries and inventions of astounding
importance and almost beyond belief. Why has Christian-
ity nothing new to offer? Effort enough has been made.
The Eock on which the church stands has been battered
persistently that it might throw off more light. Has any
one discovered a new virtue, or invented one? Has any
one driven out a single vice ? There was a work to be
done, and Divinity set about the task. When humanity
undertakes a work, there may be mistakes, there may be
incompleteness. At the very last of His work, Christ
was heard to exclaim, "It is finished." He announced
the work complete. As such nothing can ever be added
to it, nothing taken from it.
And as the Master left His Koyal abode, laid aside
His princely crown and insignia of office, and came to a
poor man's home, a poor man's fare, and a poor man's
work, thus getting at the substratum of human life and
experience, where He could extend His arms beneath all
humanity, and by an all-embracing love and an over
mastering strength, raise all from darkness into the light,
and from the powers of darkness into liberty and peace
and safety;— so the work of this church, during all these
years has been "to rescue the perishing," to minister to
the sick, "to comfort all who mourn," to reach a helping
hand to the needy, to bear one another's burdens, to seek
and to save those who had wandered in the journey and
were lost. As a church, it has ever recognized the value
of a human soul, of any color or condition. First, be-
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 41
cause it was imperishable; second, because of the mar-
velous price paid for its ransom. It has ever been
aware of the dangers attending and surrounding the soul
of man, and at the same time, felt a confidence and a
joy as it published and recommended a sure relief for
them. It has been a working church and has shown its
faith by its works.
Always caring for its children in its homes and in
its Sunday School, it has ever welcomed the stranger
within its gates, and has made many great and pro-
tracted efforts to save men from their sins.
It has long lived in peace and harmony with its
neighbors, and both grants and receives that respect and
consideration which pertain to Christian charity. Aside
from money raised for church building and repairs, dur-
ing the last thirty-nine years $54,457 have been raised and
paid for church purposes, and during the first forty
years of the church's history the amount is about $36,392.
Now, taking the time into consideration these are not
great sums, but it must be remembered that this church
has never been a wealthy church, has never given of its
abundance, but always of its need. Almost every dollar
has been stamped repeatedly with self-denial.
Among the membership of the church might always
be found a few self-sacrificing men, who baring their
breasts to every storm, stood, year by year, like granite
pillars bearing the church upon their shoulders. And
during all the long years, by the side of these men has
stood a band of noble women, loving the church and
all its interests, in labors abundant, in devotion unsur-
passed, in undaunted courage sublime ! As your very im-
perfect historian of a great work always going forward,
I bow my intelligence and my heart, in acknowledge-
ment of the great worth of the women, past and present
of this Methodist Episcopal church.
The majority of the membership of the church have
long since presented their credentials at the beautiful
gate of the temple made without hands, and have joined
the church triumphant, but the purity and beauty and
42 HlSTOST Ol' TflE
sweetness of their lives still linger in our homes and
about the sanctuary of God.
"Ever the workmen change,
Ever the work goes on. "
On the church of the future, I quote Rev. J. B. Went-
worth. from his great sermon on '• The Philosophy of Meth-
odism. "At once the offspring and heir of all the fruits of
the past movements of churchly and Christian development,
and vitalized and actuated with impulses having their
source in the love of God in the soul, we cannot doubt
that it will continue to use all the methods and appli-
ances of active gospel benevolence, until the whole family
of man shall be redeemed and saved."
It is said that the first Methodist preachers in "Warsaw
were Cyrus Story, Joseph Gatchell and James Mitchell,
as early as 1805 and 1806, and before a church was or-
ganized. In ■ 1809, William Brown and John Kimberlin or-
ganized a Methodist Society and Simeon Hovey was ap-
pointed the first class leader. Shortly afterwards Josiah
Hovey and Shubael Morris were appointed leaders, and
the meetings were held in their respective houses, Mr.
Hovey's in the north part of the town and Mr. Morris'
in the south part. Among the early members of the
church were Josiah Hovey, Jr., Simeon Hovey, John
and Shubael Morris, Elam and Anson A. Perkins. Solo-
mon Morris, Sr., Carl W. Flower, Simeon Gibson, and
their wives; Mrs. Josiah Hovey, Sr., Moses Perkins, Joseph
Miller, Lyman Parker, Mrs. N. Park, Mrs. Simeon K.
Glazier and Mrs. Daniel Knapp. The Methodist Society
was not legally organized until about the year 1820, at
the time of the proclamation of Paul Busti, general
agent of the Holland Land Company, announcing that in
every township six miles square, with a legally organized
church and society, such society should be entitled to 100
acres of land.
The First Methodist Episcopal Society of Warsaw was
accordingly organized in compliance with the requirements
of the act of the legislature, and the papers were recorded
in the ofiSce of the county clerk. The land was divided
equally between the Methodist Church and the Presbyte-
rian, which had been previously organized. The first
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 4S
trustees of the Methodist Church were Simeon Hovey,
Chester Hurd, John Morris, Anson A. Perkins, Nathan
B. Miller, Lyman Parker, Josiah Hovey, Eoderick Chapin,
Jr., and Eleazar Smith. The first house of worship was
built in 1824 at the "comers," three quarters of a mile
north of the center of the village. In 1835 it was re-
moved to the place where the present church now stands.
In 1853, to make room for a new and larger one, it was
sold to Rev. J. W. Hines, and by him removed to the
south side of BufEalo street, near the bridge, to be fitted
up for dwellings,
The new church which was completed in 1854 was thor-
oughly repainted and refitted in 1868 at an expense of
about $1,300. The present handsome brick structure was
built during the pastorate of Rev. E. J. Whitney and
was dedicated March 9, 1902,
During the thirty seven years just passed, the average
membership of the church has been one hundred and
eighty-six. The lowest membership was in 1879, the
highest in 1886. And it may be recorded that as pastors
of the church have been energetic and faithful in their
work, the church has prospered, financially, intellectually
and spiritually, and farther, it may be remarked, time
has demonstrated the fact that the best things to preach
and to practice are human needs and the ability to sup-
ply theni, the requirements of the gospel and the re-
wards of faithful living. There have been many and
valuable revivals of religion during the years, resulting
in large additions to the church, nor is it strange to re-
ceive members at any time.
The church has had the following pastors since 1864:
Revs. J. H. Bayliss, R. C. Welch, H. H. Lyman, M.
H. Rice, O. {S. Chamberlayne, E. T. Green, D. Leisen-
ring, J. T. Brownell, J. A. Copeland, T. Cardus, W. S.
Tuttle, T. E. Bell, Samuel McGerald, »G. E. Ackerman,
M. C. Dean, C. B. Sparrow, R. C. Brownlee, I. N.
Dalby, E. C. Dodge, E. J. Whitney and P. W. Berlin.
Soldiers in the Civil war of 1861-65 who were mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church;
Rev. J. A. Copeland — ^Pastor of this church 1875-6.
Date of enlistment not known.
44 SlSTOltY OS* Tli&
Rev. T. E. Bell— Enlisted May, 1861, 21st N. Y. Dis-
charged May 18, 1863. Pastor 1879-80-81.
Bev. C. B. Spaebow— Pastor 1888-89-90. Enlisted May,
1861, 2d Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Re-enlisted in
the field. Discharged 1865.
Feajstcis Lynch— Enlisted August 30, 1864, 50th N. Y.
Engineers. Discharged June 13, 1865. Died May 19.
1901.
Chestee M. Richaeds— Enlisted Eebruary 14th, 1864,
9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery. Discharged July 17, 1865.
Died 1892.
Milton Huelbtjbt — Ealisted June 1, 1864, 8th N.
Y. Artillery. Discharged 1865. Living at Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
W. B. HuTTON— Enlisted Sept. 8, 1861, 5th N. Y. Cav-
alry. Discharged November 20, 1864.
Gideon Jenkins— Enlisted May, 1861, 17th N. Y. Infant-
ry. Discharged November, 1861.
Jason Johnson— Enlisted May, 1861, 17th N. Y., Infant-
ry. Died at Alexandria.
ALEXA.NDEE MuKEAT— Enlisted 1860, U. S. Battleship
Cumberland. Discharged 1863.
Wilson Agae— Enlisted September 16, 1861, .12th Illinois
Cavalry. Re-enlisted on the field February 28, 1864.
Finally discharged May 29, 1866, at Houston, Texas.
Henry Bixby— Enlisted September 4, 1863, 76th Penn-
sylvania. Discharged May 24, 1865.
LuTHEE Spencee— Enlisted July 21, 1862, 8th N. Y.
Artillery. Discharged June 21, 1865.
L. DUANE Mapes— Enlisted December 2, 1863, 8th N.
Y. Heavy Artillery. Discharged May 12, 1864. Died
February 9, 1890 at Warsaw.
Eugene Edson— Enlisted May 18, 1861, 17th N. Y.
Infantry.
Paul P. Deapee— Enlisted August, 1862, 1st N. Y. Dra-
goons. Discharged June 30, 1865.
Feank H. Johnson— Enlisted May 1861, 17th N. Y. In-
fantry. Served two years. Died in Warsaw, March 13,
1899.
WARSAW CENTENTSflAL CELEBBATION 45
Edwaed E. Lemon— Enlisted October, 1861, 9th N. Y.
Cavalry. Discharged April 10, 1862. Died at Warsaw.
Augustus Parker— Enlisted September 1861, 9th N. Y.
Cavalry. Discharged April 8, 1862. Living in the "West.
"Wilbur Snyder- Enlisted May, 1861. 17th N. Y. In-
fantry. Died at Alexandria, "Virginia.
J. A. Stowe— Enlisted August, 1862. 136th N. Y. In-
fantry. Discharged, May, 1865.
Alfred Hoyt— Enlisted December 29, 1863. 8th N. Y.
Artillery. Discharged June 18, 1865. Living in Kansas.
H. "W. BURLINGAMB— Enlisted October 10, 1861. "Wads-
worth Guards, 104th Regiment, N. Y. Infantry. Re-en-
listed on the field February 28, 1864. Discharged July
29, 1865.
Edgar A. Day— Enlisted June 6, 1862. 1st N. Y. Dra-
goons. Discharged July 5, 1865. Died August 28, 1894.
John Duggan- Enlisted May 1, 1861. 21st Infantry.
Re-enlisted February 24, 1864. 1st N. Y. Dragoons. Dis-
charged June 30, 1865. Died September 6, 1876.
Charles H. Crocker— Enlisted August 11, 1862. 1st N.
Y. Dragoons. Discharged June 30, 1865.
Clinton Paul— Enlisted April 1861. 83d N. Y. Dis-
charged July 11, 1863.
Earl Thompson— Enlisted March 31, 1864. 4th "Wis-
consin Cavalry. Discharged August 22, 1865.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Sermon Dy Rev. H. E. Gurney, Sunday, June 28, 1903
" One Generation Shall Praise Thy Works to Another."
Psalms 14S-4-
Ever since God's chosen people were disciplined into a
nation at the foot of Mount Sinai; ever since laws were
given for their direction and control, there have been
feasts, jnbilees, memorials, and " set times," when impor-
tant events have been commemorated, and this same spirit
has come down through the ages, until today Nations,
States, Counties, Towns, Communities, and Families are
pleased to keep alive the memory of those events that
have touched their life, and thus " One generation shall
praise thy works to another."
The celebration upon which we enter this day, is to
be one of cordial greetings, mutual congratulations, the
renewing and extending of acquaintance and friendship, a
real feast of pleasure, in short a "joy forever." Yet
the promoters of this celebration, which commemorates
the first settlement of the town of Warsaw, have had in
mind the emphasizing of those historical incidents, per-
sonal, civic and religious, that when your children shall
ask their fathers, in time to come, what mean these things,
the records of this Centennial anniversary will contribute
to the answer ; and to this end the Congregational Church
of Warsaw is pleased to add its quota, by furnishing a
brief historical sketch of its career.
In preparing this sketch, I wish to acknowledge my
indebtedness to my predecessor, the Rev. W. A. Hobbs,
for his kindness in furnishing so many of the historical
facts and incidents, as related by him at the Semi-Cen-
tennial celebration of the church in 1890.
I appreciate the delicacy and diflftculty of my task; to
write the history of an individual life is difficult,
but to write a satisfactory history of a church, composed
>
50
in
>
z
rn
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CBLEBKATION 47
of many individuals, is all but impossible, for it must
needs be a story of the acts of men and women, labor-
ing together with God, for the extension of His most
blessed and glorious kingdom among men.
In order to make this necessarily brief outline as
complete as possible, I must go back of the date of the
organization of this church, to within five years of the
settlement of Warsaw, namely, the year 1808, which year
was the "Bethlehem" of Congregationalism in Warsaw,
while the year 1840 was its "Nazareth".
July 14, 1808 "The First Congregational Church of
Warsaw" was organized with ten members, and thus as
a denomination we go back to the beginning of church
organization in this region, for this was the first church
organized upon the Holland Purchase. Five years later
this " little flock in the wilderness " became incorporated
under the name of the " Warsaw Union Society " and
continued so for nearly two decades, " walking in the
fear of the Lord." In the early days of our history a
union church was not an unusual thing. Presbyterian-
ism and Congregationalism have ever sustained intimate
relations with each other; with slight modifications their
confessions of faith have been similar. In the main,
their differences have been those of polity, rather than
doctrine.
The Congregationalists were early in New England,
and at the beginning of the last century were a numerous
body. The Presbyterians were occupying the eastern
portions of New York and Pennsylvania and the State of
New Jersey. In those early days it was thought that
generations would come and go before Western New York
would be other than missionary territory, and for the
most successful prosecution of missionary work therein,
the Presbyterians and Congregationalists entered into a
" plan of union " in 1801. The plan was wise, unselfish,
eminently christian, and continued for more than fifty
years. During this period, however, the Congregational-
ists lost many churches by the process of absorption.
There was nothing uncommon in the condition of things
in the pioneer church in Warsaw; it simply went the
way of many others, that were originally Congregational,
and in 1829 became wholly identified with the Presbyte-
48 HISTOBY OF THE
rians, and. it might have continued, as one body to this
day, had not two causes arisen to divide the membership.
The chief one was the doctrinal controversy between tliose
known as the old and the new school men. It was a
controversial age, the spirit of argument was in the air,
but this controversy did not array Presbyterians and Con-
gregationalists against each other, it affected members of
both denominations, so that Presbyterians and Congrega-
tionalists were disputing with Congregationalists and Pres-
byterians. The other cause was one of inheritance A
considerable number of the members were descendaats of
New England Congregationalists, and it was not unnatu-
ral that they should prefer the polity of their fathers,
so the time came when thirty-nine of the members be-
lieving that the best way to "keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace " was in separation, made requests
for dismissal with the view of organizing another church,
which organization was effected February 16, 1840, in a
small building used as a school room, then standing over
the old mill race on the south side of Buffalo Street, a
little west of the present Post Office block.
At the meeting for organization the Rev. Samuel Gris-
wold of Perry Center was chosen moderator, and thirty-
four persons constituted the new church, as follows :
Joshua H. Darling, Peter Young, Ferdinand CD. McKay,
William F. "Woodward, Isaac C. Bronson, Levi L. Martin,
Henry "Woodward, "Willard Chapin, Robert Barnett, Lewis
E. "Walker, Robert Chapin, Arthur Kinney, Mrs. Abigail
"Walker, Mrs. L. Adelia Young, Mrs. Charlotte "Woodward,
Mrs. Lucretia Darling, Miss Adeline Sheldon, Miss Caroline
C. Sheldon, Mrs. Lucia Darling, Mrs. Anna "Woodward,
Miss Roxie Rice, Miss Charlotte "Woodward, Miss Marie
"Woodward, Miss Calista Bronson, Miss Mary Walker, Miss
Rebecca Chapin, Mrs. Anna Kinney, Mrs. Polly Luce,
Mrs. Margaret Fiero, Mrs. Charlotte T. Sheldon; of these,
many "are fallen asleep". In fact, but two are now
living; Deacon L. E. Walker and Mrs. Mary Walker
Cowgill.
The first pastor was the Rev. Huntington Lyman, who
became a nonagenarian.
The first Deacons were Ezra Walker (one of the origi-
nal members of the church organized in 1808) and Peter
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBBATION 49
Young. These two men, one as superintendent, the
other as clerk, organized the first Sunday School in "War-
saw, in June, 1817, in a log school house, two miles
west of the village. In 1819 it was transferred to the
village and connected with the church. This Sunday
School, at the time of the separation, came out with the
new church, and therefore, the Sunday School connected
with the Congregational Church of Warsaw today is the
first Sunday School established in Warsaw.
Asa Mahan, the first president of Oberlin College was
a pupil in this Simday School.
Following the New England custom, a society was
organized in connection with the church, April 21, 1840,
of which J. H. Darling, Henry Woodward and Charles J.
Judd were the first trustees, and Mr. Judd the first clerk.
The name adopted by the new church was simply
"The Church of Warsaw", but four years later it assum-
ed the name "Congregational"; with slight modifications
the creed of the Chenango Presbytery of 1833 was adopt-
ed. An examination of this creed reveals the fact that
the present confession of faith, and covenant of the
church, differ but slightly from it in matters of doctrine;
although in 1858, under the supervision of the Bev. E.
E. Williams, a revision was made for the purpose of
giving it better and happier expression.
For about three years the church was associated with
the Genesee County Societies, then for a few years it was
unassociated, but since the first ten years it has been
regularly associated with Congregational bodies.
The first ten years was a period of self-sacrificing toil,
amid much opposition, but it would seem that the Lord's
"Fear not little flock" was ever a source of strength /or,
and courage in duty, resulting in increased membership
and material prosperity.*
For a few months the little church worshipped in the
small building, in which it was organized; but early in
the spring of 1840, the lot now occupied was purchased;
a bee was made to remove the tall poplar trees, that
had stood for years as stately sentinels, guarding the spot.
"Arise and Build" was the next admonition heeded,
50 HISTOKT OF THE
and soon the lecture room of the new building was ready
for occupancy; it was used as a place of worship while
as yet unplastered. The dimensions of the new building
were 36 by 45 feet, and its cost, including the lot, a little
less than three thousand dollars. It was finished within
a year from the organization of the church, being dedi-
cated January 13, 1841, the Eev. Mr. Ward of Bergen,
preaching the dedicatory sermon. The old church build-
ing, now known as "The Bee Hive," stands on East Buffalo
Street, just east of the Town Hall, and the lecture room
has been transformed into a dwelling house, located on
Targo Street.
During the first ten years the church had five pastors,
and at least one temporary supply. Early in its life the
church took on the various forms of church activity, a
prayer meeting being established at once, and a Sunday
School as already stated, in 1819; later an Aid Society,
and a Mothers' Meeting came into existence. The Sun-
day School met at 9 a. m., worship and preaching at
10 :30 a. m., an intermission of two hours, which was fol-
lowed by another sermon, and still another sermon at
7:30 in the evening.
The pastors during the first decade were Eev. Hunt-
ington Lyman, Rev. L. P. Judson. Rev. R. H. Conklin,
Rev. P. H. Myers, Rev. Corbin Kidder, and the Rev. M.
T. Yeomans a temporary supply. Of these none are liv-
ing today.
The Eev. Zachary Eddy becoming pastor September 15,
1850, continued as such for five years. He found a church
of one hundred members, and during his pastorate the
membership doubled, and the house of worship was twice
enlarged.
In 1850 the first pipe organ was obtained and the church
life was strong and vigorous. Dr. Eddy was succeeded
by the Rev. T. S. Reeves and the Rev. James Vincent,
each remaining but a few months. Then followed one of
those remarkable experiences common to many churches.
The year 1857 may be known as the "year of candidat-
ing;" during that year eighteen different ministers occu-
pied the pulpit on thirty-six Sabbaths, Mr. L. A. Hayward
r^fid sermons on thirteen Sabbaths, Mr. E. E. Farman on
WABSAW CENTENlSriAL CELEBBATION 51
two Sabbaths and Mr. Beth M. Gates on one Sabbath.
This severe "testing" time proved to be but the fore-
runner of the blessed and fruitful pastorate of the Bev.
E. E. Williams, which began in December 1857 and closed
in November 1872, and which has the distinguished honor
of being the longest in the history of the church, results
ing in much spiritual growth, increased membership, and
marked material advancement; it was during this period
that the present commodious house of worship was erected.
For many years the forms and hours of worship re-
mained the same, but in 1869 the afternoon service was
abandoned, and the Sunday School met at noon; from that
time the hours of service have remained as at present,
the form of worship undergoing slight changes from time
to time.
The spirit of individual responsibility and of personal
work was not lacking, for we find by the report of 1861
that Mr. Woodward conducted a Sunday School near Mr.
Asher Kinney's, Mr. Moses Osgood one at South Warsaw
and Mr. A. B. Lawrence, one at Halls Corners. This
report of 1861 was not an isolated one, for many others
were like unto it, for in later years Mr. W. A. Walker
organized and for many years superintended a Sunday
School at Saltvale.
Many fruitful revivals occurred in the experience of the
church; the most notable ones are as follows: Under Mr.
Eddy, assisted by Dr. Heacock in 1852, 43 additions; un-
der Mr. Eddy in 1854, forty additions ; under Mr. Williams
in 1865, sixty-three were added, and under Mr. Williams
in 1866, sixty-one were added; under Mr. Williams in 1870,
forty-one were added; under Mr. Pierce in 1886, thirty-
six were added, and at the close of the pastorate of Mr.
Hobbs, in the union revival, conducted by the Bev. E. E.
Davidson, forty-four were added.
The church from its beginning took radical ground upon
the question of slavery; in 1851 a declaration was made
upon the subject, condemning in the most emphatic lan-
guage, not only slavery itself, but every form of alliance
with it. Thirty-three men went out from the Congrega-
tion to defend the Union, many of whom never returned.
The funeral of the brave and gifted Asa B. Merrill
52 HISTOEY OF THE
was the first soldier's funeral in the village, and was
held in this church. After the war several teachers went
from here to the South, laboring under the American
Missionary Association; among them was Miss Mary S.
Williams, who afterwards became a missionary under the
American Board, going out in 1871.
Most of the fathers are now in the •' Church Triumph-
ant," a few only are waiting for the summons " Come
Home." Of these men of God we mention the follow-
ing: Ezra "Walker, Peter Young, Stephen Hurd, Isaac V.
Matthews, Charles J. Judd, Joshua H. Darling, Hanover
Bradley, Horace Thayer, Eli Merrill, Seth M. Gates.
Among the family names that re-call the earliest days
of the church are Woodward, McKay, Fargo, Merrill,
Pierson, Humphrey, Martin, Sheldon, Bronson, Walker.
Time will not permit me to speak of all the men and
women worthy of mention in this sketch, still, it is es-
pecially interesting to recall the names of some of those
who having served their own generation, by the will of
God, are now "fallen asleep:"
Deacon Ezra Walker, with bent form, and whitened
hair when the church was formed, the faithful, devoted,
loving. Deacon Young; J. H. Darling, tall, erect, faithful,
wise, unassuming, generous, "A doer of the word and not
a hearer only;" Deacon Judd, slender, dark-haired,
learned, a teacher, and influential with the young ; Seth
M. Gates, of strong convictions, courageous, cultured;
Hanover Bradley, quiet, methodical, persevering; L. A.
Hayward, a wise counselor, zealous, faithful; Mavor
Martin, L. L. Martin, Jeremiah Lamberson, Elisha S.
Hillman, B. P. Pargo, and many others, all "fervent in
Spirit, serving the Lord." Lester Hayden Humphrey, en-
ergetic, punctual, eflBcient, a leader, and always diligent
in the business of the church; Simeon D. Lewis, (whose
recent death is greatly mourned by the church) capable,
careful, conservative, a wise and safe counselor, an up-
right man.
In connection with the Society the name of Mr. Wolcott
J. Humphrey is perhaps the most prominent; a man un-
ostentatious, straight-forward, frank, generous, genial, cour-
ageous, companionable, a Ipyej of truth, and righteousness, a
WARSAW CEiJTENOTAt CELfiBEATION 53
man whose daily answered prayer seemed to be: "Let
integrity and uprightness preserve me, Oh Lord."
It was owing to the wise counsel, untiring labor, and
generous gifts of J. H. Darling, Seth M. Gates and "Wol-
cott J. Humphrey that the present house of worship was
begun in 1866 and completed in 1867, '■ the people also
having a mind to work." The pipe organ was the gift
of Mr. Darling. In 1886, during the pastorate of the Rev.
A. P. Pierce, a lot was procured, and upon it was built
an attractive and commodious parsonage, costing about
four thousand dollars. The church was re-modeled in 1891,
during the pastorate of Eev. W. A. Hobbs, when the seats
were arranged as at present; but it remained for this
Centennial year to add the chancel, repair and enlarge
the organ, and bring it from where it had remained for
nearly four decades to its present place, thus greatly im-
proving the appearance of the auditorium.
The church has always believed in, and encouraged ed-
ucation, and can justly boast of a long list of college
graduates from among its members, past and present.
Of its members, George W. Walker, J. L. Barlow, J. A.
McKay, Levi Spencer, and John M. Merrill have become
ministers of the gospel ; E. E. Parman has received the hon-
orary degree of LL. D. and has honorably filled several
important Government positions ; Merrill B. Gates has
become a P. H. D., an LL. D., an L. H. D., a college
president and is at present Secretary United States Board
of Indian Commissioners. L. H. Humphrey became a
member of the Senate of the State of New York ; W.
H. Merrill is a gifted and distinguished editor. Chas. D.
Seely is a professor in the State Normal School at
Brockport, N. T. I know not how many teachers, law-
yers, editors, physicians and honorable men of affairs this
church has furnished the world, and to-day we are proud
of our young men and women who are away at school,
and are soon to fill responsible positions with credit to
themselves and the church.
The church has had thirteen pastors, besides four
temporary supplies. Since the close of the pastorate of
E. E. Williams in 1872, the pastors have been H. P. Dud-
ley, A. P. Pierce, W. A. Hobbs and H. E. Gurney,
Mr. Dudley is the only pastor who died while here.
54 HISTORY OF THE
There have been thirty-six deacons, eighteen of whom
are still living- The present Board of Deacons is com-
posed of the following; L. E. Walker, chairman; A. B.
Bishop, W. E. Bathrick, Martin Hunger, George Z.
Goodale, George M. Lawrence, S. W. Lamberson, Horace
L. Martin. The Sunday School has had nine superin-
tendents; P. C. D. McKay, C. J. Judd, L. A. Hayward,
S. M. Gates, S. D. Lewis, L. H. Humphrey, W. A.
Walker, W. K. Bathrick, M. B. Hale. The present
Board of Trustees is composed of the following; E. E.
Farman, chairman; A. P. Gage, H. R. Bristol. W. J.
Humphrey, E. E. Eowe, the vacancy caused by the
death of Mr. S. D. Lewis being still unfilled.
Mr. Cornelius Bradley has been the eflftcient and
painstaking clerk for more than twenty-seven years; Mr.
Charles Cuthbert has been its sexton for more than a
generation, having served in that capacity for thirty-four
consecutive years.
It is with commendable pride we speak of one of our
members, the Rev. D. Z. Sheffield, one of the most valua-
ble, learned, diplomatic and consecrated missionaries of
the American Board. Mr. Sheffield for a number of
years has been connected with missionary and educational
work in China.
What shall I say of the women "who labored in the
Gospel, whose names are in the Book of Life ? "
The family names already mentioned suggest "not a
few Honorable Women," prayerful, patient, persevering,
faithful, and full of faith, "Kings daughters" in very
truth, to whom much of the success of the early work
of the church is due. Among the many of later times "Holy
women also, who trusted in God." and who are now "In
the presence of His glory," I may mention Mrs. L. A.
Hayward, Mrs. A. P. Gage, Mrs. John Matthews, Mrs. S.
B. Humphrey, Mrs. E. C. Shattuck, Mrs. Lester Hayden
Humphrey, Mrs. Chauncey C. Gates, Mrs. W. A. Walker.
It may be said of this church in all its history, past and
present, "The Lord giveth the word, the women that
publish it are a great host."
During the existence of the church, upwards of twelve
hundred have been received into membership. Who can
WABSAW CENTEimiAL CELEBRATION 55
measure the influence of these lives. It will only be
known when "The books are opened." Four hundred
and fifty names are at present upon the roll.
" And what I shall more say, for the time will fail me
to tell of those who through faith wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, from weakness were made strong."
I close this historical sketch of the Congregational
Church of "Warsaw, knowing that he whose privilege it
may be to make a similar one at the time of the celebra-
tion of Warsaw's Bi-centennial, will so prepare it, that
all who hear it, and all who read it, will bear the same
testimony, that was given at the [nineteenth anniversary
in 1859, at the twenty-fifth anniversary in 1865, at the
fiftieth anniversary in 1890, and given upon the present
occasion, namely, "Glorious things of thee are spoken,"
and " One generation shall praise thy works to another."
And may " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be
unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb for ever and ever." Amen.
PlRSt BAPTIST CHURCH
History Written by Rev. A. S. Cole. Read Dy
Rev. E. G. Gilbert, June 28, 1903
The First Baptist Church of Warsaw, as it is now
called, was organized Nov. 25, 1810, by Elder David Irish,
a pastor in Cayuga County, while on one of his preach-
ing tours. It consisted of the following eighteen
(another authority says fourteen) members: Joseph Porter
and wife, Josiah Boardman and wife and daughter,
Noah Wiseman, John Truesdell, Levi Stearns, Hannah
Stearns, John Brown, William Brown, Miriam Brown,
Levi Eice, Hannah Bice, Jeremiah Truesdell, Elijah
Hammond, Rhoda Beed and Joanna Beardsley. Middle-
bury being then a part of Warsaw, and a Baptist church
having been formed there, this church was first known,
though only for a few years, as the second Baptist Church
of Warsaw. Joseph Porter was the first deacon, chosen
in April, 1811, and Jeremiah Irons the first pastor en-
gaged in the autumn of 1811. The church was born in
a revival. During the first few months of its history,
at least twenty-eight were baptized, so that at the end of
its first year the church numbered forty-nine members.
In 1828 the church was incorporated under the name
of the "Baptist Church and Society ,in Warsaw." The
meeting for incorporation was held June 9, 1828, and
the certificate was filed in the office of the county clerk
at Batavia on July 1, 1828, The first trustees, elected
at the meeting for incorporation, were David Fargo,
Samuel Salisbury and Seth Higgins.
The church joined the Holland Purchase Association
in 1812, when its name appears in the first published
minutes of that organization. In that year it reported
forty-four members, and Joseph Porter was the delegate.
The next year three delegates are mentioned, Elders
William Pattison and Jabez Boomer, and Elijah Ham-
mond. Other delegates whose names are recorded in
57
these early yeairs are William Wiseman, Nehemiah
Fargo, Aaron Lyon, David Fargo, Shubel Reynolds, and
Jonathan F. Hibbard. Other prominent names, found in
the early minutes of the church, are Samuel Salisbury,
John Truesdell, Sylvanus Hawley, Seth Higgins. and John
Windsor, the last being elected treasurer of the Church
and Society 1833. In 1827 the church withdrew from
the Holland Purchase Association, and the next year
joined the Genesee Association, with which it is still
connected.
On September 15, 1827, the following members were dis-
missed to form a Baptist church in Gainesville: William
Wiseman, William Devoe, Noah Wiseman, Dennis Wise-
man, Warren Thorp, William Pattison, Susan Parker, Lydia
Thorp, Lucy Pattison, Sally Pattison, Polly Wiseman, Ann
Stocker, Thankful Page, Sally Ann Wright, Susanna Barber,
Sally Stocking, Mary Ann Wiseman, Sally Hunger. This
church was recognized on October 6, 1827, but has since
become extinct.
An interesting item in regard to the pastor's salary is
found in the church minutes under date of January 19,
1828, and reads as follows: "Voted to give Elder Bernard
a call to preach with us two-thirds of the time for one
year to commence next May, 1828, and to give him for
his services-, two hundred dollars and find his firewood.
It was a unanimous vote."
At first the church met for worship in barns and
school houses, John Truesdell's bam being a frequent
and favorite place of meeting. A Union Society had
been organized, and in 1817 "A house of worship was
erected in the village, principally by the joint efforts
of the Baptists and Presbyterians. It was only inclos-
ed, however, and could be occupied only in the sum-
mer season. In March, 1819, the Baptists sold out
their interest to the Presbyterians, by whom it was finished
in the spring of 1821." (Young's -History of Warsaw). In
1828, while Elder David Bernard was pastor, the Baptist
church erected its first meeting house on what is now the
west side of the cemetery. This was used until 1842,
when it was sold, torn down, and built over again into
a dwelling house, which still stands on North Main Street
near the Methodist church. In 1842 the second house of
58 SlSTOBY OF THE
worship was erected in the village on the site of the pres-
ent church building. This was extensively repaired in
1880 at a cost of nearly $1,400, and was re-dedicated on
December 30th of that year. In 1889 the building was
sold and removed and the present beautiful brick struc-
ture erected on the same site at a cost of $13,675, in-
cluding furnishings. The corner stone was laid on July
16, 1889, and the service of dedication was held on Feb-
ruary 26, 1890.
It may here be added that in 1873 the parsonage on
Grove street was purchased.
The church was not without its serious problems in
the early years of its history. One of these is seen in
the following question addressed by the church to the Hol-
land Purchase Association at its meeting in Middlebury
in 1823: "Suppose a brother declare his belief in uni-
versal salvation or restoration; what course shall the
church take with him? Shall he be excluded, and what
shall his crime be called?" And this is the answer of
the Association: "They shall choose a commttee of well
informed brethren to labor with him. Should he not be
gained, he must be excluded for embracing heresy or
false doctrine."
Equal suffrage was another question of some import-
ance in the early history. The minutes of January 1,
1830, contain this record: "The case of the sisters
voting in the church decided unanimously. See paper on
file. Sisters no authority, no right to vote, but should
be called on after the brethren." The church seems soon
to have been ashamed of this resolution, for in the min-
utes of April 3, 1830, we read: "Resolved to destroy a
decision of the church left on file in relation to the sisters
voting." And the question was finally settled on October
23, 1830, under which date this record appears: "The
subject of respecting sisters voting was brought forward
and resolved that each member enjoy their privilege."
This ungrammatical sentence is the Magna Charta of the
women of Warsaw Baptist Church, the only guarantee so
far as the official records show, of their right to vote in
church meeting.
The attitude of the church on the slavery question
may be judged from the fact that a record states that
WAESAW CENTfiNNlAti CELEBEATION 59
on April 22, 1854. an offering was made to aid fugitive
slaves. The church thus owned some shares in the "un-
der-ground railroad. "
But by far the most serious question which agitated
the church in the early years of its histroy was that
concerning secret societies, and this was a problem com-
mon to all churches at that time. In 1827 the church
passed a resolution against Free Masonry and made it
one of the Articles of Faith. In the same year it with-
drew from the Holland Purchase Association because that
body did not take a radical attitude on the question of
secret societies. From time to time the problem re-ap-
peared, and was finally settled by the following resolu-
tions passed on September 19, 1859: "In view of the
troubles that have agitated this church for the past few
months in regard to the matter of her mem-
bers being connected with secret societies, we feel where
so great a variety of opinion prevails (and which in the
exercise of Christian charity we are bound to believe
conscientious on all sides), that it is not best for us as
a church to express any opinion in this matter either
sanctioning or condemning those who are now already
connected with such societies, but to leave them free to
act as their own consciences shall dictate to be
for the best interests of Zion. But as it must be con-
ceded by all that this is a very fertile source of trouble
and discussion, in this light we kindly advise those
who are now connected with such societies to withdraw
from them, or at least if they do continue to hold their
connection, to endeavor that it shall be in such a man-
ner that it shall not offend those who think differently;
and we feel called upon to say very emphatically to all
who are now disconnected that we think it is their duty
not to entangle themselves with any such alliance, and
also to advise all parties to very carefully avoid all dis-
cussion upon, or tending to lead to this subject, so that
peace maybe restored to the church." These resolutions^
though not as liberal as the Christian sentiment of the
present time when the controversy is a thing of the past,
are, nevertheless, wonderfully broad in spirit when we con-
sider how high the feeling ran and how acute the dis-
cussion was. This church thus practically settled the
60 SISTOSy OF Tttfi
matter long before many other churches were out of the
controversy, and individual prejudice gradually disap-
peared in succeding years.
Beginning with eighteen members in 1810, the church
increased in numbers with great regularity until in 1843
it had 219 members, having at that time, it is claimed,
the largest membership of any church in Warsaw. It
then began to decrease steadily in numbers, the tide
being occasionally turned for a year or so by a revival,
until in 1868 there were only 89 members. Since that
time there has been an almost uninterrupted growth, the
membership reaching the highest point in 1900, when
there were 301 members on the chuich roll. The records
show that considerably over 700 persons have been re-
ceived into the church by profession of faith and bap-
tism. Including those who have joined by letter or
otherwise, about 1500 persons in all have been received
into the membership of the church during its history.
There have been special seasons of revivals in the years
1810-11, 1820, 1831, 1842-43, 1863, 1857-58, 1870, 1876, 1887-88,
and 1899. It is interesting to note that these times of
spiritual activity and power have occurred on an average
once in ten years.
The church has always been especially interested in
missionary work. So far as its records show, and they
are by no means complete, over $7,200, have been given
for missions and other objects of benevolence. There is
a record of a missionary meeting on October 24, 1833,
at which a native Burman was present and an address
was given by one who was about to start for Burmah as
a missionary. The record concludes as follows : "At
the close a collection was taken in which was contributed
between 16 and 17 dollars besides some shalls [" shawls"
probably meant], riags, etc., which [were] given to Eld.
Dean to help bear him away to the Burman Empire as
an ambassador of Christ." This church has also sent some
of its own number to the mission field. Mrs. Juliet
Pattison Binney, daughter of Rev. William Pattison, one
of the pastors of the church, and wife of Rev. Joseph
Getchell Binney, D. D., was for many years a missionary
in Burmah. Dr. Binney organized the educational
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 61
work for the Karens, and was at the head of a school
in Maulmain, afterwards removed to Rangoon, Burmah.
More than three hundred Karen ministers were educated
by him, and he also did much work in translating and
publishing books in the Karen language. In all this
work as missionary, teacher and translator, Dr. Binney
was ably assisted by his faithful wife. Dr. Binney
died on November 26, 1877, on his return voyage to
Burmah after a short visit to this country for his health
and was buried in the Indian Ocean. Mrs. Binney died
on May 18, 1884, at Rangoon, Burmah. Another mem-
ber of the church who became a missionary was Mrs.
Sarah Griffith Mosier. She left Warsaw for India in
October, 1890, and on December 8th of that year
was married to Rev. L. H. Mosier of Mandelay, Burmah.
Her work was cut short by her death in Burmah on
June 26, 1891.
Turning to other lines of service, this church hag
Sent out two college presidents. Rev. Robert E. Patti-
son, D. D., was baptized into the membership of the
church when a young man. He studied at Amherst
College, and stood second in a class of forty. As pas-
tor, professor and college president, he attained a position
of great prominence in the Baptist denomination. He
was the author of a "Commentary on the Epistle to
the Ephesians," He died in 1874 at the residence of
his eldest son, in St. Louis. The Hon. James R.
Doolittle, LL. D., was for a number of years a mem-
ber of this church, which he joined by baptism. In
1851, he removed to Racine, Wisconsin, and later served
for two terms as United States senator from that state.
He was for a succession of years a professor in the law
school, and for one year president of the old University
of Chicago.
In its ninety-three years of existence, the church has had
thirty-five pastors, whose names are as follows: Jeremiah
Irons, David Hurlburt, Jabez Boomer, William Pattison,
Leonard Anson, Anson Tuthill, David Bernard, Peter
Freeman, Abraham Ennis, G. V. Walling, Joseph Elliott,
B. Wilcox, Hiram K. Stimson, Judah L. Richmond, A.
C. Barren, Hogarth Leavenworth, W. C. Hubbard,
Philander Shedd, Howell Smith, William Cormac, J. B.
62 HISTOBY OF THE
Pitman, Samuel Hough, Wheeler I. Crane, Abner Morrill,
Alphonso C. Williams, Cyrus M. Booth, B. H. Damon,
Jirah B. Ewell, Francis Sherer, James J. Townsend,
Henry H. Emmett, Otis A. Dike, Oscar B. McKay,
Arthur S. Cole, Ellis Gilbert. Of these pastors it is
interesting to note that Elders Jabez Boomer and
William Pattison were among _ the early settlers in War-
saw or its vicinity. The former was here ordained to
the gospel ministry on August 29th, 1816. Elder H. K.
Stimson served the church twice as pastor. The average
length of pastorate has been about two years and three
months. The longest pastorate was that of Rev. O. R.
McKay, who served the church six years and five months.
The church has had twenty-five deacons, whose names,
in the order of their election to office, are as follows:
Joseph Porter, Elijah Hammond, William Wiseman, Jona-
than P. Hibbard, Samuel Salisbury, Abial Lathrop, David
Fargo, Broughton W. Crane, John Starks, Samuel L.
Keeney, Simeon Holton, Calvin T. Bryant, Jacob J. Brin-
instool, Lucius Austin, Dorson C. Bentley, Austin Lane,
Charles Cheney, Benjamin Roberts, Andrew J. Sayer,
George W. Bradley, Fred A. Merchant, Samuel J. Munger,
Frank H. Roberts, George W. Perrine, Hezekiah S. Fargo.
Allen Fargo was two or three times elected deacon by the
church, but declined to serve. Five of the deacons served
the church for more than twenty years, as follows : Brough-
ton W. Crane, 43 years, from 1834 to 1877; Calvin T.
Bryant, 33 years, from 1869- to 1902; Simeon Holton, 27
years and 7 months, from 1857 to 1885; Jonathan F. Hib-
bard, 25 years and 3 months, from 1827 to 1853 ; and Samuel
Salisbury, about 30 years as nearly as can be ascer-
tained, though divided into two terms of service. Next
in length of service come J. J. Brininstool, who held office
18 years and 3 months, and the present senior deacon of
the church, Andrew J. Sayer, the eighteenth anniversary
of whose election to the office of deacon comes on Octo-
ber 3d of the present year, 1903.
This history has been compiled principally from the
following sources:
Church minutes from 1827 to 1834, and from 1847 to
1903.
Certificate of Incorporation.
WABSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBBATION 63
Minutes of Holland Purchase Association from 1812 to
1827.
Minutes of Genesee Association from 1828 to 1902.
History of the church by Eev. Abner Morrill, in minutes
of Genesee Baptist Association for 1867.
History of Warsaw, by A. W. Young.
The Baptist Encyclopedia, edited by "William Cathcart,
D. D.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Sermon Dy Rev. H. S. Qatley, Sunday, June 28, 1903
Epliedans Z;19, SO, SI: "Now tlierefore ye <t.re mi more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-oitizens loith the saints,
and qf the household qf Ood; and are built upon the .fouri-
dalion qf tlie apostles and prophets, Jeims Christ himself being
tlie chief comer stone; in wlioni all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."
To-day we begin to commemorate the one Imndredth
anniversary of the settlement of our town. It is most
proper that this celebration should begin on the Lord's
day, and with appropriate sermons in tlie churches of tho
village; for the Christian religion has been tho most
potent influence at work in the growtli and development
of a village in the valley of the Oatka.
Now we, who are known as Trinity Church, a parish
of the I'rotestant Episcopal Church of the United Htates
of America, have had a part in the religious life of
Warsaw during these one hundred years. It Is my pur-
pose this morning to speak to you of the lilstory of tho
work of our church during that period. The first ques-
tions that confront us are: Wluit are we and whoro
did we come from. The answer to both of these ([uos-
tions is part of the text; "Fellow-citizens with tho saints
of the household of God" and "Founded upon the apostles
and prophets." Wo use the word "saints" with its New
Testament moaning, which was the same as our modern
term church member. The saints wore those who had
been separated from the world by being baptized into
the name ol' the Lord Jesus Christ. We are then fellow-
citizens with all men, everywhere, who have been bap-
tized witli water in the name of the Father, and of tlie
Son and of the Holy Ghost. We acknowledge God as Our
Father and we are His children and therefore look
upon ourselves not only as " foUow-oitizens with saints,"
but also "of the household of God."
65
As to whence we came, we answer again in the words
of the text: "Built upon the foundation of the Apostles
and Prophets." The Apostles and their associates founded
a church at Jerusalem, which spread through Judea, to
Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. We
believe that the definite organization which grew up under
the hands of the last of the Apostles has been preserved
down through the ages which followed, until it planted
its standards in this new land, and took its part in the
spiritual building up of the nation.
The " Parish of Trinity Church, in the village of War-
saw," was organized May 12, 1852. The germ of this or-
ganization, however, was planted at a much earlier date,
and its friends had been for many years favored, for short
periods, with the services of ministers of the Protestant
Episcopal Church. The Rev. Richard galmon, missionary
at Geneseo, in his report to the New York Convention
of 1826, wrote that he was engaged for the ensuing year
conditionally to preach at Wethersfield and Warsaw alter-
nately, for one-half the time. To the Convention of 1828,
he reported that he had moved to Warsaw, the center of
the station; that he had here given nineteen Sundays
and thirty-two lectures ; that the service was performed
with great zeal and propriety; and that several additions
had been made to the communicants. In September, 1828,
Bishop Hobart confirmed six persons. In 1829, Rev. Mr.
Salmon, who appears to have moved to Medina, reported
to the Convention, "That the congregation at Warsaw,
and also those at Wethersfield and Sheldon, notwithstand-
ing their destitute circumstances during the past year,
are evidently flourishing; and the labors of a Missionary
would unquestionably be greatly blessed." He wrote also
that the Sabbath School at Warsaw, formed during his
location there, of about twenty-flve scholars, had been in-
creased to an average attendance of between eighty and
ninety. Being again missionary at Warsaw, he reported
to the Convention of 1831, that during the thirteen months
past, he had "officiated half the time at Warsaw, quarter
at Sheldon, and a quarter at Wethersfield; and occasion-
ally on Sunday evenings and on week days at Wyoming.
Bishop Onderdonk, in August 1832, visited Warsaw, bap-
tized one adult, and confirmed eleven."
66 III8T0EY or THE
Rev. Alexander Fraser, missionary at Warsaw, reported
to the Convention of 1834: "When I came to Warsaw,
I found it to be the day of small and feeble things in-
deed. * * * * I have labored the greater part of the
time at Warsaw. The congregations are good, and the
prospects of the church are more pleasing than at any
former period." To the convention of 1835, Rev. Isaac
Garvin reported that he had labored at Warsaw half the
time, and divided the rest between Wethersfield and
Aurora.
The Rev. Henry TuUidge, missionary at Wethersfield
reported to the Convention of 1839: "I have occasionally
preached a third service at Warsaw. I have preached at
Warsaw several times in the Methodist and Presbyterian
houses to very respectable congregations. * * * * i am
not without hope that the church may again be revived
there. There are still remaining some who love the
Church, and would do all in their power for its support.
In 1843, Bishop DeLancey preached one Sabbath in the
Baptist house of worship and baptized one child."
We now come to the organization of the Society under
its present title.
On the 12th of May, 1852, in pursuance of a notice
previously given on two successive Sabbaths, the follow-
ing named persons incorporated themselves under the act
of the legislature as a religious society, to be known in
law by the name and title of " The Rector, Wardens and
Vestrymen of Trinity Church in the Town of Warsaw in
the County of Wyoming," John A. McElwain, John 0.
Meachem, Noble Morris, Ransom 8. Watson, Nehemiah
Park, Jr., Richard M. Tunks, Alonzo W. Wood, Charles
W. Bailey. The Rev. A. D. Benedict, rector of the
church and congregation, was called to the Chair, and
Charles W. Bailey was appointed secretary. The meet-
ing then proceeded to elect two Church Wardens and
eight vestrymen, John A. McElwain and John G. Meachem
were elected Church Wardens, and Alonzo W. Wood,
Nehemiah Park, Jr., Linus W. Thayer, Noble Morris,
Ransom 8. Watson, Charles W. Bailey, Richard M. Tunks
and Abel Webster were elected Church Vestrymen.
Mr. Noble Morris is worshiping with us this morning
to commeniorate that event.
WAKSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 67
A certificate of incorporation having been prepared, it
was signed by the officers of the meeting, and caused to
be recorded. In June, 1853, at a meeting of the Vestry,
it was voted that a lot be purchased for a house of
worship, and a building committee was appointed, consist-
ing of John G. Meachem, N. Park and A. W. Wood.
On Tuesday, August 16, 1853, the corner stone of the
new church building was laid. The Rev. Dr. BoUes of
Batavia delivered the address. The articles in the box
placed in the comer stone were, the record of the
organization of the parish, the names of the Rector,
Wardens, and Vestrymen and of the builder; the last
number of each of our village papers, a copy of the Gos-
pel Messenger, one of the Diocesan Journal, a Bible and
the Book of Common Prayer.
On Ascension Day, May 25, 1854, in the morning,
the building was in due form consecrated " to the wor-
ship and service of Almighty God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, by the name of Trinity Church."
The Rt. Rev. William H. DeLancey, D. D., first Bishop
of Western New York, read the Office of Consecration
and preached the sermon. In the evening he preached
again and confirmed six persons; Charles Henshaw, Wil-
liam G. Meachem, Mrs. Maria Mowry, Mrs. Jane An-
drews, Miss Sophia Sutherland and Miss Amelia J. Bar-
ber.
In March, 1864, by the will of the late Mrs. Laura S.
Watson, the church came into possession of a house and
lot, to be held as a parsonage, "so long as the church
shall remain an organized body and shall have a regu-
larly established rector or clergyman therein."
Since the date of the present organization. Rev. A.
D. Benedict had the pastoral charge of the church, from
May 12th, 1852, until April, 1855.
Rev. Wm. White Montgomery became rector June 8th,
1856, resigned April 3, 1858.
Rev. Thomas Applegate became rector June 1st, 1858,
resigned June 1st, 1859.
Rev. Wm. O. Gorham became rector December 25th,
1869, and resigned June, 1862,
68 ins'ioiiY OF Tuic
Rev. Noble Palmer became rector Novenilier, 1802, and
resigned October, 1863.
Kcv. Robert llorwood was called October lOtli, 1868,
to supply the parish for one year In Octdber, Ihim,
the call was renewed lor another year, lie resigned
.rune, 1865.
Rev. John V. Stryker became rector March Ist, 1866
and continued in charge until Octoiicr 1, 1877.
The Rev. E. J. Oook was elected rector January 1,
1878 and officiated until July 25, 1882.
The Rev. Charles T. Coerr was rector from February
1, 1883 until October 1, 1884. '
The Rev. A. J. Brockway was elected rector on
December 29, 1884 and remained until July 15th, 1881).
The 'Rev. William (iardham officiated as rector from
April 24, 1890 until August 25, 1890.
The Rev. II. W. Spaulding, D. D., began his rectorship
December 80, 1890 and died September «, 1891.
The Rev. M. C. Hyde became rector May 8, 1898, and
died November 18, 1899.
The Rev. IT. S. Oatley became rector May 1, 1900
and remains rector at this celebration.
Since the organization of the parish in 1852 there have
been baptized as recorded in the Parish Register, 311
persons; 237 persons confirmed; 87 couples married; and
168 persons buried.
The semi-centennial of the organization of the parish
was celebrated in 1902. On Trinity Sunday, May 25, a
corporate Communion of the parish was held. On Thurs-
day, June 12, Edward M. H. Knapp, who had been
reared in the parish, was ordained to the Diaconate.
The Rev. Townsend Russell, rector of St. Thomas Church,
Brooklyn, N. Y., preached the sermon. The Rev. Dr.
Boynton of Geneseo, the Rev. Pierre Gushing of LeRoy,
the Rev. Allen Prescott of Cuba, the Rev. Edwin Hoff-
man of Homellsville, and the rector of this parish, assist-
ed the Bishop of the DioccKo in the laying-on-of-hands.
In the year lOOO the rectory was thoroughly renovated
at a cost of about eight hundred dollars. In 1902 the
church building was painted outside, and a new cross
tt'AKSAW CENTENTSriAl CELEBKATION 69
placed upon the spire, the old one having blown down
several years before. The parish at present numbers
nearly one hundred communicants and is entirely free from
all tadebtedness. The present Wardens of the church
are Nathan S. Beardslee and Eben O. MclVair; the Ves-
trymen are James O. McClure, Jacob M. Smith, Frank C.
Gould, Edward H. Morris, George "W. Warren, Robert
Hume, William H. Sherman, David M. Cauffman and T.
DeLancey Agar.
Siich is the history of our church in Warsaw during
these last one hundred years, and ia closing the ques-
tions might be asked : What do we stand for as a
christian organization, and to what do we look forward.
The text again furnishes the answer. "Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief corner stone" were the words of
St. Paul and the words express what we stand for. The
articles of our belief are the Apostles' Creed, which we
believe to be the simplest and best statement in human
language of the christian faith. And now brethren as
we look forward to another hundred years of christian
life let our watchwords be unity, work and hope. As we
press forward toward the high calling of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, let us strive and pray that in the
words of the text, we may grow "unto an holy temple
in the Lord."
evanoelical association
Evangelical Association Church History at Warsaw.
Wyoming County, N. Y., by Rev. I. K. Devitt
In 1845 or 1846, a pioneer preacher, of the Evangelical
Association, wended his way from Pennsylvania through
Steuben and Livingston counties into Wyoming county.
Here he found a settlement of German families located
around Warsaw that were like sheep without a shepherd,
not having any German preacher near, to baptize their
children and be their spiritual adviser. Having been
accustomed to attend divine service on the Sabbath day
in the old Vaterland, they hailed with joy this man of
God sent them. Some opened their houses for holding ser-
vices. Under the preached word of this earnest man of
God some were led to a knowledge of sin, turned to
God, sought forgiveness and united themselves with a
praying band. Who this preacher was the writer has
not been able to find out as yet.
In 1852-1853 evangelistic meetings were conducted by
Revs. Theo. Schneider and William Oetzel, 34 were con-
verted. Soon after they organized themselves into a
class and Eey. J. Yenni was appointed pastor by the
New York Conference. In the spring of 1853 they bought
a house, the first frame building in the neighborhood,
from Messrs. George and Luther Handy about one-quar-
ter of a mile west of the site of the present church,
moved it across the street, tore out the partitions and used
it as a place of meeting until 1866 when it became too
small and the present church was erected.
Among the descendants of the first men)bers many
have gone to almost every state in the Union and have
taken prominent places in the church and state. Some of
the brave boys and men that fell at the front came from
this church.
Among the charter members were Mich. Schmidt
and wife, Philip Schmidt and wife, Gottfried Goetz and
71
wife, Grandma Goetz, Jacob Goetz and wife, Abraham
Dick and wife, Mrs. Doratha Christ, Fisher family and
others. With three or four exceptions, all have gone to
their reward.
The following pastors have served the church: Revs.
J. Harlacher, J. Sindlinger, Franz Harlan, Mich. Eiss, A.
Z. Gottwals, J. Yenni, Theo. Schneider, P. AUes, J.
"Wagner, Theo. Hauch, M. Pfitzenger, H. Weiser, H.
Holzman, J. Greuzenbach, L. Herman, C. A. Wieseman,
G. F. Buesch, M. Lehn, G. Trech, J. Eberling, P. Spath,
C. F. Stube, H. Koch, A. Schlenk, C. W. Neuendorf, Philip
Sachs, and I. K. Devitt, the present pastor.
The church at present is in a prosperous condition and
on the 30th day of August will celebrate its semi-centen-
nial.
ST, MICHAEL'S CHURCH
The Catholic church [in Warsaw was during many years
a station and afterward a mission. About the year 1850
Father McConnell established a station here and built a
church on the corner of Mechanic and North streets in
this village. He was succeeded in turn by Father Lawton,
Father McGinnis, Father Purcell and Father Cook, the latter
remaining in charge for about eight years. All these priests
resided in Portageville. The first resident priest of St.
Michael's parish was Bev. T. Fitzpatrick who remained
four years. The building erected by Father McConnell
was not sufficiently large to meet the needs of the constantly
increasing congregation, and Father Fitzpatrick had it en-
larged to about double its former capacity. A parsonage
was purchased in 1870. On March 19, 1874, Rev. M.
O'Dwyer was placed in charge by Bishop Ryan.
Father O'Dwyer was followed by Rev. Maurice Lee,
who remained for several years and did good work.
Rev. James J. Leddy became priest of St. Michael's
church and parish on June 22, 1887, coming to Warsaw
from Westfleld. He accomplished much in the way of
elevating and giving tone and dignity to the parish, hav-
ing the hearty co-operation of his parishioners. He placed
the parish on a strong financial footing and in the erec-
tion of the present fine church edifice and parochial resi-
dence demonstrated great executive ability. He remained
in Warsaw for ten years, going from here to the irre-
movable rectorship of St. John church in Lockport.
Rev. James J. Leddy was succeeded by Rev. Michael
Noonan, who remained less than a year, and was followed
by Rev. J. H. Leddy, who died on May 13, 1901, in the
second year of his pastorate here. Two weeks later Rev.
Thomas H. Murray came to this parish from Andover,
N. Y., and though in ill health was so earnest and en-
ergetic that he accomplished much good work. He died
on December 3d, 1902 and was succeeded in February 1903
by Rev J. J. Rogers, the present rector.
Part T VIA o
"OLD HOME DAY"
Tuesday Afternoon. June 30, 1903
ELBERT E. FARMAN
ADDRESS OF WELCOME
BY JUDGE E. E. FARMAN
Fellow Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen:—
It is with great pleasure that I perform the duty
assigned to me of extending to you a welcome on this
memorable occasion, the celebration of Warsaw's first
Centennial. To all I extMid greetings and a hearty
welcome. So far as I am speaking to former residents
of our town I wish to emphasize this welcome, which I
extend on behalf of the Centennial Association and of all
the citizens of Warsaw. We welcome you to your old
homes, hallowed in many instances, by the sacred rem-
iniscences of childhood.
We are assembled today to recall the memories and
honor the brave men and women, who a hundred years
ago came from the east and settled in the primeval
forests that then covered the now beautiful valley of the
Oatka and its surrounding hills. Following lines of
blazed trees, or some old trails, crossing streams without
bridges, passing through swamps and marshes without
roads, after weeks of laborious travel they arrived at
the sight of their new home, built their log cabins, and
commenced felling the tall elms whose wide-spreading
branches covered the whole valley. Wild animals often
made the nights hideous, and the savage Indian was, at
times, a real cause of alarm.
It was a remarkable period, a new epoch in American
history, the commencement of that western emigration,
destined to sweep across the continent.
The echoes of the Revolution had just died away.
The aspirations of a people for liberty had been realized.
A nation had been bom. It was in its infancy, but it
had the vigor, the virility of manhood.
The Indian tribes still settled in Central New York,
were no longer stimulated to hostilities by the subsidies
76 IIISTOEY OF THE
of a foreign power, and fears of the atrocities of for-
mer years were to a large extent, removed. The great
barrier, the wall of the wilderness, defended by a dread-
ed foe, which had long formed the western boundary of
the American settlements seemed now surmountable.
Large numbers of those born in Eastern New York and
New England, moved by some mysterious impulse, some
of the hidden springs imbedded in man, perhaps the
love of adventure, or the never satiated desire of more
and better lands that characterizes the Anglo-Saxon, sud-
denly left their old homes and sought new ones in the
unbroken solitude of a vast wilderness.
It is the result of this spirit of adventure, the love
of progress, the constant reaching out for something bet-
ter or more abundant, that has made this young nation
one of the greatest, one of the richest and most power-
ful on the globe, a nation destined to be the greatest,
the wealthiest, the most powerful.
It is a singular fact that for twenty centuries pre-
vious to that just past, the world made little progress in
experimental science, in the means and manner of living,
the art of manufacture, the mode and facilities of com-
munication and transportation. In the arts of architecture
and sculpture the ancients attained a degree of perfection
that has never been surpassed. Painting was at its
zenith in the days of the Kenaissance. Gutenburg per-
fected a printing press with movable type centuries be-
fore. Fire-arms had long been in use. Whitney had
then lately made the wonderful invention of the cotton-
gin, but the means and modes of tilling the soil, in 1803,
were as primitive as those of the ancient Parthians; the
grain of the fields was cut with a sickle of the same
form as those of the days of Moses ; the ox-cart was no
improvement upon the vehicles of the Roman; grain was
threshed by the flail, or the tread of cattle as on the
threshing floors of sacred history, and tossed in the wind
to separate it from the chaff; all modern means of fast
transportation and instantaneous communication were
wholly unknown; and had not even entered the mind of
the wildest, optimistic dreamer. There had been at all
times, throughout the historic periods, an abundance of
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 77
metaphysicians, who, in most instances, repeated the
theories, the vagaries of some of their predecessors, but
as we look back through the centuries, the world in ma-
terial progress, in the departments I have mentioned,
seems to have stood still for more than two thousand
years, making almost literally true the old adage, "there
is nothing new under the sun."
Under all the adverse conditions then existing, separated
from the earlier occupied portions of our country by vast
tracts of forests, the settlement of Warsaw was com-
menced.
It is not for me to give an account of the privations,
the hardships, the sufferings of these noble settlers on
one hand, nor, on the other, the eminent success that
crowned their arduous labors. That will be better done
by others at the proper time.
I can say, however, that it was the happy fortune, of
these pioneers to witness the beginning of a glorious
change, and some of them lived not only to see this valley,
with its green fields, as beautiful as we, looking from the
hillsides, behold it today, to realize the fact of the com-
pletion of a Viraterway connecting the Hudson with the
chain of great Western lakes, but in their advanced years
they heard the sounds of the moving trains, the screech-
ing of the locomotive whistle, and received in the morn-
ing papers news sent by the electric wire from all parts of
the civilized world. What marvelous changes in a single
generation ! The Gods of Homer were outdone ! They
sent their messages by swiftwinged carriers. They
were unable to chain the lightnings and subjugate them to
their service.
Deacon Gates, the venerable grandfather of one of our
speakers today, in the year 1806, spent twenty-six days on
a jou.rney through the forest from Litchfield, N. Y., only
a few miles east of Utica, to Sheldon in this county.
What would he then have thought, bt taking his noon
meal in Buffalo and lodging in New York the night of
the same day, of talking directly with a friend in Boston,
and then by a change in the connection of the wires,
with another at the head of the then mysterious and
almost unknown lakes!
78 HISTORY OF THE
The early settlers of Warsaw did well their part in
produciug these wonderful changes, and they and their
descendants and successors, may justly be classed among
the most advanced, intellectually, morally, and as Chris-
tians. Few towns, if any, have surpassed ours in these
respects. Many of its sons have gone forth well armored
for the battle of life, and have made records of which
we may all be^justly proud.
We have with us today many worthy descendants of the
settlers of 1803 ajid 1804, and the years soon following,
representative men and women, either here or in other
commimities where they reside. There are still larger
numbers who are, absent in distant states and countries.
I might call the 'roll of a long list of honored names,
both the living aM. the dead. Should I do so, I should
undoubtedly omit .anany equally worthy of our admiration.
Large numbers haf e been engaged in those pursuits that
are the foundation' of all material progress. I refer to
agriculture and the -mechanical industries. Others have
been employed in the noble work of educating the young,
laying the foundation for intellectual and moral commu-
nities. Still others are in the professions, ministers,
lawyers, doctors. Some are writers, speakers, men and
women of thought, moulders of public sentiment, leaders
in the Commonwealth. Many have distinguished them-
selves in the service of their country, on the battlefield
or in naval conflicts, defending the old flag on land and
sea.
In honoring the dead and the living today, we go be-
yond the present territorial limits of Warsaw. Middle-
bury was a part of Warsaw until 1812, and Gainesville
until 1814. We therefore count, with pride, the early
settlers of these towns and their sons and daughters as a
part of our own.
As soon as the way was opened the forests swarmed
with settlers. The east was moving west. Within five
years from the time that Elizur Webster built the first
cabin, with its roof of elm bark, a little west of the
site of the present Baptist church, the woodman's axe
was heard in every part of the town. Log cabins arose
with magical rapidity. The land was cleared of forest
trees, and many fields were soon green with growing
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 79
wheat and corn, the latter constituting the principal pro-
duct of the first settlors. It, however, required the life
of a whole generation to fully clear away the immense
growth of timber, the tall hemlocks, the stately maple,
the nut-bearing beech,' and in the valley and other low
lands, the graceful elm. Many fell in the fierce battle
with nature without reaping their well earned, just re-
wards; others saw and enjoyed the full fruition of their
labors. The bears and wolves, the original occupants of
the dense forest, that had been troublesome to the set-
tlers, and the agile deer, that, though useful for food,
destroyed in the night time the growing grain disappeared,
and the ox, the horse, and the sheep took their place.
The land brought forth its fruits abundantly. Boada,
farm and school-houses and churches were built, and
today the descendants and successors of those hardy, in-
dustrious pioneers are in the full enjoyment of their rich
heritage. Factories are springing up, and it now de-
pends on the present and future residents of Warsaw by
the same honest, faithful and laborious efforts that char-
acterized the heroes who made the wilderness a land of
flowers, of grains, and of fruits, a land of abundance
and of happiness, not only to continue the present mater-
ial prosperity, to accelerate our growth as a community,
a town, but to foster our institutions of learning, to
promote morality and all the Christian virtues, and thus
better the condition and add to the well-being and hap-
piness of our citizens.
In the presence of the eminent speakers of this
occasion I shall not longer trespass on your time. I
will only agaifi assure you of our hearty welcome, and
express the wish that those who, coming from other
places, have honored us with their presence, will be so
received by their old acquaintances and friends that they
may return to tlieir homes glad that they have made
the visit, and ever afterwards cherish the kindest mem-
ories of the old town in the valley.
ADDRESS
BY WILLIAM HENRY MERRILL
Mr. President and Friends : —
Twenty-eight years I lived among you; twenty-eight
years I have been away. Yet the return is to me, com-
ing home. So strong and dear are the old associations !
So true it is that " there are no friends like the old
friends!"
I remember well entering the village for the first
time, in ISil, through the newly opened "gulf road" —
that winding and narrow defile which seemed deeper and
more wonderful to my boyish eyes than a canyon of the
Eocky Mountains would seem today. "We moved into
the Horace Thayer house, on lower Buffalo street, since
owned by Mr. Purdy. 1 remember as the first play-
ground a little triangle of grass at the intersection of
Buffalo and Water streets, on the latter of which lived
our cousins, the Seth M. Gateses, and Alanson Bartlett,
whose then unborn sons, once my "printer's devils," and
since then the winners of honorable success in their
chosen professions, are here today.
My first school was in the district school-house on
Genesee street. If I call for a show of hands by those
who sat under the instructions of those faithful teachers,
Julia Putnam and Urania Stevens, 1 am sure I shall get
some responses? I thought so! Fifty-six years are not
so very long if we keep the heart young. The
Academy, on South Main street, was then in process of
building, and the older boys utilized some of their vaca-
tion days, and earned the price of a "caravan" ticket,
picking up cobble-stones on the fruitful East Hill to help
forward the work of construction. Among the first
teachers was Simeon D. Lewis, that true man and model
citizen, whose recent- sudden death I regretted the more
because it deprived him of the enjoyment he would have
WIIJUAM HENRY MERRILL
81
felt in this celebration, and forbade for the absent friends
who loved him one more sight of that face "where kind-
liness had made her home."
How many of the boys or girls of fifty years ago, I
wonder, remember the new principal who sought to " rule
the school by kindness?" In disregard of the wisdom
of Solomon, he woidd "spare the rod." Indeed, he let
it be known that he had no rod and did not beUeve
in whipping. He bought slippers for the boys to wear
in the school-room in place of their muddy boots. He
spoke in a gentle voice of the beauty of goodness.
Some of the older boys, in whom lurked still a little of
the "untutored savage," received these soft overtures at
first with incredulity, and then with what Grover Cleve-
land would caU "ghoulish glee." On about the third
morning — a raw day in the autumn — ^the new teacher
found the slippers stufEed into the stove-pipe, the school-
room filled with smoke, his table turned upside down,
and pandemonium let loose. His stay, it hardly need be
said, was short.
A very dlfEerent man was his successor, Norman K.
Wright — a tall, rawboned Vermohter, with the eye of a
hawk and a hand of iron. I can hear again the sharp
bang on the master's table with which he called the
school to order, and see the glitter and twinkle of his
eye as he slowly but keenly surveyed the assembled
pupils. His words were few, but ominous. "I am em-
ployed" he said, "to teach this school. To teach it I must
be the master. 1 am accustomed to being the master
where I teach. I have heard that my predecessor tried
to rule you by kindness and failed. You did not ap-
preciate kindness, and he did not believe in corporal
punishment. It pained him to whip a pupil. I am dif-
ferent I"— with a terrible emphasis. "Nothing gives me
greater satisfaction than to thrash a young rebel who
breaks the rules." And the new teacher rubbed his
strong hands together and grinned sardonically, as if in
pleasant anticipation of his job.
He had not long to wait. The mischievous spirits put
their heads together after school was out, and the next
day during a recitation spat went a big paper wad on to
82 IIISTOBY OK THE
the blackboard. "Anson Doolittle will step to tlie plat-
form," said the teacher. Young Anson— who afterward
was a stalwart and brave soldier in the war for the Union
and died fighting for his country— sullenly shook his curly
head, braced his stout legs under the desk and grasped
his seat as Prof. Wright moved toward him. Then the
long fingers of the teacher's hand fastened themselves in
the coat collar of the young rebel, and with a sudden
twist and jerk the desk was torn from its fastenings and
Anson landed on his back on the floor in front of tlie
rostrum.
"Studying will be suspended," said the schoolmaster,
and he proceeded to admonish the recalcitrant with a
ruler in a manner that left no doubt either as to his
purpose or his ability to rule the school.
Another most successful teacher of those early days
was Horace Briggs, still living, honored, venerated and
loved by all his surviving pupils — though one oi: tliem
still wonders if he really had, as was said, " eyes in the
back of his head" when mischief was going on, and how
he managed to walk "as still as a cat" to that part of
the school-room where he was least expected.
When the old Academy was outgrown and it became
necessary to erect a larger and more central building, it
chanced that I was a member of the Board of Trustees ;
and I have not forgotten the trouble we had in getting
the taxpayers to vote the necessary money. At the final
meeting there was a large turnout of the class which, I
judge by appearances, is long since extinct among you—
the tax-dodgers. As I entered the room with my faithful
ally and friend, Hon. William Bristol — whose skill in elec-
tioneering contributed so much to our success — he viewed
the long rows of stubborn dissenters : white-haired, dim-
eyed, decrepit, but very "sot" — and made the character-
istic observation; "Great Scott! I shall never again
doubt the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead!" IJut
we carried the meeting and built the school-house in spite
of the reappearance of the old fellows who, as the Irish-
man said were "dead but not sinsible of it."
This perhaps too personal retrospect of the schools of
Warsaw leads me to the main thought of the brief ad-
dress I have prepared — a consideration of the forces and
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBBATION 83
influences, moral, religious, social and political, which
made this a finely representative town of Western New
York and of the New Englandized portion of the Union.
The early settlers of Warsaw and the mer who made
its character and its history for the first lialf century
were typical Americans of the original stock. They
were intelligent, industrious, thrifty, moral and religious.
They feared God and loved their fellow-men. Imbued
with the spirit of freedom and independence, they loved
Liberty, established Equality and practiced Fraternity.
Descendants of the Pilgrim and Puritan fathers, they
planted the school and the church wherever they went,
and supplemented the work of both with a free press
and an open library. It was fitting and natural that a
village thus started should furnish to the country two
college Presidents — ^Merrill Edwards Gates, formerly at the
head of Rutgers and Amherst, and George Williamson
Smith, of Trinity — and a large number of men eminent
in all the learned professions. The Warsaw that I knew
as boy and man was a fine example of pure democracy.
Its only caste was that of character. It recognized and
valued men not for what they had, but for what they
were. They did not ask who your grandfather was, but
how you "behaved yourself." The artificial aristocracy of
the dollar and the Chinese worship of ancestors had
not then made their appearance, though many of the fam-
ilies, like my own on both sides, could trace their lineage
through eight generations of Americans to the French
Huguenots and the English Pilgrims.
Through a common misfortune my father, Eli Merrill,
was, on removing here, a poor man ; but his children were
never made to feel the fact. We and others in the same
case were welcome and intimate in the families of the
wealthiest citizens. There were no lines of division drawn
by the assessment roll. The schools were common schools
— open to and attended and supported by all. The churches
were organized and conducted upon the principle that be-
fore God, "the maker of us all," as in just human gov-
ernment, all men are equal.
I lay stress upon these distinctive and fundamental con-
ditions of American Ijfe and character in the formative
84 HISTOBT OF THE
period, because they explain the Warsaw whose centen-
nial we are celebrating with justiiiable pride and affection —
the Warsaw of the Websters, McWhorters, Franks, Darlings,
Gateses, Judds, McElwains, Buxtons, Millers, Walkers,
Fargoes, Fishers and a score of other early settlers whose
names are interwoven with the history of the town.
The influence of these early associations in a truly
democratic community was of great and lasting benefit to
the young people of a half or a third of a century ago.
It has been my good fortune to meet many distinguished
men from my earliest manhood to the present time. Yet
the self-respect and the respect for others inculcated here
has kept me from either looking up or looking down at
my fellow-men. The level glance, the hand that goes half
way only, and the unbent knee are the prerogative and
the mark of republican equality. They express only par-
donable pride: the pride of freedom, of intelligence, of
character and culture. Democracy is not a leveller as
to ability, but it is, or ought to be as to rights, priv-
ileges and opportunity.
The first settler came to Warsaw in 1803. The first
school was opened in 1807. The first church was organized
in 1808. The first library was provided in 1823. The first
newspaper was established in 1828. Thus the forces that
"make for righteousness," that increase knowledge, that
bulwark liberty and strengthen free institutions followed
hard upon the pioneer. The organizing spirit, giving life
and direction to moral purpose, was further illustrated in
the formation of a temperance society in 1826 and an
anti-slavery society in 1833, among the first of such asso-
ciations in this country.
Yet deeply religious and morally earnest as were these
sons of the Puritans and the Huguenots, they were not
bigoted nor ascetic. They were always seeking the lighti
and to receive it they kept an open mind. I have often
said in description of my father, who was an early '"come
outer" in all directions, that he was an independent in
religion, an abolitionist in politics, a teetotaller as to
strong drink, an anti-tobacconist and a homoeopathist when
this was a new school. Yet there are those present, I
am sure, who will remember his tolerant spirit, his dry
humor, Ills fund of apt stories and that cheerful philoso-
WARSAW CENTEimiAl CEL:fiBEATiO]sr 85
phy of life which enabled pioneers to endure their hard-
ships with smiling fortitude.
Another characteristic of Warsaw, which I have been
glad to see is still in force, was the united public spirit of
its citizens. It was this which gave to us the water and
gas works, the new railroad, the fine churches and school-
house, the splendid soldiers' monument, and the many other
evidences of enterprise, energy, taste and liberality. Fort-
unate, too, has the village been in its leading citizens —
first of whom, in my day, I am sure we should all place
the Hon. Augustus Prank, followed by the Senators
Humphrey, uncle and nephew, none of whom ever wearied
in. thought or labor for the welfare of Warsaw. On every
first of January for many years it was the custom of Mr.
Frank to come to my desk in the New Yorker ofllce and
say: "Now let us make a list of the things the village
needs, and then agitate and work till we get them." The
list was always kept in sight, and as one by one "foun-
dations were put under the air castles," as Thoreau said,
the village improvement went on.
This public service was not always without its penalties,
however. When a member of the Village Board of Triistees
I labored to secure an extension of Buffalo and Mill streets
across the valley — giving the town what it had before
lacked, " four corners " for business purposes. The project
was carried through against considerable opposition; but
in doing so it was necessary to take a strip off the
side of the garden of our old neighbor and friend, Capt.
William Walker, a soldier of the war of 1812. He la-
mented the loss as 1 should have done. Upon my first visit
after our removal to Boston in 1875 I was invited to supper
by his son Lewis and his wife. The old gentleman was
quite deaf, and I could not help hearing Mrs. Walker say
to him as he sat in another room: "Father, Henry Merrill
has come to have tea with us*" " Who ?" he asked, with
his hand to his ear. "Hen-ry Mer-rill," she answered in
a louder tone. "Well," he said, "I hope he won't steal
any more of my garden!" My success as a reformer and
innovator in the board was so great — ^including a sidewalk
through the Gulf to the Erie station — that no party dared
renominate me for another term. Like some other re-
86
formers, they said I was too expensive. Bvit nobody could
wipe out the improvements !
This backward flight of memory, dear friends, almost
makes it seem that I am growing old, though I trust
you can see for yourself that this is not so! Despite
the scant gray locks and a crow's foot here and there,
in capacity for work or play, in the zest of life — even
in my enthusiasms — I feel about as young as when I left
you, nearly thirty years ago. And yet, though I am far
from being like Dr. Holmes's "Last Leaf," I realize that
in the silent village of the dead just south of the living
town.
The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that I have pressed
In their bloom;
And the names I loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.
I can see before me the faces of my boyhood's mates
in the replica faces of their children — yes, and of their
grandchildren. But the towering hills and the lovely
valley are unchanged. The Oatka still winds its silvery
course through the green fields. Along your embowered
streets the familiar homes nestle with their old-time
charm. And by the warmth of your welcome, and in
the happiness I feel at being again among you, I know
that Warsaw in its hundredth year is still the blest and
beautiful village that its wandering children have remem-
bered so long and loved so well.
MERRILL EDWARDS GATES
CENTENNIAL ORATION
BY MERRILL EDWARDS GATES, LL. D.. L. H. D.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Citizens of Warsaw :
The finest flavors of life and its most satisfying en-
joyments, we often miss entirely, simply because we do
not understand that they may be had for the taking.
The beautiful landscape which you long to see as you
read of the traveler who found it in a foreign land,
you may have for a walk or a drive to the hills that
overlook this lovely valley of peace. The hero whose
courage fires your heart when you read of his exploits,
has his equal among the men you have known who
once wore the blue; — ^perhaps in your next door neighbor
and friend, if you open your eyes to see what he has
borne and overcome. That perfect, self-devoting love
which charms us in poem and romance, may pour out
its whole life upon you, quietly blessing you without your
discerning it unless your eyes are touched and you learn
to know what it is that has thus blessed you, before
you recognize it as white wings bear it from you to
heaven. The beauty and the poetry of our every-day
life may be as rich and full as we have heart
to make it and eyes to see it. For, "the actual well
seen is the ideal;" and the wise and the happy are
those who see most and enjoy most in their daily sur-
roundings.
To see clearly the essential end and the true value of
our immediate surroundings, to know the possibilities
for good in our every-day friends and our every-day life,
is to possess the secret of noble and happy living.
Anniversaries help to reveal to us the truth in these
matters. They show us beauty and power and the finest
possibilities for good in the persons and the surroundings
whose real significance we have lost sight of by reason
of their very familiarity.
What father has not seen a new radiance of spiritual
88 IttSTOfeY of THE
beauty in the maidenly face of his daughter, when the
anniversary of her birthday reminded him that she was
now
"Standing with reluctant feet
Where the brook and rivers meet,
Womanhood and childhood fleet?"
However faithfully a husband cherishes the wife whose
presence at his side sweetens life and continually
strengthens his heart for life's labors, there is a new,
an added sense of her worth and preciousness when the
anniversary of their wedding-day comes round, and all
their love in past years, their united experience of life,
like the Indian summer haze which in our boyhood used to
glorify these Warsaw hills in late October, lend a calm
beauty to her face that transfigures the time-touched
features and is more calmly satisfying than the re-
membered beauty of her spring-time, as he looks into
"A beauteous face, in which there meet
Fair records, promises as sweet,"
And so the keener sense of hurrying time and rapid
change which a father's or a mother's birthday will sug-
gest to living children, often flashes into the consciousness
a truer vision of the pure essential nature of parent-
hood, a stronger emotion of filial love and a truer ap-
preciation of filial duties.
As time hurries us on in the journey of life, on an-
niversary days such as this, on these halts and camping-
grounds on points of vantage where the view over the
stages we have travelled in the past is clear, and mem-
ory is vivid, there come to us our truest thoughts of
what has been, our clearest visions of what ought to be,
and our deepest sense of privilege and blessing in what
is, when we see it in its true relations.
But when such anniversaries occur in the life of a
person, however pleasant the surroundings, however happy
the circumstances, there is always a touch of pain in the
heart. We do not speak of this pang, but it is there.
After the early spring days of perpetual hope and care-
less joy have passed, there is a secret pang for every
loving heart at the anniversary of a friend's birth — a
pang that comes from the ever present knowledge that
each quick-returning anniversary brings one year nearer
WJifiSAW CENTENOTAt CELEBRATION 89
the time when that life shall have ceased among us.
This is the reason why in some families where love is
deepest such anniveisaries bring more of pain than
pleasure. The mortal life of any one friend is so short!
The strongest man, the dearest and most gracious
woman, so soon comes to the allotted period of life,
that on such anniTersary days, the sweetness of the
present love is always shadowed by the apprehension of
the coming loss.
But the anniversary of a community like this, has in
it no such haunting suggestions of i>aln. As we go on
in life (yon older Warsaw boys with your wives and
friends, to your experience of life I apx>eal !) as we go on
in life and feel how short is any one man's lease of
life and power, do we not have a growing satis&ction
in the life we share in common in the communities and
institutions which endure from generation to generation?
When a young person first feels the zest of living, he
is profoundly impressed by the importance of his own life
to a man. TTis own needs, his own desires, the develop-
ment of his own powers to the full in every direction —
these seem to him enough.
But a few years, bringing him on toward middle life,
change all this. Scarcely has he seen clearly the ends
which he wishes to attaint-scarcely has he nerved his
heart and braced his soul for the contest— when there
falls on him like a shadow the consciousness of the
brevity of his own life here. If he has fixed his eye on
anything really worth attaining, when Ufe takes him in
hand with its interposed obstacles, its checks and counter-
checks, its absolute denials, and ruthless and wrenching
losses, he soon comes to feel keenly the frailty of his
own unaided grasp upon affairs, the slender import of any
one man's life, if lived and regarded as a thing by itself.
He feels the need of allying his life and its work with
the Ufe and work of others whose aims and efforts coin-
cide with his own. He feels the wish to make his span
of Ufe attain to permanence — endure — by aUying it with
the Uves of others — ^with the Ufe of the town which he
helps to build up and administer — ^with the life of an in-
stitution that abides; — ^that others may cany on when he
90 HISTORY OF THE
shall haye passed away, the work which he helped to
begin. Through an alliance with social institutions in one
form or another, every earnest and aspiring soul seeks to
escape its body's doom of but a few days' existence here,
and to perpetuate its influence when the right arm is
palsied and the valid eye has lost its compelling power.
There is reason, then, in the very nature of mankind,
for such- love of our native place— of the town where
many of us have spent years of our life — which binds us
together as sons and daughters, residents and friends of
Warsaw. All ages unite in such a celebration. Memory,
realization in the present, anticipation, all have their share
here, as aged men and women recall the experience of
their childhood, and children and ardent youth delight in
the evidence of wide-spread interest in their village home.
The deeper the love of home, the stronger the love of
country. The greater the depth of soil in which love of
home roots itself, the stronger the growth of personality.
A common interest in the anniversary of their native
town, drawing together men and women from all parts
of our broad land, makes us all better citizens of the town
where we now dwell. Tor local ties build up strong per-
sonality. And the interest which has drawn us all to
this place and binds us together, is our consciousness of
the shaping effect which our early life has had in determin-
ing the personality of every man and woman of us. We
come from different scenes and from various places. But
the difference in our surroundings in later life, the dif-
ferences which mark off one from another in personal
appearance, are as nothing compared with the differences
which mark the intellectual, the emotional and the spir-
itual experiences of the men and women who make up
this audience. Every person differs in mind and soul
from every other, in a far more marked degree than he
differs in face and features. The latest results of bio-
logical research lead us to understand that in your phys-
ical organization and in your mind there are stored up,
organized under one principle of life and presided over by
one will, tendencies to feeling and action, and stores of
acquired experience, which represent the life of thousands
of your ancestors through countless years of time and
numberless generations. The general figure and the out-
WABSATT CIXTESXTAl. CELKRRATtOJf 91
line of f «iUires of any one man, aw so like those of aiwtiier,
ttwit one would think it impossilde to derise so many dif-
ferins fac«s as are shown in a grreat crowd of people.
Yet, while the same general type maiks all maukiDd, the
physical diJEeiences in fcam and face and featiire aie
marrelloiis. and we are filled with wonder if we see two
persons so much alike tiiat for a moment we hesitate in
disttngnishins their personality. Yet these outward dif-
ferences in form and feature are as nothing compjtT^ to
the differences of mtitd and spirit whidi set off one iodi-
Tiduality from another. That remote star in the awfwl,
dark spaces of the heaT^is, is not so fu- remoTed from
its rteighbors, as is a human spirit in its isolatiaii of in-
dlTiduality, from all other spirits. This is the Tery essence
of personality. If we had power t» see the tnTemal rec-
ord made by one hnman spirit throng all the years of
its Ufe. we should see as we Io<^ into each other '^ faces
that erery soul differs from every other soul more widely
than one I^mk can differ from another fiu^
"When a man dies,'" says Schopenhauer, "a world per-
ishes — the world which he bore in his head." If a man"s
indiTidiiivlity was marked and strong, if he had skill to
work with head or hand, if his technical knowledge was
special and pecnUar, we feel that the world is poorer by
just so mudi snbtxacted from its workii^ force. For
knowledge to whidi he could turn at CBOce, others must
grope, in darkness or in hatf-light. The whole co^ndi-
nated world of matter and mind that lay orderly aiKl dear
before his eyes, as far as our communication with him
is concerned, has be^i r^xdred into its dements and dis-
sipated. It is lost to us. So profiaundly does nature
te«ch US the Talue of a sii^e well-diiected Me, the im-
portance of each man's own personality, that we are ready
to say emphatically, " When a man ffies, a worU perishes
—the worid he carried in his brain."
If the cea^i^ of a life amor^ us is so seriwis a
loss, the beginning of a conscious soul life is surely a
matter of the graT-est impartaoee. If a world of
kitowledge perishes when a man^ eyes dose in de»th, it
is no less true that a world of knowled^ begins to be,
when a little child^s soul opeis to conseionsn«ss with
92 msTOilY OF THE
the dawnmg of intelUgence in its eyes. And when the
eyes of little children begin to look out upon the world,
character is plastic. The life is rapidly taking shape
from its surroundings. It is this which gives to the
years of early childhood their predominant influence in
shaping the future life.
AU we who were bom in Warsaw, or who passed
here the first years of our lives, have taken into the
essence of our very being the physical surroundings of
this village in the valley, and the intellectual standards
and moral principles which through the personalities
about us gave shape to our earliest impressions and con-
ceptions of life.
Kecall your earliest memories. See how the whole
world as you now know it, was held for you in the
small circle of home and friends which surrounded you
as a little chUd! Each type of man and woman you
have siQce known, was there! The face of this or that
one, known in the little circle of your earliest childhood
here has always since stood for you as a type. Take that
self-sacrificing, strong and helpful woman whom you best
know — your mother, perhaps. Her face presents itself
to you whether you wiU or not, when your thought
turns to the class of characters to which you have
since learned to know that she belonged. In those early
days when your life was taking color from its surround-
ings and shape from every touch given it, your mother
was the incarnate class — ^the type and the iudividual in
one.
Even the points of the compass as you first learned
them in your father's home, here in "Warsaw — ^how un-
changeably the look of the landscape. North and East,
is printed on your memory ! Is it not the experience of
many of us, to this day, that when in strange surround-
ings we wish to "orient" ourselves as the French phrase
it, to "make our East and North come right," we go
back involuntarily to the early home ? Do you not get
your North and East in strange places by placing your-
self in thought among the old surroundings of your
earlier home here in the happy valley?
So in your standards of taste, of social intercourse,
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 93
and above all, of morals, however much we may think
we have changed, the earliest standards of our home in
childhood, again and again present themselves with the
feeling that here is after all the true form,— the real,
fixed standard. These things and these persons were
about us when there was in process of creation that
little ordered universe, that world, that microcosm of
conscious existence which each one of us carries with us
through life. The elements of all our subsequent ex-
perience were there. It sometimes seems as if, since
those early years, we had been always standing at the
center of a sphere which has widened and enlarged as
the walls of the bubble you blow grow away from its
center, always reflecting the same world, but in an ever
larger sphere, on a constantly broadening scale? We
who were born in "Warsaw, if we would, can never es-
cape from the effect of this early environment. The
world as we then knew it, the strong personalities
which were then nearest to us, must always be con-
ditioning elements in our life. This permanence of early
impressions is never lost. You cannot get away
from the associations of early youth. The skilled natur-
alist can tell by careful analysis of a section from the
bone of an animal something of the territory and the soil
where that animal was bred. And we are all our life of
Warsaw. Warsaw is in the very marrow of your bones I
We never cease to feel the influence of those early
days. The ideals and the friendships of childhood and
youth, go with us through life ! At unexpected times
and in unlooked for ways they come back to us. I was
in the gallery in the dome of St. Paul's Church in Lon-
don, some years ago, and the guide had stationed us at
one focus of the /'Whispering Gallery," and said to us,
"Now, whisper into the wall. I see a party of visitors
on the other side of the focus, and undoubtedly they will
answer." You know how the power of language for-
sakes you when brought face to face with a blank wall.
"What shall I say?" I asked. "Anything," was the
answer. After a moment of stupid silence, the recollec-
tion of the cadences of a dearly loved Greek professor
came to me, and I recited a couplet from Byron's yerses,
94 HISTORY OF THE
"The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece," as he used to
recite them to us.
To my utter surprise there came whispered back the
next few lines of those verses, with the same familiar in-
flection, and the question, "Who is over there who knew
dear old 'KaiGar'?" Passing around the circle, I found
an old college friend, an Alpha Delta of my own chap-
ter and my own time in college, — now President Taylor of
Vassar College, and together we went up into the dome
of St. Paul's and looking down on the London lying be-
low us, we talked over the "long plans" of youth. Each
one had thought the other thousands of miles away.
Thus the voices and the faces of our earliest friends
come back to us at unexpected times and places, through
our late life. In the extreme Southwest of our broad
land, at Los Angeles, California, three or four years ago,
I was the guest of a club of that city at a dinner, where
I found next me as a guest on the same occasion, one
whom I had not seen since we parted in the school yard
near the old stone academy building, on Main street here
in "Warsaw, nearly forty years before. I remember as
if it were yesterday, the day when David Starr Jordan
first appeared on the play ground, coming from his home
in Gainesville.- Sheffield, for many years now the honored
missionary president of the Presbyterian College in North
China, was lithe, slender and active among the older
students of the academy; Jordan was tall, bashful, and a
little slow in making acquaintance. I can see Sheffield
now as he shouted to him, "Jordan, make a back" and
running swiftly toward him, as Jordan turned, placed his
hands on Jordan's shoulders and vaulted lightly over his
head. The inevitable effort to pun upon his name by
declaring that "Sheffield was safe because he had 'gone
over Jordan,' " I remember was promptly seized upon by one
of the younger boys. I remember, too, the astonishment in
the old school-room when the new boy, Jordan, met a
challenging call from Principal O. H. Stevens of the
Academy, who had brought before the Botany class a
specimen of grass that could not be identified, and had
noticed signs of interest on the face of the new student
sitting near the back of the study room, who was not a
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBKATION 95
member of the class, and had said to him: "No one
seems able to identify this grass ; Mr. Jordan, I see that
you look as if you knew something about it. Can you
tell us?" Jordan, a born naturalist, had been
• silent, but was quivering with interest. At the challeng-
ing question, the modest youth arose in his place, as the
blade of a jack-knife rises with a straight spring, and
began to pour out a flood of information upon the speci-
men of grass in question, giving its species and group
and habitat, until he was stopped by the teacher for the
very voluminousness of his knowledge. It was evident
that we had among us a genius in natural science. Dr.
Jordan's brilliant career at Cornell and at the University
of Indiana, and now as president of Leland-Stanford
University, in California, has not been a surprise to those
who knevif his interest in Natural Science in his school-
boy days here at Warsaw. Nor was it a surprise to me,
when at this dinner given by one hundred young college
Alumni who were gathered at Los Angeles, after I had
referred to this early incident, to hear the same inevita-
ble tendency to pun upon the name perpetuated, and
when President Jordan arose to respond, to hear the
whole crowd break out into singing the rich refrain of
the negro hymn, " I want to go to heaven when I die, to
hear old Jordan roll." I need not tell you who watch
the work of that strong educator on the Pacific coast,
that President Jordan met the chorus in the same good
natured spirit, and looking the crowd in the eye, de-
manded, "What's the matter with Jordan?" to which
came the deafening shout, "He's all right." And then
our early friend began his excellent little speech to them.
But it is not simply in a group of college presidents
such as Sheffield of North China, Dr. Smith, who has just
resigned the Presidency of Trinity College, whose early
home was here on the East Hill just above the village,
and David Starr Jordan, whose infiuence in educational
matters so largely dominates the California coast; but in
other circles, wherever one travels, the old friendships,
the old faces, are to be found, I was traveling by stage
from Flagstaff, Arizona, down to that wonderful scenery
in the Grand Canon, with Dr. W. T. Harris, United States
Commissioner of Education, and President Nicholas Murray
96 HISTORY OF THE
Butler of Columbia College, three years since, when we
were joined by one of the most prominent city superin-
tendents of the country and his very agreeable wife, and
as we were introduced, her first sentence was, "I re-
member you from the early days, for I was a Miss Small-
wood of Warsaw."
It was not at all wonderful that I should have met
in Africa beneath the shadows of the Pyramids, Warsaw
memories incarnate in you, Mr. Chairman; (Judge E. E.
Farman, formerly Consul General of the United States
at Cairo), for at that time you represented America and
home to hundreds of our countrymen who went throiigh
Egypt. But memories of our county and village came
to me very unexpectedly, in an after echo of those days
in Egypt with you. It was twenty years ago, when Presi-
dent Arthur was in the White House and I was spend-
ing a few days in Washington, when Ex-Senator Ereling-
huysen, then Secretary of State, brought to my hotel a
message that President Arthur would like to see me next
morning at the White House. The Secretary of State,
who was a Trustee of Rutgers College, kindly suggested
to me that he would call with me at the White House
in the morning. When we were shown into the waiting
room, word came that President Arthur had been detained,
and had not completed his breakfast. Mr. Frelinghuysen,
as a privileged member of the Cabinet, went through to
the next room, and returning in a few moments said that
General Grant was in the next room waiting to see Pres-
ident Arthur, and would I not like to meet him? It was
most natural that I should speak to General Grant of
that comparatively recent journey through Egypt which
he had just made under your guidance, Mr. Chairman, a
few months before I had profited by the same kindly
guidance in visiting some of the same scenes. I asked
General Grant if he had not been surprised at the bril-
liance of the colors in the Egyptian hieroglyphics. "Yes,"
said he; "and particularly in those of the tomb of Ti.
But there is not a word about that tomb in my book,"
he added. " I cannot write at all you know ; and I took
Mr. Young with me to write up the journey; and the
day before we visited the tomb of Ti, the Arabs who
guided MS to the dark chamber in the heart of the Great
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CBLEBKATION 97
Pyramid blew out the torches, and demanded "backsheesh."
This so frightened Mr. Young that he would not go next
day with me to the tomb of Ti; and so there is not a
word about these wonderful hieroglyphs in my book!"
This very modest estimate of his ability to write, I give
you as noteworthy in the man who within two or three
years showed himself master of that perfect style which
has made his military memoirs one of the classics of the
language. In a few moments President Arthur entered,
tall, perfectly dressed and courtly in manner. To my
surprise, he began the conversation by referring to Wyo-
ming County and to his early days at Perry, and his
boyish admiration for the character of my father, Seth
M. Gates. So the friendly associations with Warsaw,
through you and General Grant in Egypt, link themselves
to memories of Perry Lake and Warsaw picnics; and in
the only conversation I ever had with General Grant, it
was an especial gratification to have the sterling virtues
of one dear to me, whose life was not without its strong
influence in shaping the ideals of Warsaw, thus unex-
pectedly and affectionately recalled by the President of
the United States, who as a boy had felt the influence
of my father's character while he was in public life.
But one could multiply such instances of early associa-
tions sometimes limiting and often blessing our later
life, in countless numbers ; as for instance, when you
(pointing to Henry Merrill, one of the Editors of the
New York World, and who had delivered the previous ad-
dress) — Mr. Editor, to all who knew Warsaw in the 60's
pre-eminently the Warsaw editor, gave me letters of in-
troduction to two youthful editors and friends of yours
at Albany, Kew York, when 1 went from college and be-
gan my work in life as Principal of the Boy's Academy
in that fine old Dutch town, our state Capital. I
climbed the back stairs of the ofiice of the Albany
Journal and found Charles Emory Smith, scissors in
hand, before the paste-pot, and was cordially received by
him upon your friendly introduction. And presenting
the other letter in the editorial room of the Albany Ex-
press, a life-long acquaintance and friendship with that
98 HISTORY OF THE
inimitable after-dinner raconteur, Will H. McElroy, was
begun by a letter given by one Warsaw boy to another.
Fifteen years later, and now quite fifteen years ago, you
and I were of the party of a dozen who tendered a
farewell dinner at Delmonico's to the out-going Minister
of the United States to Russia, Charles Emory Smith,
now editor of the Philadelphia Press, and recently post-
master general, in McKinley's administration. He was
one of the trio of editors with whom these letters
brought me into relation; McElroy, another of them,
was then writing the leaders in Horace Greeley's New
York Tribune; while Mr. Whitelaw Eeid was represent-
ing our country at Paris; and you yourself had then be-
gun to preside over the great editorial forces of the
New York World. But there is hardly a Warsaw boy
in this audience who could not parallel these incidents
from his own experience. Like the remembered tone
and peal of the early church-bells here in the valley — a
sound that has rung out startlingly clear in memory to
many of us in distant parts of the earth — the friend-
ships, the feelings and the standards of our early Warsaw
life are with us through all our later years.
Since early associations thus follow us through life,
since a common experience in this beautiful environment
of these hills and this valley, has gone into the person-
ality of each one of us, it is well for us that those
who gave tone and color to the life of Warsaw, were
men and women of sterling character, of high principle,
of steadfast purpose and tireless will. If the standards
of morality in the first half century of the life of this
town had not been set high and kept high by men and
women of lofty character, our debt to our environment
would be far less than we now feel it to be. I need
not dwell upon this fact, for none of the older men
and women here can fail to recognize it; and the ad-
dresses of these last days must have impressed it afresh
upon the thought of the youngest who are here. After
all, example is the mightiest teacher. To have spent
one's boyhood in a community where even a few strong
personalities o( lofty aim and resolute purpose were liy-
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 99
ing their daily life, is to have received an impulse
toward right living and high achievement such as can
come from no other source
Not merely local pride, but a true appreciation of the
meaning of American life, and intelligent patriotism, re-
sult from spending one's early life in that stimulating
atmosphere of a community where there is keen interest
in social and political reforms and an unselfish regard
for the welfare of the whole race. After all, the fireside
is the focus of patriotism. Love of country begins at
home, and shows itself in love of home and home insti-
tutions. And local interest in affairs of local govern-
ment and local welfare, underlies all sound patriotism.
It was the Greek's intense love of his own city, which
gave to the world the word "politics"— a Greek word
which means "city affairs." But with the Greek the
state was a city state; and "city affairs," "politics,"
thus came to mean affairs of government, affairs that
have to do with the management of the national life,
the political state. The habit of Greek thought in thus
identifying city and fatherland, the spirit of Greek local
patriotism which refused to know any political ties of
state or nation beyond his own city, has given deflnite-
ness and intensity to the political thinking of Europe for
over twenty-five hundred years. And while the great
national states of modem times have a broader and
a far truer conception of the state, and have cast aside
the narrow limitations of the Greek view, it remains an
unchanging law of human nature — nowhere more clearly
recognized or more firmly rooted than in our American
system of local self-government as essential to the strong-
est national life, — that a true love of one's home is the
basis of all sound love of country. The man who is
not a good neighbor is not a true patriot. The citizen
who truly loves his country, loves, too, his own town,
cares for the local interests and the political and social
well-being of his village, his township, his own ward and
district. If we are truly loyal citizens of the United
States, we are truly devoted to the welfare of the com-
monwealth, the town, the city where lies our own home,
100 HTSTOBT OF THE
And the local feeling which is strengthened by the ob-
servance of " home-week " and by such a Centennial
celebration as this, should strengthen our love of our
American institutions, and render us more keenly alive to
the value of high ideals of local self-government in their
influence upon our general government and our national
life.
If the tendency of popular government is, as Bryce
has told us, "to make the individual count for less, while
the mass counts for more, " how absolutely essential it is
to the success of our American system of self-government,
that each community value highly its own social and political
standards, and that each citizen hold his own manhood
in esteehi as a sacred trust, and by active participation
in the social and politic'al life of his community and of
the nation make the most of himself and of his oppor-
tunities. In no way can we serve the State more truly
than by doing all that lies in our power to strengthen
the personality, to enlighten the conscience, to develop
the will power of every citizen with whom we come into
relation.
The charge that I bring against the men of our day,
is that we undervalue the force of the individual will.
The tendency to organize, to incorporate, leads men to
overlook the worth, the power of one man's personality.
But the greater the organization, the greater the demand
that arises for strong men of the right spirit, to direct
it. In the end, experience with corporations and organ-
izations, like every other phase in the history of our
American institutions, lays ever increasing emphasis upon
the value of a strong personality, upon the worth of one
man.
Our forefathers, the Puritans and the Pilgrims, — yes,
and the great Virginians who co-operated with them in
shaping our national life and institutions were men to
whom their own personality was intensely real. They were
men of mighty will. Their lives will illustrate the
words of Trendelenburg, — "It is conscience that preserves
the might of the will." Earnestness, energy, lofty pur-
pose, resolute perseverance, — all these heroic virtues il-
WABSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 101
lustrate their lives. They had learned (in the days of
sudden faction fights and street brawls, when a strong
swordsman at your side meant life saved and success
won) the meaning of those words of the greatest . of the
Puritan poets, "Happy the man who walks with that
strong-siding champion. Conscience."
The most difficult of all achievements, to get one's
ideas actually embodied in life and institutions, our
forefathers accomplished. They were whole, manly men.
They had the force of will to live out what other men
could only dream about. How many men have dreamed
the dreams of Plato, of Cicero, of Augustine and Sir
Thomas More regarding an "Ideal State," "A true
Commonwealth," a "Eepublic of God?" But genera-
tion after generation let time and life slip past in
merely dreaming. Or if they sometimes made the effort
to carry into effect such ideas, they soon gave up the
task as one far beyond their strength. "My dear phil-
osopher," wrote the great Catharine of Russia to Vol-
taire, "it is not so easy to write one's ideas on human
flesh as on paper." All history bears witness to the
difficulty of getting one's ideas embodied in life, worked
out in institutions, even when one has the courage to
try. But our forefathers were greater than those old
builder-kings of Egypt, "who did their days in stone."
They wrought their thoughts and purposes into life. With
unfaltering persistence of purpose, they lived their lives
into institutions that moulded a nation which today is the
model for the civilized world. They not only saw the
truth, but they were bent upon reducing it to practice.
They understood that "living is a total act, thinking is
a partial act." They took that "step from knowing to
doing," which Emerson declares "is rarely taken, and
when taken, is a step out of the chalk circle of im-
becility into fruitfulness."
The well-organized governments under which the civil-
ized people of the world now live are the highest em-
bodiment of the result of long continued, unselfish effort
on the part of the best men of successive generations.
The existence of free governments, with those "cov-
102 HISTORY OF THE
enanted securities" which they afford to liberty, is no
happy accident. No one object which men have pro-
posed to themselves has called for such long-continued,
strenuous, yet ennobling and beneficent effort, as has
the establishment of liberty in institutions and laws.
Let not us who are "to the manner born," undervalue
our birthright. Too seldom do we recall the cost to
earlier generations of the contests which have made pos-
sible such a government as ours. On one day in the year
we are reminded that a million heroes in blue uniform
gave their lives that our government might be perpetu-
ated. On another day, in another month, the spirit of
patriotism is awakened by the memory of that revolu-
tionary struggle which freed us from the oppression of a
narrow-minded English monarch. But the debt we owe
to the boys in blu.e and to the heroes of the Continental
army represents but a trifling item in the long-continued,
life-consuming struggle by which there has been won and
established for us that constitutional liberty which, the
world over, is the proudest heirloom of the English
speaking race.
The noblest battle-monuments in the world, it seems
to me, are certain of the customs and the legal terms
in which are fossilized the history of generations of soul-
animating struggle for the establishment of human rights
and their defense by law and political institutions.
Take "trial by jury of one's peers." What an enorm-
ous advance in the conception of the worth of the aver-
age man it chronicles I "What obstinate and determined
struggles to keep this the law of the land, so that in
the scale of justice not the weight of the sword or of
the long-purse, not the will of the privileged noble or
the subtle policy of a worldly church with its far-reach-
ing temporal ambitions, should be allowed to decide the
question; but the facts should be found by the sound
sense of twelve common men when they had heard the
evidence, and the laws and customs of the land should
then be fairly applied in every case. No wonder that si
brilliant Englishman has declared that " the great end of
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBSATION lOB
the English constitution is to get twelve honest men into
a box! "
Or that safeguard of personal rights so dear to count-
less generations of our ancestors which finds voice in the
phrase, "my house is my castle." Think you that prin-
ciple was wrought into law and life and kept there
through ages in which flourished plimdering baron-rob-
bers and soldiery, — without countless unchronicled deeds
of daring on the part of obscure ancestors to whom we
owe our social and political possibilities?
Recall the debt which constitutional government
owes to the principle that " supplies for the government
shall be voted by the people's representatives ; " and as
we remember the glorious struggle waged by Hampden
and his peers, the commoners, against Charles' demand
for ship-money and his audacious attempts to over-ride
parliament, who does not feel himself the debtor of those
heroic ancestors of ours?
Remember lettres de cachet in France, with the horrors
of a sudden and mysterious disappearance into the liv-
ing sepulchres of the Bastile, — and then recall with a thrill
of pride and joy the long contest which preceded and has
accompanied that simple legal form, which is the protec-
tion of the unjustly imprisoned, in which the justice
says to the ofiBcer of the law, '"Do thou have his body
before me, to show cause why he should be de-
tained as a prisoner." Where is there a nobler battle-
monument to victories won for liberty, than in the
Latin phrase so heedlessly on our lips, the right of
"habeas corpus."
We who live in an atmosphere of freedom do not
know how exhilarating is the air we breathe, until we
visit those quarters of the globe where liberty is un-
known. The man who has looked into the eyes of the
fatalists of Asia and Africa, who has seen how heavy
with oppression is the air of those lands where rules the
unspeakable Turk, and then returns to this, our own dear
land of liberty, finds that he is breathing an atmosphere
surcharged with hope and with stimulus to joyous activity.
Life has a new meaning. Opportunity opens attractively
104 SISTOHY OF THE
before every man. " Every man has a fair chance and
knows that he has it,"— and that is true democracy !
the air is overloaded with liope!
Generations of self-denying and public-spirited effort on
the part of our ancestors have made possible for us this
free and joyous life, under a government that so fully
" establishes justice, insures domestic tranquility, and
promotes the general welfare."
Who knows what magnificent possibilities await the
fuller development of our distinctively American system
of government— the fullest autonomy in local affairs,
with a national government for the whole, strongly
enough centralized to focus the national interests and to
hold the allegiance of the entire continent. What are
the , limits of territory over which a state, a government,
may extend? They are fixed by the capacity of the
government to retain a relation with all the parts of its
territory so close as to insure the vital flow of the life-
currents of thought, of interest, of closest representation
and- effective authority, between the heart at the center
and the farthest extremities. These possible limits of
territory for a state, have been indefinitely increased by
the railroad and the telegraph, the ocean cable and the
daily newspaper. A community of interests, the capacity
to share the same thought and the same feeling at the
same time, is dependent upon the power of the people
in all parts of the land to be at the same time cog-
nizant to important passing events, and freely to exchange
views about these events ; and upon their capacity so to
share one another's interest, through trade and commerce,
and so freely to pass from , one part of the national do
main to another, that the people of its different sections
are in no sense aliens to one another. The history of these
last^ years has demonstrated the truth that our transcon-
tinental railroad lines and our mighty lake and river
courses of inland commerce, are arteries, and the omni-
present network of electric wires and cables is the sys-
tem of thread-like nerve-tissue in our body politic; and
that by the free and constant circulation through these
arteries and the quick sensitiveness of these nerves our
WABSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 105
whole body politic is kept in a state of vigorous, health-
ful, unified life! What pessimist dare attempt to set
limits to the possibilities of our future growth? "With
large hope, strong confidence and deep love, do we look
to the future of our dear land.
Now the infiuence of the local unit in our political
system, the town, upon the political life of our nation,
is deep-seated and far-reaching. No student of the his-
tory of our political institutions can fail to recognize the
mighty debt which self-government in America owes to
the town meeting of New England. Its roots are found
in the customs of our Teutonic ancestors in Germany,
two thousand years ago. Its fruits are seen and felt in
Washington today by all who observe our national affairs
and study our political institutions. The most sympa-
thetic observer of our American life, Bryce, the English
historian and statesman, says, "The town meeting has
been the most practical school of self-government in that
modem country. ' '
" Of the three or four types of system of local govern-
ment which I have described, that of the town or town-
ship, with its popular primary assembly, is admittedly
the best. It is the cheapest and most efficient; it is
the most educative to the citizens who bear a part in it.
The town meeting has been not only the source, but the
school of democracy." (Bryce.)
"It is the small organisms, the towns, that are most
powerful and most highly vitalized," in American life.
(Bryce.)
Throughout New England the town was the polit-
ical unit, and today it continues to be the political unit.
The organization of the county has been hardly more
than a formal judicial district, for convenience in trans-
acting the business of the courts. Between the town
and the state, no organ of government has intervened.
The New England town-meeting perpetuates the old
Germanic idea of personal freedom as opposed to the
Roman conception of universal dominion. The New
England town-meeting dignifies local self-government, and
106 HISTORY OF THE
"in the town-meeting of New England there has ap-
peared a steady spirit of self-sufficiency."
From an article by Edward Everett Hale on the town-
meeting, let me read you a paragraph or two :
"A town-meeting is a solemn matter for the day long,
perhaps for two or three days. All business stops on
that day. The General Court of Massachusetts itself ad-
journs for one or two days in March, so that its mem-
bers may be present at the town-meeting of their towns."
But, "there is no power on earth which can say to a New
England town that it must meet on this day or on that day.
The town will meet when it chooses to." "In Massa-
chusetts we do not dictate to our sovereign." (But our
Massachusetts law says, "Annual meeting in February,
March or April." These spring months are designated be-
cause we follow the traditions of our Teutonic farming
ancestors who in town meeting planned for the planting
of the "common land" at this timfe of the year.)
"Whatever the day is, everybody comes. There is no
decent boy over fourteen years old who would not be
ashamed if he could not go to the town-meeting, to sit
on the back benches, and hear Nahum Smith cross-ques-
tion the 'squire or throw in his doubts about the sidewalk;
or to join the applause at the discomfiture of the chair-
man of the school committee. There is no possible ' ring '
where there is a town-meeting. There is not a ' boss '
in this world who has brass enough to stand the inter-
rogatory of that grand jury when it is in session. When
the selectmen have made their report about that business
of crossways, what has been done and what has not been
done, then Nahum Smith may rise, whoever he be, and put
the fatal question, 'I should like to be informed why the
selectmen took the stone from the Red Hill quarry, and did
not take it from the crossroads quarry, which is nearer ? '
If there is any cat beneath that meal, that cat will
appear. The town-meeting opens all eyes and ears, and
we must all be ready to give an account of ourselves, of
what we have done and what we have not done."
Throughout the South, the county with its spacious
and isolated plantations became the unit under the state;
WABSAW CEVTESrsrULL CELKBRATIOS 107
and the to^rasMp system had no life, New York, Xew
Jersey and PennsyVvania, adopted certain feataxes of this
coTinty system, and attempted to incorporate them with
certain features of the town system. In tiie states of
the West and Northwest the influence of the township
system is predominant in certain stat^ tliat of tiie
county system in other states. Ohio, Indiana and
Iowa have no town-meetings. On the other hand, in
Michig-an, lUinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the town
system has been strongly developed. Since Illinois
by eonstitational provision granted local option to
each county in the matter of adopting tiie system
of township organization, more than four-fifths of the
one hundred and two counties of Illinois have adopted
the township system. And still farther west, Nebraska
and the Sakotas have been strong advocates of the town
system, and in tlieir local development have weQ it
lustrated the advantage of this local unit of setf-govem-
ment.
Indeed, it was through the fece to faee intercourse with
each otlier in making of laws, the asse^iDg of taxes, and
tbe voting of supplies by the local town-meeting that our
American system was developed- De Tocqneville declares,
"The doctrine of the sovereignty of the people came out
of the townships and took possession of the states."
The town-meeting system of Uew England, with the dm-
necticut idea of equal representation for each town what-
ever its population, at a critical junctare in the history
of the convention which framed our national constitution
in 1787, when failure to unite the small states and tiie
large states had nearly ruined our national life in its
very banning, was taken up and incorporated in our
national constitution, giving us eqnal repres@atation for
small and large states in tiie Senate, and thus power-
fully shaping the development of our national life from
its very beginning.
The town-meeting promotes self-respect, dignity and
morality in the individual citizen. I know not how it
may be in the history of these later years at Wareaw;
but the older residents of the town who are present can
108 HISTOKY OF THE
remember, I am sure, the town meetings which were
called once or twice a year in their boyhood, for the
transaction of school business and other matters of gen-
eral interest. In these meetings we had many of the
best features of the New England town-meeting. And
perhaps the best of those features was the habit of look-
ing at every voter of the town as not only entitled to
ar> equal voice through the ballot, but as worthy of dig-
nified consideration and entitled to a fair hearing in all
matters that concerned the life of the town, when such
matters were under discussion. It is in its wholesome
and sane effect upon the estimate which one neighbor
has of another neighbor's political power and interest in
political affairs, that the life of our villages and small
towns continues to be a healthful, tonic influence in the
life of the nation. Neighbors who take counsel together
about political affairs which concern their own homes,
the management of their own schools and their own
children, and the taxation of their own property, develop
and retain a respect for each other and a regard for
upright action which are too easily lost when city and
district bosses and party managers control the entire
political activity of the state.
The hope of our American system lies in the worth
of the individual citizen. "When Bryce was leaving
America, after years of careful study devoted to our
American institutions, some one asked him what feature
of American life had impressed him most deeply. His
answer was striking. "That which has impressed me
most deeply in your American life is the fact that
every man looks into the face of every other man with
respect, simply because of his citizenship." This con-
ception of the essential dignity of citizenship is our high-
est American characteristic. We should guard it most
jealously. And nothing tends so much to keep alive this
feeling of respect as does the close intercourse of citi-
zens with one another in an open, above-board discussion
and decision of questions of local self-government, as
well as questions of national political action.
Our national life is rooted in the idea that every man's •
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 109
life is of value in itself, of worth to him, and of most
value to the state, when made of the most value to him
himself. The keynote of our American system is found
in the fullest and highest development of the individual
man and woman — in the strengthening of those "sacred
bases of personality " on which rests the fabric of the
nation. The strength of our national life depends upon
the faithfulness with which we hold by the maxim, "See
that thou regard every man as having in himself, in the
development of his own life, the true object and end of
his being, so far as his relations with you are concerned."
"Thou Shalt not debase, in thyself or in another, the
highest manhood." "Use no man as thy tool; but in thy
dealing with every man, consider the importance to him-
self of his own life. Honor his manhood, help him to
develop it, and on penalty of harm to thine own soul, see
that thou sacrifice not his best interest, his highest man-
hood, as a means to thine own selfish ends."
In the light of this principle only can there be wise
adjustment of the conflicting claims and vexed relations
of labor to capital. What capital shall do with the laborer
is not a mere question of dollars and cents. It is a ques-
tion of responsible persons dealing with the essential dig-
nity of manhood in a brother man. The sacred element
of personality enters into the day's labor.
When you buy of a laboring man all he has in the
world to sell on that day, — his voluntary use of his own
powers — and buy it at the only time when and in the only
place where it can have for him any money value; in
buying his working powers for the day, you are dealing
with a living soul, made in God's image. The sacred
obligation rests on you to see to it that you so manage
the bargain as not to force him to debase himself, his
own manhood. Bespect in every man his right and his
duty to use his own life as having in itself its own end.
This same principle finds fruitful application in politi-
cal life. To seek for political influence in upright and
noble ways, through convincing the reason and awaken-
ing and satisfying right desires, is an honorable ambi-
110 HISTORY OF THE
tion. But since every man is to be regarded as an in-
telligent agent, bound to direct his own life toward ra-
tional ends and under moral law, how disgraceful be-
comes the work of the politician who is known as a clever
"manipulator of men." He does not appeal to reason.
He does not influence men as men. He "handles" men
as his blind tools. He debases manhood in himself and
in others.
We see, too, what a flood of light this principle throws
upon the enormous wrong done to manhood by bribery
at the ballot-box, whether the price paid is the direct
money bribe, or a public office, which should be a public
trust, but is debased to the level of partisan plunder.
The same principle guides us in our efforts to make
charitable aid to others a blessing and not a curse. We
have no right to " help " a man in any way that will
debase his manhood. To help others to help themselves, —
to make our charity build up and not break down self-
respect and manhood — this is the test of wise and true
charitable work for others.
In forms of government, too, this is a testing princi-
ple. That is the best form of government which best de-
velops the individual man in all his relations to the
society in which it prevails. The ideal form of govern-
ment is not the perfectly wise and good autocrat ruling,
even by the best of codes, a blindly obedient people. The
ideal state is an active, intelligent, upward striving peo-
ple, ruling themselves at the cost of occasional failures,
and with a conscious effort which strengthens and devel-
ops those who put into it thought and purpose. This is
the American ideal. This is the government that best
develops every man who shares in the duties and respons-
ibilities of citizenship under its sway. This is the em-
bodiment in the state of the maxim, " treat every man
as having in the development of himself the end of his
own being." This leaves no man to be used as the tool
of another man. This is the principle of the government
our forefathers founded. And this is the form of gov-
WAI}SAW C:^NTJ;NNIAL CEtEEBATJOST til
eriunent which most effectively makes manly men. This
builds up personality in the individual, and strengthens the
body politic because it makes strong each one of its com-
ponent parts.
ADDRESS
BY HARWOOD A. DUDLEY
At a recent meeting of the Orleans County Pioneer
Association, one of the speakers said the word "Pioneers"
was a military term and denoted a corps of soldiers
sent ahead to prepare the way for the main body of the
army following their lead. The term is a very apt one as
applied to those hardy woodmen and woodwomen who blaz-
ed the way into this region one hundred years ago.
Pioneering either in the army or in civil life usually in-
volves hardships. Only the bravest and most hardy
soldiers are selected for this service in the army and so
also it was with the early settlers in this country.
They left the ordinary comforts of life and many things
regarded as almost indispensible in the older communities,
and soldier fashion, brought their rations with them, and
when these were exhausted they were thrown on their
own resources and often there was a scant larder which
could only be refurnished by the most primitive contriv-
ances. Hollowing out the top of a stump to pound samp
from com with a pestle illustrates these home-made de-
vices. With mills twenty or thirty miles away, the
stump mortar and the hard wood pestle wa& a last re-
sort to ward off starvation.
The early settlers in this country subdued the wildner-
ness that they and their children and their grandchildren
might have fertile farms and pleasant homes and the modem
conveniences of life, and we have "entered into their
labors." The material pioneering for this section was
done In the early years of the nineteenth century. The
moral and social pioneering is not yet all accomplished.
This we may do when we so live and act as to make
the world better for our having lived in it. In this
sense Abraham was a pioneer in spiritual religion ; Rog-
er Williams a pioneer of religious liberty ; William Lloyd
HARWOOD A. DUDLEY
113
Garrison and Abraham Lincoln of freedom for slaves;
Cromwell and Washington for civil liberty; Paul and
Carey for Christian Missions; Gen. Armstrong and
Booker T. Washington for education of the negroes.
Pioneering usually involves hardships. It did in the
case of the early settlers, and it will in moral and social
pioneering. There will be many to sneer and to oppose.
But to engage in such enterprises is the only way to be
saved from a narrow and selfish spirit. It means the
cultivation of the heroic spirit, and nothing is better
than that. It is the purest form of patriotism. One
who has engaged in such work can die contented and happy,
trusting posterity to give him due honor.
Very much has been said and written of the hardy
man pioneer, and very much less said and written about
the woman pioneer. At one of the " Old Folks' Festi-
vals " held several years ago, the account said that " the
oldest male guest was Archibald Davidson, a native of
Scotland; the oldest female was 82 years of age;" but
did not- give her name. The "new woman" in these
later years is asserting herself. She is being heard from
and is not likely to be left out in the published report
of any function where she is a factor. She proposes to
" stand up and be counted " in any public affair where
she takes a part in the proceedings.
The woman pioneer was as brave and self-sacrificing
as the man pioneer, and perhaps even more so.
Those of us who are enjoying the results of pioneer
labor have little conception of the trials and hardships
endured by the fathers and mothers of this then, "wild
country."
This township came into existence, with a name in-
stead of a Number about the time of Napoleon Bonaparte's
expedition into Eussia and Poland, and Warsaw derived
its cognomen from the capital of the last named country.
Several other towns in this locality derived their names
from Napoleon's celebra*^<?.d " raid," in his scheme to con-
trol the destinies of Europe. The township, up to that
time known as Number 9, was one of the series of town-
ships, in an immense tract of land now comprised in the
114 HISTORY OF THE
eight counties of Western New York. Genesee, Orleans,
Niagara, Erie, Cliautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and
"Wyoming Counties now show the extent and magnitude
of the tract of land known as the Holland Purchase. A
company of rich Hollanders who desired to put their
money out of Europe for safe keeping out of the hands
of such agitators as Napoleon Bonaparte, negotiated for
this land and sent on surveyors and agents like Joseph
EUicott to put the tract into lots of suitable size for sale
to actual settlers. The uniform price of one dollar and
fifty cents per acre made the whole region very attrac-
tive to those who desired to become settlers and to make
homes -for themselves and their families. Getting into
this country from the older and more populous Eastern
New York and from New England was a work of much
time and manifold discomforts. Before 1825, when the
Erie canal was opened for trafiBc and transfer, the entire
distance from the old homes must be made on foot or
with an ox cart or lumbering covered wagon drawn by
strong horses. It was a journey of many days and con-
stantly increasing difficulties as the route lay deeper in
the wilderness and away from highways into a path cut
through the woods, as the little caravan of three teams
and the household goods and children of as many fami-
lies, made their slow way into the "Genesee Country."
The log tavern, with " entertainment for man and
beast " could be had for one shilling a head in a few lo-
calities, but more often the new-comers were welcomed
by the hardy pioneer who had preceded by a year or two,
with an open-handed hospitality which stands out in
marked contrast with some of the dealings of later "pro-
moters " and " land sharks " who were an after-produc-
of the times in the early years of the century.
A new log house, well chinked with clay mud and
whitewashed with slacked lime made a warm house in
winter and a cool one in summer. No one need claim
sympathy because he found an early home in a good log
house. With a big tire of logs to warm it on a cold
winter's night, and with plenty of home-made quilts and
coverlets and a good feather bed, one could bid the winds
howl and let tbe snpw blow in drifts outside, and if some
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 115
of it sifted in, it could be easily sliaken off in the morn-
ing and no liarm come to any one.
I am reminded tliis afternoon of two or three Warsaw
"stories" which I've half a mind to tell:
Tim Hinman was an early remover of buildings, and
at certain seasons of the year, especially in the spring,
Hinman would have more calls than he was able to re-
spond to. But not wishing to disappoint his friends, he
would make promises far beyond his ability to keep good.
He promised A that he would be on hand "bright and
early" Monday morning, and he would have that building
on its new site before the next Saturday night. After
A had gone home, B came to remind him of his promise
to move his barn the next week. Tim renewed his
promise to be on hand "bright and early" Monday morn-
ing. On Sunday Tim thought over his week's business.
He had promised both A and B to commence moving
their respective buildings the next day. Tim thought to
himself "Now if I go to A's, B will be mad at me, and
if I go to B's, A will be mad. Tomorrow will be a
good fish day and I will go fishing."
One of the stories that is remembered is one told by
Gen. Linus W. Thayer, at an early Pioneer Festival held
at Silver Lake. At a time of flood, and it seems that
they had floods then as well as in later times, the story
runs that a daughter of a pioneer, either in Warsaw or
Gainesville, (both towns were together in those days),
fell into a creek and was rescued by a young man who was
watching her exploit of crossing the stream. The mother
of the young lady was loud in her rejoicing at the rescue
of her daughter from a watery grave, and proposed to
make the girl over to the young man as an expression
of her gratitude. The General described the girl as not
at all preposessing even when dry and her appearance
had not improved by the duckiug and the fright. " She
is yours," said the grateful mother. "You have rescued
her from a watery grave. She is yours." The young
man surveyed the preferred donation, and replied, "No,
I don't want her. If she was mine I would put her
right back again."
Ira Smith was an early "statesman" who thought his
116 HISTORY OF THE
abilities were not fully appreciated, by his fellow citizens
of Warsaw village, and in order to show how much they
thought of him he was nominated and elected village
trustee, and that body at its first meeting made him
"Mayor". Mr. Smith's estimation of himself was in-
creased beyond measure. He would show the people
that his administration would be run in the interest of
"reform". It had been the custom for the grocers,
market men and merchants to display their wares on the
side walk in front of their respective business places. This
had long been an annoyance to Smith as well as to other
people and he determined to abate the nuisance at
once, and the next morning after his inauguration into
ofl&ce he went up Main street from Shattuck's shop to
Buxton's warehouse and ordered all goods, barrels and
boxes to be removed. The dealers took his warning
kindly but made no effort to comply with the "Mayor's"
orders. After waiting at Nicholson's shop a few min-
utes. Smith started on his return trip dowu Main street,
and threw every box, barrel and crate into the gutter.
He would show the people that when he ordered a thing
done it must be done at once.
One of our early citizens endeavored to run his house-
hold affairs by set rules. One of these rules was that
all members of the family were to be in the house by
nine o'clock at night. He had boarding with him a
young lady teacher — a most exemplary and model person
in every way. The principal of the school was also a
careful observer of all the proprieties in his conduct.
These two young people on a certain Sunday evening in
the summer time took a stroll up Cemetery Hill, and in
their contemplative mood forgot all about the nine o'clock
rule at the young lady's boarding house, and when
they reached there found the house dark and the door
locked. Of course the young lady was greatly cha-
grined, and her escort was angry beyond measure. He
hurled suppressed oaths clothed in all the ancient languages
of which he was master, as well as in plain English,
but that did not unlock the door, and he went across the
street and explained the situation to his own landlady who
readily opened her guest chamber to the shut-out girl.
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 117
It is generally believed that when the Puritanic house-
holder, who was also a trustee of the school, and the
principal of the school met the next morning the earth
trembled with the shock of the encounter.. The Prin-
cipal still grates his teeth and clenches his fists whenever-
he is reminded of the circumstance. The Puritanical house
holder and school trustee has gone, it is hoped, where
the gates are not shut either at night or by day.
THE CENTENNIAL HYMN
WRITTEN BY MRS. MERRILL E. GATES AND SUNG BY THE
AUDIENCE
Our century flowers to-day 1
From near and far away,
Homeward we come!
Beautiful, smiling vale,
Warsaw, our Home, we hail I
Hillside, and stream and dale
Welcome us home 1
Through many a misty year,
Loved voices call us clear.
Forms long withdrawn
Seem to walk through the street.
Sit in the ancient seat;
Veiled faces— long since sweet,
Bloom like the dawn.
All through the valley broad.
Sweet as the harps of God,
Dear memories sound.
Chords vibrate, ne'er to cease —
Music of home and peace,
Hope, faith that will increase,
Till glory-crowned I
Brothers, a living band,
Grasp we each other's hand.
Pledging anew—
By all the past can hold,
By seed-time — autumn's gold.
Strong friendship, as of old,
Lasting and true.
Our century rolls away,
Bounding full-orbed to-day.
To God be praise!
Our life in every part —
On farm, in shop and mart —
Our learning and our art,
Be His always!
RESOLUTION
WRITTEN BY CORNELIUS H. BRADLEY, READ BY REV. H.
E. GURNEY AND ADOPTED BY A STANDING VOTE
Whereas, an inscrutable Providence has removed
from us by death a valued citizen and fellow-worker,
Simeon D. Lewis, the chairman of one of our most im-
portant committees, it is deemed appropriate and fitting
on this occasion, to which Mr. Lewis had looked for-
ward with pleasurable anticipations, that we express
publicly our feeling of sorrow for this bereavement:
and, therefore,
Eesolved, that in the loss of Mr. Lewis we have
not only been deprived of an estimable resident of War-
saw for nearly half a century, but of a congenial friend, a
wise counselor, a pleasant associate, and one who, had
he been spared, would have added largely to the interest
of this occasion. While today his voice is silent and his
earthly task is done, we hold in loving remembrance
his memory, not alone for what he did as a public spirit-
ed citizen but for what he was as a man ; true, upright,
and honorable, in whose life there was no false note.
Part Three
SYMPOSIUM
Tuesday Evening, June 30. 1903
ADDRESS
BY REV. GEORGE D. MILLER. D. O.
Mr. President and Frieiids: —
Ton hsTe come back fixtm the bosy worid. where by
the sweat of yoor brow roa hare eaten food, to the hill
wheie yoa were accustomed to eoasr. the glen where you
weT>e' wont to pionie and the swimming pools of the Oatka.
We are not afraid to deal in one troth on a margin.
There is not a more beaotifal home TaDey in aQ America.
If yoa haTe ridden through the green fields and flower-
ing hedge rows of Ei^land, sailed on the incompaiahle
Italian lakes, stood on the summits of Mounts FUatos and
Bigi lo(Ai]^ down on Xake Luseme, wandered OTer the
prairies of the Middle West, revelled amid the estrara-
gance of flowers and froits of California and have been
awed rato rererence while gazii^ from Inspirati<m Point
into the delicately tinted gorge of tiie Xdlowstone, yon
hare viewed natore in grander and subUmer outline; bat
yoa have never b^eld a landscape which offered better
si^gestions to the artist's subtle brush than this vaDey
of Wyoming County viewed from our hiDs. The sap
mounts the trees and the showers fall from heaven to
make this a home of ^lade and freshness and peace in
Jane, and in autumn nature hixatiaties in her ddicate tints
to make this abode of man a garden of beauty.
Two natural elements combine in every strong charac-
ter. The first is the hereditary stock. One hundred
years suffice to pack into the physical organization the
par« tdood, the steady nerve and the firm but flexiMe
muscle and tendon. Another g«ieration stores the mind
with great flioaghis and lineal alacrity. Still another
attunes body and mind to the nature of the Infinite.
Every great sentence of Emerson's was the voice of his
grandparents. It was no wanton stock of degenerate sons
and daughters who first learned to call these hillsides
hrane. "Rie old coontries and Xew England contribated
their stiiraigth to oar dtixenship ; the Scotchman trans-
124 HISTOEY OF THE
ported hither his love of the Highlands and running
streams; the Irishman found here a close resemblance
to his emerald slopes; the Hugenot found here a truer
liberty and a broader democracy; the New Englander,
bom to be a pioneer, found here a favorable soil for his
sturdy roots. All of them experienced a home feeling
among these hills, and we are not surprised that you love
to come back to them.
Another element in the formation of character is its
environment. The ability to conquer nature makes man a
hero. A knowledge of the language of nature makes the sci-
entist ; the interpretation of nature is the sweetest poetry ;
and fellowship with the soul of nature makes the Chris-
tian. And so, the persons who live amid such surround-
ings as these have the best equipment for noble sons
and daughters.
The statisticians tell us that eighty-five per cent, of the
successful men of New York are natives of the vil-
lages and the country. Eighty per cent, of the college
students of today come from the country. The same is
true of seventeen of our presidents. The close fellow-
ship with nature, the space for thought and development,
combined with a heritage of strong physical and moral
force fit the children of the villages and hillsides to be-
come sons of Anak in the land of achievement. From
this inheritance of sturdy character and this environment
of wholesome influences, there have entered the two
streams which have given the impetus and direction to
the life of this valley.
One hundred years of Warsaw's history have left a
record for men and women scarcely eclipsed by any com-
munity in the State. The names of these are familiar
in every household. Four college presidents have received
their first education here. These have been gifted with
eloquence, righteousness and executive ability as well as
learning. Representatives in the House and Senate, and
members of our State Legislature who carried weighty
influence; financiers who have headed great enterprises
because of the caution and prudence, the far-sightedness
and honesty which they have learned in the life of this
community; naval officers of renown, who have discovered
for us the secrets of the seas ; teachers who have been
WABSAW CENTES:S1A1 CELEBKATIOX 125
great educators; missionaries ui foreign lands; journalists
who could write learnedly on any subject from Egyptian
hieroglyphics to the latest street-boy larceny; ministers
of the gospel and able women whose wholesome influence
in many quarters is making this world better.
And, too, there is the strong home life ; that home life
which has been untouched by the degenerating influence
of great populations, that home life which has been strong
yet sweet, progressive, yet conservative, so that our
mothers were able to put into our lives tlie power that
would make us true men and women. But the achieve-
ments of today leave no room for pessitaism. The young
men and women are going each year from Warsaw to
places of trust and success. All the great colleges of
the East have their names registered as students. Each
commencement season reports back to \is some Warsaw
boy or girl among the prize winners. But these are only
the indications of what is abundant. The mineral wealth
of our Wyoming families is by no means exhausted, and
every fresh survey of our family life reveals wealth im-
told for the future of our men and women. When another
anniversary shall be celebrated our wealth of great names
shall eclipse those of today.
ELIZUR WEBSTER and JONATHAN YOUNG
BY ELIZABETH YOUNG
It is a peculiar interest that attaches itself to any
beginning, whether it be the sublime work of God's
creation, when "in the beginning God created the heavens
and earth," or whether it be the lesser work of man's
creation, when he enters the wilderness and by his own
hands "causeth the solitary place to rejoice and be glad,
even to come forth and blossom as the rose." And so
we come to have a respect if not a veneration for the
brave pioneers who opened up the country, endured the
hardships and made for the generations following a culti-
vated and attractive place which we have only to enter
in and possess.
Such a man was Elizur Webster who in 1803, then
living in Hampton, Washington county, N. Y., with the
wisdom of a sage, determined to go west and open up a
place where no white man had ever been, and at the
age of 36 years he started forth to make a home for
himself and family in the wilds of a western forest. He
continued his journey westward until he reached Wright's
Corners, in the town of Middlebury where a settlement
had been commenced the year previous by Jabisli War-
ren, also of Hampton; and, felling the trees made his
own highway of advance into the wilderness. During
his lone wanderings through the forest, prospecting for
a place to locate, when the darkness of night settled
upon him and he had not where to lay his head, this
brave man would find protection under some fallen tree
and wrapping his blanket about him "lie down to
pleasant dreams."
His shrewdness appeared in the method by which he
attained his desire to be the first settler in the town-
ship. He had by personal inspection mapped out the
town, finding the center by his own survey, for which he
used a measuring line made of elm or basswood bark,
and a compass; and with such accuracy as to deviate
127
but a few rods from the center afterwards determined
by actual survey. He then went to the land office in
Batavia to negotiate a purchase. Mr. EUicott, the agent,
refused to order a survey to be made for Mr. Webster's
accommodation, on the ground that applications were
constantly being made for unsurveyed land when there
was plenty of good land already surveyed. But an add-
ed weight was given to Mr. "Webster's persistent request
by the fact that he had $1,000 to "pay down" on his
purchase. Mr. EUicott, therefore, relented and ordered
the survey to be made. But the reports of the survey-
ors to their agents were altogether unfavorable as to
the quality of the land embraced within the survey.
Both the surveyors and agents were ignorant of the
quality of the land at, or about the center, but the keen
insight of the settler had not failed to discover the well-
watered, fertile country of the plain so well adapted for
manufacture and agriculture, and a spot which might be
made beautiful for the habitation of man.
Mr. Webster's purchase included more than three
thousand acres lying mostly along and in the valley of
Oatka Creek. The contract price was $1.50 an acre,
and Mr. EUicott, not having at that time much knowl-
edge of the land in this locality, was very much an-
noyed afterwards, it is said, to find that he had unwit-
tingly disposed of the best land in the township at the
lowest price. Most of Mr. Webster's purchase was made
on credit; or, as was sometimes done, "booked" to him
for a trifling sum, not exceeding a dollar a lot for a
specific term, six months more or less, during which
time he might sell to other parties at an advanced
price.
He sold most of these lands to settlers at an advance
of fifty cents an acre, they usually assuming his contract
at the land office by taking an article as original pur-
chasers and paying him his additional charge.
Mr. Webster immediately entered upon his purchased
possession, made a small opening in the forest and
built a log house a few rods back of the present site
of the Baptist church. After the completion of this
structure, Mr. Webster returned to Hampton and the
128 HISTORY OF THE
same year removed his family, a wife and five ciiildren,
and his household effects to Warsavy. He came vs^ith
two teams, a team of horses being driven by himself
and the other team, two yoke of oxen driven alternately
by Shubael Morris and Amos Keeney, who came to seek
new homes on the Holland purchase. They were either
accompanied or immediately followed by Lyman Morris,
also from Hampton. During the first winter there were
not more than three or four families in that lone for-
est, whose silence was broken only by sound of the
chopper's axe and the music of the howling wolves.
Trom this weird picture we look forward one hundred
years and behold the dreary wilderness transformed into
a beautiful and enterprising village.
Judge Webster, so conspicuous in the embryo stage of
our village, was a man of unique personality. In appear-
ance a fine specimen of manhood, stalwart in frame,
about six feet in height, broad and well developed, of
erect and dignified bearing. He possessed clear judg-
ment, strong individuality, was original and independent
in mind and manner, and I add the testimony of a con-
temporaneous settler, that he was a man of irreproach-
able character; not dependent upon his wealth for the
salutary influence which emanated from him. My in-
formant says that of his benefactions he had no means
of knowing, but is certain of one thing, "that in those
troublous times incident to, and following the War of
1812 his name was not coupled with the names of those
who, in the scarcity of provisions in 1816, were oppressors
of the needy ; that, on the other hand he was always
kind to the poor and that from his door none ever went
empty away." As an employer of scores of men in
his large hay fields and in other labor he was a kind of
regulator in keeping the prices up to a fair standard.
In 1808, at the first town meeting for the election of
ofiicers, Judge Webster was chosen Supervisor, which
office he held by successive elections for seven years.
In 1813 he was appointed one of the associate judges of
the County Court. In 1816 and 1817 he was a represent-
ative of the County of Genesee in the Legislature, and in
1821 a member of the Constitutional Convention. Although
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 129
his education was limited, his common sense and discrim-
inating judgment more than supplied the meagreness of
his literary attainments. He has been heard to say, that
when acting as Justice he paid little attention to the
"pettifoggers" and seldom looked into a law book; but
law, being said to be founded on reason and the princi-
ples of justice, he made these the guide of his decisions,
not one of which had ever been reversed.
In 1837 Judge Webster removed to Ripley, Chautauqua
County, having bought a large tract of fine farming land
sloping away from the shores of Lake Erie, where a num-
ber of his sons and daughters settled around him. Although
Judge Webster was famous only in a limited sphere, yet
as far and long as the history of Warsaw is known his
name should be remembered. He lived for a purpose,
and gained his highest ambition. By his sagacity and
industry he accumulated what was, for that time, a large
fortune ; but, better than that, by his nobility of charac-
ter and manly virtues he gained the honor and esteem
of all who knew him; and in 1854, in the eighty-seventh
year of his age was ended the long, active, useful life
of Warsaw's first settler.
In 1816, Jonathan Young and his wife, Nancy Beck
Young, removed from Carlisle, Schoharie County, with a
family of six children and settled on a farm two and
one-half miles west of Warsaw village. To all of their
children were given good. Biblical names, suggestive per-
haps of the hope and desire of their parents that they might
emulate the lives of those godly Bible characters. Suffice it
to say not one brought dishonor to his name. Peter
Young was for many years a ruling elder in the Presby-
terian church, and Abraham T. Young became a minister
of the gospel. The relations between the families of Judge
Webster and Jonathan Young became intimate and as a
natural result Andrew W. Young married Eliza, Judge
Webster's daughter and the first-born child of Warsaw.
Andrew White Young commenced his active life in early
youth having attained the honor of school master's degree
before the close of his thirteenth year. In manhood he
entered into public life and received a share of publig
130
honors. He was a lover of his country and of good cit-
izenship and to this end wrote a number of books
on Civil Government; but to a devoted Warsawian
his name and memory will be best perpetuated as the
village historian. He actively engaged in all works of
social reform; for temperance, universal freedom, educa-
tion and religion ; for whatever was for the promotion of the
welfare of his fellow men he wielded his pen and lifted
his voice. Only one of our many worthy fathers, who
by their lives and their deeds have given Warsaw a char-
acter and a history of which their children are justly
proud and should strive to maintain. To our forefathers,
who through hardship and privations laid so well the
foundations of our village, we offer our salutations of grate-
ful remembrance; and to our fathers who built upon
these foundations the superstructure of Godliness, intelli-
gence and righteous living we render a tribute of immortal
praise.
WILLIAM WEBSTER
BY WILLIAM E. WEBSTER
"William Webster was bom in Hampton, N. Y., in 1787,
and came to Warsaw with Elizur Webster, his elder brother
in 1803. They were descendants of Governor John Web-
ster, who settled in Hartford, Conn., in 1636, and was
appointed Governor of Connecticut by the King of Eng-
land in 1656. William Webster was but 16 years of age
when he came to Warsaw and was one of the three who
made the first burial in the old cemetery. They made
the cofiin from a wagon box, carried it over the Oatka
Creek on a log and buried it on the hillside. He lived
with Elizur Webster until he reached his majority and
did five years of hard work in assisting to clear the land
in this vicinity. When he became 21 years of age his
brother Elizur gave him the choice between one hundred
acres of land and one hundred dollars. He chose the
land, situated at 8outh Warsaw on the east side of the
highway and known as the "Old Webster Farm," and con-
tracted for 100 acres more on the west side of the high-
way, which he owned many years. About one-half of
these two farms has been sold ofE to other parties, and
each remaining part of the old homestead has passed into
other hands once, but both are now owned by descendants
of William Webster. He was twice married; his first
wife was the daughter of Col. Elkanah Day and died
about two years after their marriage. He afterward mar-
ried Charlotte Phelps, a sister of Isaac N. Phelps who
kept the "underground" railway for runaway slaves from
the South. Among . those whom he secreted was the wife
of William Burghart, her mother and brother, William
Martin.
William Webster had a longer residence in Warsaw than
any other of the first settlers and died in 1876, upon the
farm which he cleared and where he spent 68 years of
bis life, and is buried in the Qld cemetery where he
132 HISTOBY OF THE
assisted in the first burial. His wife survived him about
two years and is buried by his side. They had eleven
children, only one of whom is now living, Mrs. Susan
Webster Hitchcock of Wyoming Village, who is in Warsaw
to attend the Centennial celebration. She is 86 years of
age and is the only one living of the children of those
first "old settlers,"
William Webster and his wife were among the first
members of the Presbyterian Church and remained such
until their death. He was elected a trustee of that
church in 1824. He rendered much assistance in recruit-
ing a military company during the war of 1812 but was
unable to enter the service himself. He was elected a Jus-
tice of the Peace and served as such many years and built
an elaborate office, for those days, in which to hold court.
One of the oldest attorneys of Warsaw told me some years
ago that William Webster was one of the best Justices
that Warsaw ever had. He settled many cases without
trial, by good advice and counsel, and no decision which he
rendered after trial was ever reversed by a higher court
when appealed to. He was also known as an efficient
"Tyer of Knots," matrimonial knots, and could say that
which many of our clergymen cannot say, they never
came imtied. I have the record book of many of the
marriage ceremonies performed by him, dating back to
1834 and many of the names are familiar to our older
residents.
It was my pleasure and privilege to live in the same
house with my grandfather Webster from the time I was
nine years old until I was thirteen, and my brother and
I used to go to his room in the evening and sit by the
old fire-place and listen to many stories told by him and
my grandmother about the early settlement of our town,
of the many years of hard labor and of being deprived
of many of the necessaries of life. These men and women
were men and women of courage, ambition and self de-
nial ; for it takes courage to be a successful Pioneer, and
we, the descendants of the old Pioneers of Warsaw should
cherish and revere their memory for it is by their cour-
age, hard work and self-denial that we enjoy the com-
forts and luxury of thQ 20th century. "W^illiam Webster
WAKSAW CENTENNIAL CELteBRATtON 133
lived an honorable and upright life, always casting his
influence for right as he saw it, and I am proud to say
that 1 am the grandson of one of those old " first settlers."
AMOS KEENEY
BY ELIZABETH BISHOP
The subject of this sketch and one of the earliest
settlers of our town, Amos Keeney, was born in East
Hartford, Conn., April 8th, 1778. "While yet a lad he
journeyed west to Hampton, Washington County, N. Y.,
and soon after made the acquaintance of Elizur Webster,
a man of means and the one who played such an im-
portant part in the settlement of this town. It was at
Hampton that Amos Keeney first met and afterward
married Patty Brooks, who was destiried to share the
hardships and perils of their new western home. In
the fall of 1803 Amos Keeney accompanied Judge Web-
ster to Warsaw, driving one of his teams. He had
bargained with Mr. Webster for fifty acres of land to
be paid for by clearing ten acres of his land for him.
Domestic affairs necessitating his return, he traveled
back to Hampton on foot accompanied by Lyman Morris
who had also contracted for land here. Returning the
following March, he built his log cabin, and chopped and
cleared two acres toward paying for his land on the
north side of what is now Buffalo street, between Main
street and the Oatka creek. Again he started for Hamp-
ton on foot and after severe hardships and nearly losing
his life while fording the Genesee river, he finally
reached his destination, having paid his last sixpence for
food and lodging.
The following October he and Lyman Morris came
back with their families, Mr. Keeney having a wife and
three children and Mr. Morris a wife and two children.
One wagon drawn by an ox team sufficed to carry all
the household effects and the families of both men.
Wlien within ten miles of Warsaw the king-bolt of the
wagon broke and they were forced to camp in the
wilderness which was infested with wild animals. The
following day another trial was made but the wooden
WARSAW C3ENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 135
bolt failed them and they were obliged to abandon their
wagon and household goods and started for their destina-
tion on foot, making knapsacks of their overcoats. Mr.
Keeney carried his two eldest children, Betsey and Har-
ry, while his wife carried the baby who was about six
months old.
It seems that Mr. Keeney's hardships had just begun,
for he owed ten dollars or more for the transportation
of his belongings; his stock of provisions had been re-
duced to a few pounds of flour and part of a salt
flsh; his cabin was a primitive affair — ^it had no chim-
ney except a large opening in the roof and the fireplace
had not even a stone back-wall, the fire being kept at
safe distance from the wooden structure. From Mrs.
Keeney's scanty wardrobe a flannel skirt was sold to Ster-
ling Stearns for wheat and flour, and a chintz dress to
Josiah Hovey for his eldest daughter, for the delivery
of twelve bushels of corn at Geneseo where Mr. Hovey
had raised it during the preceding summer. It now re-
mained for him to transport his corn from Geneseo to
Conesus for grinding, and then home. To accomplish
this he hired an ox-team and after a few days' journey
succeeded in his enterprise.
He now had a considerable supply of bread-stuff, but
how was he to preserve so great a bulk of com meal
from spoiling? He cut from a hollow basswood tree
several pieces three feet long, shaved off the bark and
smoothed them inside, and into these vessels he placed
the meal in layers two inches deep, separated by flat
stones. In this manner it was preserved and, with th^
flour previously bought, lasted about a year. One of these
basswood barrels is still in existence and is the property
of Mrs. James E. Bishop of this village, a granddaugh-
ter of Amos Keeney.
Such was the pioneer life of Amos Keeney, a hardy.
God-fearing man. He lived to the good old age of 92
years and was blessed with nine children.
THE FARGO FAMILY
BY PALMER C. FARGO
Nehemiah Fargo was bom in Bozra, Conn., on Janu-
ary 10, 1764, and was married in June, 1783, to Mary Chap-
man. They resided in Bozra about ten years after their
marriage and then, successively, at Colchester and Hebron,
in Connecticut ; Sandisfleld and Great Barrington, Mass. ;
Green Eiver and Geneseo, N. Y. At the latter place
Mr. Fargo worked on the Wadsworth estate one year and
after putting in his crops he took his axe on his shoulder
and started through the woods, coming out at Warsaw,
where he immediately negotiated for a piece of land, and
made an opening preparatory to building a log house,
to which he returned in the fall and completed all except
hanging the doors. He built the house double, large
enough to accommodate any weary traveler or home-seeker
who might come his way. Therefore, he became really
the first keeper of a public house in town, though he
never did that as a profession or as a business. In the
spring he loaded up for the last time his belongings on
a cart drawn by oxen and a wagon with horses, and after
three days, going by the way of LeRoy and over Bethany
Hill he arrived at Warsaw.
This was in 1804. Mr. Fargo made a large purchase
of land; more than one-third of the village of Warsaw oc-
cupies a portion of his investment. He gave to the Pres-
byterians the land on which their church stands and in
return, it is said, was given his choice of pews. He settled
on the place, corner Main and Livingston streets where
his son Allen Fargo resided for so many years and which
is now occupied by his great grandson, Wilber G. Fargo.
Nehemiah Fargo was a prominent factor in the early his-
tory of Warsaw and many of his descendants still reside
here and are active and influential in the affairs of the
town.
Now, as I am only a half-blood Fargo I feel it might
hot be out of place if I should say a word in honor of
my maternal grandmother, who was also a pioneer, and
whom I hold with as much reverence and respect as I do the
one whose name I bear. Hezekiah Scoville was bom in
Orwell, Vermont, in the year 1177. He married Amy
Thompson of the same place, coming to Warsaw in 1810
or 1811, bringing with him that which stood him in good
stead, a skilled pair of hands in woodcraft, and he built
largely, or helped to build, the frame churches in this
community and many of the houses, building for himself
the first frame house on the West hill, just east of the
Sharp school house, and that house is doing service today
as a dwelling. In that house my father and mother.
Palmer Fargo and Caroline W. Scoville, were married
in 1818. He also brought with him that venerable
townsman, whom many of you remember and from
whom he learned the art of woodcraft, Chester Howard,
who built, it is said, more churches than any other
man who ever lived in Western New York of his day,
and we remember him with great respect, and
many of his descendants are still in this community.
Hezekiah Scoville was a musician. He was the first of
our singing masters, using not the eight notes but the
three syllables in the gamut, and used to lead the choir
and the devotional services.
THE MUNGER FAMILY
BY EMMA R. MUNGER
Of the pioneers in Warsaw in the early part of the
last century there came three Hunger brothers, represent-
atives of a family which had been living in Connecticut
more than 150 years. They came from good old Puri-
tan stock, the kind of men that made New England stand
for civil and religious liberty and that helped to give to
Western New York the same character of independence
in thought and action. Nicholas Hunger, the ancestor
of the Hungers in America, came from Kent, England,
to the New Haven Colony in 1639. Nearly every one
of his great grandsons were Eevolutionary soldiers. One
of them, John Hunger, born in Bethlehem, Conn., in
1749, had four children who became residents of Warsaw.
He himself came here in 1824 and lived here until his
death in 1830. His grave can be seen in the old ceme-
tery.
Of these four children one, Elizabeth, the wife of
David Hartin and the mother of David Clark Hartin,
came here in 1813. Another, Ebenezer, came here in 1806
but afterwards moved to Pennsylvania. The two best
known were John and Samuel Hunger. Deacon John
Hunger, as he was familiarly known, came here in 1806
and was a resident of Warsaw for 58 years. He lived for
many years on the farm just south of the west side cem-
etery, where he built and operated the first tannery in
the town. He and his wife were among the first mem-
bers of the Presbyterian church, and it may be remem-
bered that in his will he left several thousand dollars for
the erection of a church building. Samuel Hunger came
with his wife and five children to Warsaw from Roxbury,
Conn., in Harch, 1816. Their journey occupied six weeks,
their only conveyance being an ox sled. Their two oldest
sons, Horgan and Robert, walked almost every step of the
way. Upon their arrival they went to work immediately
to help their father cut away the forest on the west hill
139
to make a new home. Morgan Munger spent the re-
mainder of his life on the farm which his father cleared,
having added to it from time to time until he owned a
large tract of land. He was honest, frugal, industrious,
generous to his neighbors, a man of strictly upright life.
His wife, who was left at his death with a family of ten
children to rear, was a woman of remarkable force and
energy of character.
Robert Raymond Munger, who is no doubt remembered
by many of the older people of the town, started out in
life with nothing to aid him except an indomitable will,
yet before his death he owned many valuable pieces of
property, both farming land and town property. Between
1838 and 1844 he owned and conducted the old Columbian
Hotel which stood on the site of the present postofflce.
In 1854 he started the grist mill at the south end of the
village, the mill long known as the Chase mill. The mill-
stones which have recently been placed at the foot of
the path at the old cemetery were the ones which he put
in the mill at that time, and the tall poplar trees stand-
ing there he also planted the same year. While he was
Highway Commissioner, about 1867, he built the stone arch
over the Oatka on South Main street, using the flat stones
from the creek bed to build the walls. He was frequently
told during its construction that the walls would not last.
They stand today a testimony to his good sense and honest
work. Robert Raymond Munger was known as a typical,
shrewd, energetic Yankee, a man of sound judgment and
absolutely honest life. Though he was somewhat conserv-
ative in his opinions, yet he was progressive in his busi-
ness. Both he and his brother were firm believers in
the temperance cause and in the anti-slavery movement.
Of the descendants of Samuel Munger, twenty-one are
residents of Warsaw, fourteen being descendants of Morgan
Munger and seven descendants of Robert Raymond Mun-
ger. Of the children and grandchildren of Robert Raymond
Munger here and elsewhere it happens that five are millers
and five are school teachers. Five, too, is the number
of the generations of Mungers buried in Warsaw. Though
the Mungers have never achieved fame, yet the younger
generation living feel that they have a right and just
140
pride in the heritage of an untarnished name from the
courageous pioneers who helped to found Warsaw's pros-
perity.
REMARKS
BY LEWIS E. WALKER
Mr. Chairman: —
I assure you that I feel very much at home here to-
day for, if family records are correct I began my career
on the very spot where this tent is located, on the 15th
of May, 1826, andT have been a resident of Warsaw ever
since with the exception of six years— three in Vermont
and three in Ohio. On the last day of July, 1854, 1 bought
a little bookstore of Nehemiah Park, and have continued
to supply you with books, papers and magazines, which
possibly may account for the fine literary taste and attain-
ments of the residents of this town.
My father, William Walker, was born in St. Albans,
Vermoiit, on March 13, 1793, and came to Warsaw in 1823,
where he continued to reside until his death in 1885 at
the age of ninety years and one month. He was long
identified with the best interests of the town. I find his
name on the records in connection with building the stone
school house and in building the two bridges — not the
one referred to by Miss Munger but those built at a prev-
ious time, the one on Buffalo street and on Main street.
All you need to know of the Walker family is, that
we are here, and we are represented throughout this county
and this section of the state. I am very glad to see you
all today ; and what gives me special pleasure in this assem-
blage is the fact that all the heads are not gray. It is
a joy to see here so many young men and women who
have been reared in this community, in these churches
and these schools, and who are a credit to this place or
to any place where they may live.
WILLIAM BRISTOL
BY BELLE BRISTOL KURTZ
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: —
Two years after Mr. Webster located in this town my
grandfather, William Bristol, came from Canaan, Colum-
bia County, as surveyor for the Holland Land Company.
His son, your fellow townsman of that name, was to have
spoken of him tonight. Although my father is a young
man, having recently celebrated his eighty-second birthday
—like Oliver Wendell Holmes, preferring to be "eighty
years young than forty years old"— and is more vigorous
than many of half his age, he decided a few hours
ago that owing to a slight hoarseness it would not be
prudent for him to speak in the night air and therefore
delegated to me the pleasant task of referring briefly to
my ancestors.
I knew that my grandfather came to this locality in
1805; that he was active in the political and social life
of that time; that he felled the first tree in the wilder-
ness of that part of the county now known as Gaines-
ville; that he cleared the forest for the first road lead-
ing from Warsaw to Pike, but I did not realize how closely
he was connected with the early history of this town
until I took up the History of Warsaw this afternoon and
found his name associated with the names of the early
settlers like the Websters and Keeneys and others of whom
we have heard this evening. In speaking of the friend-
ships of that time and of the simplicity of the life, the
historian says : " Who doubts that William Bristol and
family of No. 8 had a good time when they made a visit
to Judge Webster's, seven miles away, on a sled drawn
by oxen?"
Mr. Bristol served in the war of 1812 as lieutenant in
Captain Wilson's company of cavalry. When in some en-
counter their company had with the Indians Julius Whit-
lock'S horse was killed from under him and the Company
143
fled leaving him behind, his friend William Bristol went
back and rescued him. The history also tells of the re-
ligious society formed in 1812 with Ezra Walker as mod-
erator, Chauncey Sheldon, clerk ; John Hunger, Zera Tanner
and William Bristol among the trustees. That society was
called "Union." There are now many denominations but
they are all working, thank God, harmoniously and unitedly
for the good of the citizens and community.
Of Mr. Bristol's three sons and three daughters, my
father is the only one left, but descendants of his sons
Francis and Benjamin are with us tonight. Many of the
old family still live in the county; some with the old
pioneer spirit of the grandfather, are helping to build up
new settlements and some blazing their way through forests
of sage brush beyond the Rockies.
My grandfather showed rare judgment in the selection
of a wife when he chose Martha Stevens, bom in Wor-
cester, Mass, a woman with the strong New England
character, eminently fitted for life in a new country.
Together they dispensed a generous hospitality and were
kind and sympathetic neighbors. Our hearts are filled
with gratitude to those early settlers for preparing for us
this beautiful valley we enjoy today. We admire their
courage and bravery, their patience under all the hard-
ships they endured. Their lives are an inspiration! But
more than all are we grateful that they were noble, up-
right. God-fearing men and women whose splendid char-
acters have been transmitted to the men and women of
this generation, like the eloquent, scholarly men we have
heard today, and the energetic townspeople who have
planned this delightful Centennial reunion and celebration
which will never be forgotten.
LINUS W. THAYER
BY BLANCHE L. THAYER
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: —
It might provide an interesting contrast and add some
spice to tltese tales about bur worthy ancestors if I could
claim descent for the Thayer family from the "Three
Thayers " who were hanged in the public square in Buffalo
in the "good old days." Certainly crime brings fame —
at least in the newspapers, to a family otherwise unheard
of. But unfortunately our family is in no way con-
nected, I believe, with the aforementioned murders and
therefore I must speak on topics more commonplace.
This centennial celebration is not only a pleasurable
occasion, but a very instructive one for us of the younger
generation. After listening to the eloquent addresses this
afternoon I said to an old school friend of mine, "Those
speeches make us believe that we all had noble ancestors."
"Not only that," he replied, "but they make us believe
that we have a future." And in thinking of that future
it is especially wholesome for those of us who see so much
luxury in our large cities to hear of the days when life
was simpler ; when it was not necessary in order for a
boy to be contented that he should have at his command,
for pleasure, horses, a bicycle, a motor cycle and an au-
tomobile. Our forefathers probably were not much more
unhappy in the long run than we are, and yet their pleas-
ures were of such a simple kind that they scarce seem
pleasures at all to us.
The committee who asked me to speak on the Thayer
family intended, I am sure, that I should commemorate
that one who for a considerable period stood at the head,
it is conceded, of the legal profession in this county, my
grandfather. General Linus W. Thayer. He was born in
Warsaw, in the limits of the present town of Gainesville
in 1811 and died here in 1892. He began the practice of
law in Perry in 1839, but removed to Warsaw in 1841;
145
so that he practiced in this town for fifty-one years. It
may be of interest to read the list of lawyers who studied
in his office: Hon. Andrew Thayer and Judge Wallace
Thayer of Oregon; Vine W. Kingsley of New York City;
Daniel C. Nichols of Chicago; Charles Henshaw, after-
wards Judge of Genesee County; Samuel S. Spring, after-
wards Judge of Cattaraugus County; Charles W. Bailey,
formerly Clerk of Wyoming County; Edwin Thayer of
Buffalo; Leonard W. Smith, formerly Treasurer of Wyo-
ming County; Henry C. Page of Nebraska; M. E. Bart-
lett, C. T. Bartlett, I. Sam Johnson, L. L. Thayer and
Augustus Harrington of Warsaw. His law partners were:
Levi Gibbs, James E. Doolittle, Charles Henshaw, L. W.
Smith, Henry C. Page, L. L. Thayer.
The success that he won and the reasons whereby he
won it have always been exceedingly interesting to me.
Living on a farm till he was seventeen; for the next ten
years teaching school winters and working on the farm
summers with the exception of two spent in study at
Lima, N. Y., studying by himself with such few books
as he could afford to buy, often baffled but never over-
come by adverse circumstances, he rose to such a posi-
tion in his profession that for many years there was not
an important law case in the state in which he was not
counsel on one side or the other.
The remarkable persistence and determination shown
throughout his life is not unknown to many of you here.
He always had the courage of his convictions and never
lost a suit for lack of courage to press it. He might
be beaten in a preliminary struggle, but he never retreated
when in his judgment there was a fighting chance. Many
instances might be cited from his practice when he refused
to submit to an adverse decision and finally demonstrated
by the result in the Court of Appeals that he had been
right and the lower tribunals wrong. It is said that on
many occasions his earnestness and perseverance brought
to the court a comprehension of the principles for which
he was contending when other men would have abandoned
the fight from sheer physical exhaustion.
It is men and women of such spirit and courage that
have raade our town known far beyond these hills of ours,
146
and it is to all of us, their descendants who have received
such an inheritance more inspiring than great wealth, to
whom "Warsaw looks for similar examples of fearlessness
and honorable success even though it may be won in an
humble field.
REMINISCENCES.
BY COMMANDER ZERA L. TANNER, U. S. N.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen —
Wlien I was told that I might be called upon for a
few extempore remarks I sat down and began to prepare
a really eloquent speech, which even Dr. Gates would
have listened to with a show of patience, if not interest,
when along came a fellow who said, "Oh, go on and
tell some reminiscences of what you did when you
were a boy." I said, "I wont tell the best things I
did— 1 wouldn't dare tell— and the other things would
not be worth telling." "Well," he said, "tell them
anything."
Of course I had an idea' of going back to my great-
great-grandfather in the French and Indian war, and
saying how he fought there and in the Bevolution, and how
my grandfather came to Warsaw in 1808 and established
himself, and I was going to give you a pretty good his-
tory of the Tanner family. Then a lady came along
— "Oh," she said, "Tell them about how you stole the
ladder from the straw-stack." I said, "I wouldn't dare
to do it for one of the girls is here to-night." I
would no more dare to tell that story in her presence
than I would dare to jump overboard. What should I
say? An attempt to follow my career of nearly 68
years wouldn't do on a three minute limit. Then an-
other one said, "Tell them something about Bering Sea,
something that you did, something that you caught from
the bottom of the sea, and how you got it." "There
is the limit again," I replied.
Well, really, it only seems the other day that I was
delving on the west hill farms for bread and butter,
and while it was pretty rough work I don't know that
I ever complained much; but at the age of sixteen I
graduated into the foundry; you all know where that is,
and I think the three years that I spent there were
148 HISTOKY OF THE
among the most valuable to me in my subsequent career
of any three years of my life. My education was procured
in the primitive schools of the west hill largely; with a
year or two at the parochial school which I will say very
little about, and one year with our friend Dr. Briggs,
probably the best teacher that ever lived or taught in
Western New York, a man we all loved and venerated;
we all recognized his interest in us, and he had more
than ordinary interest in me for the simple fact that I
needed all the interest, all the attention that he could
give me. There is just one thing that I have always
laid up against the Professor. Dolph Barber had a seat
just behind mine. Of course we had our writing lessons.
I worked pretty hard over mine. He would come in,
and say, "Well that will do pretty well for you."
Dolph wrote an elegant hand. He would go around to
Dolph, a couple of seats away and say, "Barber that is
all right," but he would make some little suggestion
to perfect Dolph's hand. All there was about it, he
thought my hand was so bad that it was hopeless, and
gave me up. "Well enough for you."
After three years in the foundry I started for the
old country, with impaired health and a worthless patent.
I spent a year in England. I did recuperate my health
to a certain extent and spent what spare change I had
on this patent and then I took to the sea. I did it at
the instance of an old friend and ship owner. He said,
" It's all very well for you to stand around here and re-
cuperate, but go on this ship; here is a ship going to sail
next week for India; go there, work or not as you like,
and it will do you more good than all of your change
of climate." I went. I was just foolish enough to go.
I did not go with the privilege of working or not work-
ing, but as one of the crew, and I worked. But my ill
health disappeared in less than a month. I never have
found it since, and from that day I determined that the
sea should be my profession. I followed it in the mer-
chant service until the outbreak of the Kebellion. Then,
of course, I went into the navy and served throughout
the war as a volunteer ofllcer. At its close I received a
commission in the regular service, passed through the reg-
ular grades from Ensign, Master, Lieutenant, Lieutenant-
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBBATION 149
Commander, to Commander, and finally in 1897 I retired
as all naval officers do, at the age of 62 years. Since then
I have been my own master to a certain extent. In
order that we should not run wild Congress passed a law
giving the Secretary of the Navy the right to order any
retired officer to duty. Well, it was not long before I
was caught, but I said nothing about that. It was dur-
ing the Spanish War. I served several months at the
Navy Department in Washington, then went to San Fran-
cisco where I made a contract for the construction of
the Samoan coaling station; then to Honolulu, where I
secured a site for another naval station, and there I was
called the "Land-Grabber," — I suppose because of my suc-
cess in securing a suitable location for the station. I re-
turned to my own quarters in Washington and retired again
at the close of the Spanish war, my own master to the ex-
tent that they have never forced me to receive orders or
to perform duty.
1 fear that I have about reached my limit, for I see
the president watching me very closely, and I will bid
you all good night.
THE SMALLWOOD FAMILY
BY MABEL E. SMALLWOOD
The Smallwoods are one of the few English families
whose ancestors did not come over in tlio Mayflower.
William Smallwood, the founder of this branch of the
family in America, came to this country in 1810 and landed
at Alexandria. He had intended, probably, to settle
somewhere in Maryland, but the sight of negro slaves,
bought and sold like cattle, roused his warm heart to
such indignation that he refused to live in a state which
would countenance such an outrage. Accordingly he
bought horses, and carts into which he loaded the family
possessions and such of the family as could not walk,
and set out to And "God's country," where the boasted
American freedom and equality really did exist.
Why he did not stop in Pennsylvania I do not know,
unless it was too near to slavery, but he passed through
that state to this, and after a few years spent in work-
ing for other men and studying the region, ho took from
the Holland Land Company the land which still forms the
old home farm for all our Smallwood family. In a little
log cabin upon this he established his family; a wife,
four daughters and three sons and set out with their help
to clear the land and form a home. Soon a larger log
cabin was built and later a frame house which forms
part of the house now standing. Like the loyal English-
man he was, he set his house well away from the road
and imported English hawthorne for hedges to surround
and shield it.
From this home his children married, only one, Michael,
remaining with him. None of the others settled in this
county and their history is not connected with that of
Warsaw. We would not be ashamed of them if they
were.
Michael married Elizabeth Beedon, of Perry, in 1886,
and their children, two sons and five daughters, whom
151
many of you know, were born in the old house, grew to
manhood and womanhood there, and are now at work in
the world, bearing their share of its burdens wherever
they are. Their living children, the fourth generation
of Smallwoods here, number twenty-six, and are not far
enough along in life to make it safe to brag of them.
Unless they make fairly decent citizens, however, all laws
of heredity may be omitted from future books.
They are somewhat hampered by family facts and tra-
ditions. They have to side with the under dog, for their
sturdy old great grandfather was an active abolitionist
until he died, and counted it one of his great blessings
that the Lord permitted him to live away beyond the
allotted "three score and ten," until his own glad eyes
had read the Emancipation Proclamation, and his own
eager ears had heard the shouts of thanksgiving when
Lee's army laid down its arms.
They have to be Methodists, sooner or later, and really
ought to be Methodist ministers. They are obliged by
force of ancestry to know more or less of books and
most of them have to teach at least a few years. This, by
the way, may be equally hard on the families upon whom
they practice. Even if they spend much time in cities
they must often return to mother nature and renew their
strength like that fabled hero of old, whose strength re-
turned at every contact with the earth.
All the family traditions are against great wealth, so
if you ever meet a rich Smallwood you may be certain
he does not belong to our branch. It is equally unlikely
if he is very poor. "We belong rather to the common
people, whom Lincoln thought the Lord must love be-
cause he had made so many of them.
One of the greatest trials of our generation is in se-
lecting partners to share our family glory. Our ances-
tors have used great judgment in such selections, so that
unprejudiced observers have sometimes thought the an-
nexed members were really an improvement upon the gen-
uine article. Up to date this generation has been equally
fortunate, but you can see that the responsibility is great.
We can only promise to use our best judgment.
The fifth generation of Smallwoods in this country
152
consists of four small youngsters, more interesting just
now to us than to the world at large. We pray for them
that they may inherit as clean a record as we did, and
pass it on without tarnish to their children's children.
REMINISCENSES
Warsaw Academy Fifty Years Ago
BY DR. HORACE BRIGGS
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen :
Without preliminaries I proceed to say that I suc-
ceeded Mr. Charles J. Judd as principal of the old
Warsaw Union School in 1847, I think. Mr. Judd was a
model teacher and a Christian gentleman. He had large
experience, and a prestige superior to that of any other
teacher that I knew in the county. It was presumption
in me, a young man with limited experience, to follow
a teacher with such a record, but Mr. Judd had decided
to abandon the profession, and I was invited to occupy
his place in the old building, which has been referred
to several times; the cobblestone structure on South
Main street, bearing on its pebbly front in large letters
the words "Warsaw Academy". It was a Union school
when I entered it, but I think it was incorporated as
an academy , the year afterwards. My associates were
Miss Emeline D. Howard, Miss Kate Crosby, Miss
Urania Stevens, a Miss Hawkins, Miss Annette Richards
and others, along down the years, and Miss Franc
Phelps of Mount Morris, a very popular society woman.
It would be pleasant for me to talk about the pecu-
liarities and idiosyncracies of my associates. They had
them well developed. But this is a public occasion, this
is a popular meeting, and those ladies are not here to
defend themselves; and so I proceed to say that they did
good service in the discharge of their duties in the
school, and especially had it not been for the wise counsel
and the loyal support that Miss Howard gave me, the
school would doubtless have had another principal long
before I left for Alexander in 1854.
We registered generally, about 350 scholars every year,
in three departments, and more than one-third of them
154 ttlSTOEY OF THE
were in the Senior department. I don't think I ever
worked so hard in my life, nor did I ever have a deeper
interest in any school over which I had supervision,
than in Warsaw Academy. It was my first large school,
and there were included in it some of the brightest
minds that it was my good privilege ever to instruct.
We got along with little friction down through the
years, and we made a record — it would not be becoming
in me to give it value — the people here know best about
that.
I come here to-night and look around upon these
faces to find recognition. I feel like a stranger in a
strange land. I know scarcely one, or very few, at least.
You don't know Joseph and Joseph doesn't know you.
Time has been playing tricks with us, and we all wear
masks, we don't know each other; and as I look around
I feel — well, at the risk of casting a shadow upon your
festivities — I feel like asking, "Where are they"? Double
less, if I should call the roll here to-night, quite a num-
ber would be able to answer "Ad Sum" — I am present.
I know that others have found homes in other towns
and in other states, and the mossy marbles on yonder
hill tell where many others lie sleeping. I went up there
to-day to read, and think and listen.
This afternoon I revisited the old schoolhouse, and
that room, my room, sacred with many memories. I
brushed away the dust, found a seat and settled down
to think, to listen again. I resigned myself entirely to
imagination and let it play with me. I think I must
have fallen into a trance ; I do not know what the con-
dition was; I suppose philosophers would call it pyschic
subjectiveness. It was a day dream. It was perhaps a
state of hallucination. Imagination transfigured every-
thing. It soon rehabilitated and refilled the whole room.
Every desk was there and every seat had an occupant —
sixty double desks and a hundred and twenty shadowy pu-
pils, but they were real to me. They greeted their old
preceptor with their wonted smile. It was his old school
of 1849.
I have had put into my hands a catalogue published
in that year, and if you will bear with me, Mr. Presi-
WaHsaw centennial celebration 155
dent, 1 will read some of their names. Adolphus Barber
— I met him to-day for the first time in many years ; —
the Caner boys; John Crocker, and Johnny was a nice
boy; William H. Darling, our first college student; Henry
J. Doolittle — ^I think he was referred to today by one
of the speakers by mistake ; Wheeler Fargo.; Walter Fargo ;
John A. Gates; I am calling the roll of a very few only
and at random; Charles M. Judd; Abram Lawrence,
I think I met him on the street the other day; E. D.
McKay — I should like to stop and talk about McKay.
I tried, and failed, to get some flowers to put on his coffin
at Southern Pines in North Carolina; Joseph M. Nichol-
son, Granville Nicholson; George, Albert and William H.
Walker, and I think that others of the family were in
school after that; Calista Bronson; and then came the
Bartletts; Lucy Bishop — I met her today; Helen Buxton;
CaroUne Barber; the Bassett girls, quite a number of
them; Mary Cutting, Harriet Crocker, Delia Cole, Lucy
and Frances Carpenter, Mary E. Darling, Julia Darling
and Jennie ;Darling ; Caroline E. Gould ; — what a memory
for me, for I lived in the family for years — ^Harriet Gates
and Mary Gates, and Mary E. Lynde, Delia MiUer, Mary
McElwain, Frances Patterson, Adelia C. Walker, Lucy
Toung, Elizabeth Young, Martha Young, and Mary Young.
These persons were so photographed in my memory that
I seemed to recognize almost every one in the room be-
fore me.
Now, you know something about the after history of
these people probably — I know very little or nothing, for
it is a far cry back over this space of a half century
or more.
While looking into their faces I noticed sadness upon
some of them, sorrow had doubtless touched them ; the
dove of Peace had left its home in their hearts and flown
away. They had probably lost their grip, had been de-
feated; but most of them appeared bright, cheery, fresh,
blooming, happy, joyous young people as I knew them in
early days. I looked into their faces with questions —
What have you gotten out of life! How have you borne
yourselves during these years ! And there seemed to come
a still small voice from out that spectral throng, — still
156
and small, yet clear and distinct, oracular and impressive,
and this was the message: "Tell every educator whom
you meet to give some time every day to instruction in
ethics; for moral instruction, instruction in duties to our
friends and neighbors, to our country and its flag, such
as we learned from the little old book that we studied
with you called "Watts on the Mind,' has done more
for us than any other one study that we ever pursued."
The engine on the distant hill aroused me from my
revery, my hallucination. I looked around, I was alone.
There was the same dust covered floor, the cobwebs were
hanging from the ceiling and there was that old black-
board — Oh, what memories — concealing volumes of the
history of the school beneath its black surface, and de-
tails of scenes stranger than those of Arabian Nights.
Reluctantly I left the place, for it was my little Mount
of Transfiguration; but I brought away this message, and
I pass it on to you: My fellow teachers, if such are
present, and those who aspire to become instructors of
the young, remember that the schoolmaster and the school
ma'm, and the conscientious mother hold in their hands
the destinies of our country; nay more, the destinies of
the human race, and I trust that the time is soon com-
ing when instruction in moral duties shall be given at
every fireside, and shall find a place in. the curriculum
of every school in our land.
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES H. DANN
BY J. EDWIN DANN
My fatlier, Charles Henry Dann, was born in Delaware
County, N. Y. His education, begun in the country
schools, was continued in Delaware Literary Institute and
Williams College; I will not say was completed, for he
was a student all his life. After leaving college he taught
in Schoharie, N. Y., and later was principal of Keeseville
Academy.
My mother, Jerusha "Waterbury, was born in Schoharie.
While a student in the Academy she met the young teacher,
Charles Dann. la 1849 she was graduated from Troy
Female Seminary. Following her graduation she taught
in Jordan Academy, in Brockport Collegiate Institute, and
with an associate principal founded Penn Yan Female
Seminary.
In September 1854, Perry Academy was opened. The
Wyoming County Advertiser of that date speaks in glow-
ing terms of the new principal, Charles H. Dann, and
of the preceptress. Miss Jerusha Waterbury. On Janu-
ary 3d, 1855, these two were married in Perry.
Mr. Dann taught in several towns of Western New
York, was principal of No. 10 in Eochester, and came
to Warsaw in 1863. He was principal of Warsaw Academy
from 1863 until 1870 and later was engaged in the nursery
business.
Three children came to Warsaw with my parents, Alice,
Charles, and Mary ; Townsend had been taken away. Willis ,
Irving and Edv/in were born here. From the Warsaw
home, Alice, Charlie, Willis and Irving were called to the
better home. Charles H. Dann passed away July 5, 1888,
and Mrs. Dann on April 22, 1901.
One of my father's old pupils writes : " Mr. Dann is
the one teacher of my life that I look back to with deep
gratitude. He was a tine scholar, a man of pure motive,
and noble character."
Of my mother, one of her friends says: "She was
158
one of God's noble women, always doing good and malt-
ing those around her happy."
I am proud to speak to you of my parents. Proud of
my father, an earnest student, a wise and faithful teacher,
a Christian gentleman. Proud of my mother, strong, brave,
courageous. Showing herself friendly she had many friends,
and a host of young people whom she helped and inspired
bear her in loving memory. The lives of our parents
are a daily inspiration to their children, and the memory
of the home they founded, of their help and counsel, and
the lives they lived, is our rich inheritance.
JOSHUA H. DARLING
BY HARRISON DARLING JENKS. M. D.
In the year 1S30 there appeared in the little village of
Warsaw a young man, tall, erect of carriage and digni.
fled in bearing, Joshua Harrison Darling. He was bom
twenty-two ^ears before in Henniker, Jfew Hampshire,
the son of Judge Joshua Darling, at one time President of
the Senate of Kew Hampshire, an alumnus of Dartmouth
Collie, as was also the grandfather. His ancestors were
among the early settlers of New England, coming from
England to Massachusetts in 1643.
This young man, from the traditions and culture of a
prominent New England family had decided to cast his
lot with the then just settled Western country, the pres-
ent locality of Warsaw.
At first a clerk in the general store of Dr. Augustas
Frank ; he soon became a partner of Andrew W. Young in
the same sort of business. Shortly after, this partner-
ship was dissolved, and on the comer where the present
National Bank now stands he carried on a general store
for the next twenty years.
At the end of this period, 1S51, tb.e need of a bank
nearer than Batavia became apparent, and with foresight
characteristic of the man, Mr. Darling established a State
Bank, the first in this county. For fourteen years, dur-
ing a period of great financial stringency, when state banks
were daily suspending operations, when failures were an
every day occurrence, Mr. Darling successfully conducted
his bank, the soundness of which was never in question.
We have in our possession a state bank- note on the Wyo-
ming County Bank, dated October, 1^9, signed, J. H.
Darling, President, and J. Harrison Darling, Cashier. After
passing through this critical time and through the Civil
War he availed himself of the National Bank Law of
1863, and in 1S65 reorganized his bank into a National
160 HISTOBY OF THE
one. Of this bank he was President until his death on
March 24, 1869.
Of acknowledged financial ability, yet his high moral
character and integrity were the crowning characteristics
of his life. Deeply religions in his nature he freely, but un-
ostentatiously gave to the church, the church of his fathers
from the early settlement of New England, and almost
every matter of public interest in this village received
his counsel and financial aid. He gave $10,000 toward
the erection of the Congregational church and gave the
new organ which cost $2,000, in addition. By his will he
also gave $150 a year for ten years for the support of
the church. "What he gave in charities and benevolent
enterprises was always with good judgment and in a quiet
manner, not even his most intimate friends really know-
ing the extent of his benefactions.
His interest in school matters is shown in this quo-
tation from a letter written February 8, 1850, in reference
to the Free School Act:
" There continues to be considerable opposition to the
Free School Law, but it will stand, I think. It may be
amended some for the better at the present session of
our Legislature."
Being a strong anti-slavery man, thoroughly opposed
to the extension of slavery, he early became identified
with the Republican party as the party most likely to
effect a settlement of the slavery question, and was in
1860 sent as a delegate to the National Republican Con-
vention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President.
In 1832, Mr. Darling married Miss Lucretia Frank of
Granville, N. Y. Seven children were the result of this
union, of whom only the eldest and the youngest survive,
Mrs. Mary Jenks of Warsaw and Mrs. Frances Neeld of
Chicago.
In 1845 he married Miss Laura Mosher of Canandaigua,
by whom he had seven children, two of vt'hom are living,
Mrs. Margaret Chapman of Elyria, Ohio, and Miss
Grace Darling of New York. In 1862 he married Miss
Clara Beebe of Litchfield, Conn., who survives him and
is now living in Wallingford, Conn.
Mr, Darling died in March 1869 at the age of 60
WABSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBKATION 161
years, in the full maturity of his powers, and good deeds
illumined his life to the end. Indeed, the good which he
did is living today and helps to make Warsaw what it
is at this one hundredth anniversary. The workman dies,
but the work goes on.
Finally, in these days when our large cities are filling
with men from foreign shores, 700,000 or more already
this year; when there are many sections of large cities
to which the English language has become a stranger,
celebrations like this serve to remind us that we should
be glad that we Warsawians, past and present, have a
history to which we can proudly look, that we Ameri-
cans as a whole can amalgamate this great crowd of
foreigners into good American timber. If we can but
apply the principles of the inspiring address of this after-
noon toward making good citizens of this horde of emi-
grants, our ancestors have, indeed, not lived in vain.
THE GATES FAMI LY
BY ELIZA GATES MILNE
8eth Gates, my grandfather, was the first member of
the Gates family to settle in Warsaw. He was born in
Preston, Coun., in 1775. He married January 1st, 1800, in
Litchfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., Miss Abigail Merrill of
that place. She was born in West Hartford, Conn., De-
cember 19th, 1777. Their first child, Seth Merrill Gates,
my father, was born October 16th, 1800, in Winfield,
Herkimer Co., N. Y.
ISix years after their marriage, in the spring of 1806,
they made the pilgrimage, to Western New York, and
settled in Sheldon, his house being the third one built
there. At a Pioneer meeting held in Warsaw fifty-four
years later, in 1860, Mr. Gates said of this journey: "My
father was twenty-six days on the road, and hard driv-
ing at that." All this region was then known as
Genesee County, and it was not until two years later, in
1808, that the towns of Warsaw and Sheldon were sep-
arated from the rest. It proved to be within the bound-
aries of this latter town that my grandfather had settled,
with a few other hardy pioneers, and there he lived for
most of his life, enduring bravely the same hardships his
neighbors had to endure and helping in the development
of the wilderness.
In 1808, the same year the township was separated
from the surrounding ones, he helped to organize the
Baptist church there and was soon after elected one of
its deacons. In the War of 1812 he commanded a com-
pany of Light Infantry on the frontiers until the battle
of Queenston had so thinned its ranks that it was annexed
to another company. In 1834 my grandfather moved to
Warsaw. Three more children were born to them in
Sheldon; Chauncey, Calista and Delia.
Warsaw was now a thriving settlement although not
incorporated as a village until nine years later; in 1843,
163
It was made the county seat of Wyoming County in 1841.
Its inhabitants were already far removed from the ex-
treme privations that had been borne by the early set-
tlers. For about twelve years there had been little, if
any fear of wild animals in the immediate vicinity, and
the bounty of five dollars apiece for the scalp and ears
of each wolf taken and killed in the county, had not been
claimed since 1821. However, as late as 1830, only four years
before this time, the records show that the men were
called out for a wolf hunt, about three miles west of
here, in Orangeville. But the settlements themselves
were now quite safe and prosperous, coming out slowly,
but surely from beneath the burden of heavy taxation made
necessary by the war of 1812. Home industries had to
compete with the British trade which had been suspend-
ed during the war, and a market for what little surplus
grain or produce was raised was still too distant to be
easily available. The struggle for a bare existence may be
said to have continued until the completion of the Erie
canal in 1825, which brought to these Western New York
people speedy and permanent relief.
Deacon Seth Gates came to Warsaw in this early
stage of its prosperity and here he spent the remainder
of his life, about fourteen years, living in the house on
Genesee street. He was always active in sustaining
the' preaching of the gospel, schools and all benevolent
and charitable enterprises, and he remained always a
member of the Baptist church. He died November 9th,
1841. His wife survived him about four years. Doubt-
less he had been led to come to this village by the de-
sire to spend his remaining years with his children, as
business interests were leading them to this village.
His eldest daughter, Calista, had married Isaac C. Bron-
son of Sheldon, and they were living in Warsaw at this
time, Mr. Bronson having associated himself in the mer-
cantile business with Dr. Augustus Frank in 1832. Mr.
Bronson was for over twenty years closely identified
with the business enterprises of this village, in the boot,
shoe and leather trade and then as one of the owners of
a woolen factory where an extensive manufacturing busi-
ness was carried on. That factory building was after-
164 HISTORY OF THE
ward sold and turned into a grist-mill, at the extreme
south end of the village where we all remember it. He
was for several years postmaster and later took an act-
ive part in securing the construction of the Attica and
Hornellsville Railroad and was one of its directors.
Mr. and Mrs. Bronson removed in 1854 to Eockford,
111. They had a family of eleven children, eight of
whom were born in Warsaw. Pour are living now but
none of them remained in Warsaw after their parents
removed. Deacon Gates' second daughter, Delia, lived
here with her parents until her marriage to the Bev. A.
H. Stowell. They had four children but none of them
ever resided in Warsaw.
The second son of Deacon Gates, Chauncey C. Gates,
was born in Sheldon, June 16, 1810. He came to Warsaw
about the same time his father did and engaged in the
mercantile business with his brother-in-law, Isaac C.
Bronson. In 1837 he became a partner in the business
and continued in it until 1843 when he sold out his share
to A. G. Hammond. From that time he carried on the
hardware and stove business under the firms of Gates &
Garretsee, and C. C. Gates & Co., and others, for many
years. He married in 1848, Mary Elizabeth Butler who
was born in Heuniker, N. H., April 10th, 1825, and
brought her to the old homestead at the head of Gene-
see street, where his mother was still living, his father
having died the previous year. Here they made their
home the whole of their married life their house being
always a place where their friends, young and old, found
a cordial welcome and where they loved to gather.
Mr. Gates died in 1891 and his wife in 1903. They
had five children all now living; William Chauncey
Gates of Auburn, Walter Harrison Gates of Scotts Bluff,
Neb., Willard Merrill Gates of Geneva, Mrs. L. H.
Humphrey and Mrs. F. J. Humphrey or Warsaw.
Seth M. Gates, the eldest son of Deacon Gates, did
not live in Warsaw during its early history, but in the
neighboring town of Sheldon and, later, LeEoy. In 1820 he
left his father's farm in Sheldon, where he had worked
until then and went to Middlebury Academy for three
years, teaching school winters, his first school being
WASSAW CE2STENlfIAL CELEBEATION 165
taught in South Warsaw, in 1821. In 1823 he began the
study of law in the office of the Hon. Heman J. Red-
fleld of LeRoy, and was admitted to the bar in 1827,
when he formed a law-partnership with Augustus P.
Hascall of LeRoy. He resided in that village until
1843, and there became known as a bold, fearless and
successful champion of all measures for the public wel-
fare. The LeRoy Gazette, in an editorial published at
the time of my father's death, said in part: "It is now
thirty-four years since his residence in Le Roy termi-
nated, and yet fresh in the memory of all of our older
classes of citizens are the distinguishing characteristics
of the young lawyer in his opening career, which have
marked his whole life. His inflexible love of justice and
hatred of oppression, his clear intellect to discover the
right, his unbending will in the pursuit of duty, his
stem integrity and high sense of honor while yet a
young man among us, led hirii early to take a conspicuous
position and to be our chosen representative in places of
honor and trust. First as Supervisor, then as Member of
Assembly, and afterwards for two successive terms. Rep-
resentative in Congress — the town. County and Congres-
sional districts respectively called for his services, which in
every position were ably and faithfully bestowed. In
this brief notice we can merely advert to Mr. Gates'
public career. With moral and intellectual qualities
such as those with which he was endowed, it could not
have been otherwise than that he should have been in
full sympathy with the anti-slavery movement with which
the country was agitated, upon his first entrance into
pubUc life. With the most prominent of the leaders he
became at once a trusted counselor and an active coad-
jutor. The necessity, or policy, of a third party organi-
zation, to check the aggressions of the slave power,
which the extreme leaders had resolved upon, found in
Mr. Gates a steady opponent and his trenchant contro-
versy with Gerrit Smith and Horace Greeley upon this
subject made for him a state reputation which brought
him into close political relations with Governor Seward
and the anti-slavery members of Congress. It was there
that he joined that noble band whose struggles for the
Right of Petition and to restrict the area of slavery
166 HISTOEY OF THE
aroused the nation to the enormity of the evil with
which they were contending. It is enough to say of
Mr. Gates that he was the active and trusted friend of
such men as John Quincy Adams, Slade and Giddings
during this eventful period. He was their peer, and
'there were giants in those days.'"
It was in 1832 while my father was in the State Legisla-
ture, that he helped secure the passage of an Act authorizing
the building of the Tonawanda railroad from Rochester to
Attica. There he also joined with others in an eifort to
secure the construction of a railroad from Warsaw to Le
Roy, along the valley of the Oatka, but although the right
was secured from the Legislature and over $100,000 worth
of the stock was subscribed for, the project was after-
wards abandoned. "Had that road been built at that
time the population of Warsaw would probably have in-
creased several thousand," said Andrew Young, in his
History, "and long before this time (1869) have been
extended South — intersecting other railroads— to the coal
mines of Pennsylvania and thence to Pittsbvirgh." This
was actually done by the building of the Buffalo, Roch-
ester and Pittsburgh road, a few years after that was
written. But what a grand project it was to build this
railroad for the development of Warsaw and LeRoy
away back as early as 1834! In 1838 he was elected to
Congress as an Anti-slavery Whig and, being re-elected
in 1840 he served two terms there. At the close of the
XXVIIth Congress, at the request of John Quincy Adams,
he drew up a protest against the annexation of Texas,
proving that it was a project to extend the area of
slavery. This protest was signed by all the anti-slavery
members of Congress, and this action is alluded to in later
histories as the first organized effort in Congress to check
the spread of slavery.
By transmitting the address of the World's Convention
held in London in 1840, under his own frank to the gov-
ernors of the states, he so exasperated the slave-holders
that no less than five governors mentioned the fact in
their next messages, and a rich planter in Savannah, Ga.,
offered a reward of $500 for the delivery of the offending
Member of Congress, dead or alive, in that city! Nor
WAKSAW CESTKN>fIAI. CEXEBKAnOS 167
\i^as the aocompUshment of that fmrpose so unlikely ttien
as one might, in these more peaceful times, believe.
In the midst of this biilliant and promising political
career my &ther was attacked, by a second scTere stroke
of paralysis, warning him of a constitntional weakness,
and his physicians told him tbat he must give np polit-
ical life and even leave his profession, the law. It has
long seemed to me that the spirit in which he " embraced
tlie inevitable." and with no false parade of disappoint-
ment, with no complaint either public or private, of a
broken life or a thwarted career, resigned all hope of
farther political preferment and retired to a comparatively
nneventfnl Ufe, showed the real metal of the man. He
moved to Warsaw in 1S44. to be near his parents and
brother and sisters, aU of whom were then Uvii^ here,
and occupied himself with various business interests,
after a year giving up even the practice of his pro-
fession.
In Le Boy he had united with the Presbyterian Church
upon his conversion at the age of tiiirty-three, but upon
coming to Warsaw he chose the Congregational Church,
partly, no doubt, on account of its advanced position in
regard to slavery. This church he supported by his
active interest, by his rare gifts of voice and pen, and
by earnest personal work as long as he lived. He was
for a long time tlie church clerk and for thirteen succes-
sive years the superintendent of its Sabbath School. But
his work was not confined to the church to which he
belonged and which he loved so well. He was an
earnest and outspoken temperance man, practicing and
teaching total abstinence from the use of all intoxicating
liquors as a beverage and from any traffic in them. Xet
his judgment led him on this question, as it had in
regard to slavery, to oppose the formation of a third
political party, and here, as before, his forcible pen was
used to defend what he felt was rig^t and to oppose what
he tbought would be a great mistake.
Educational matters had his interested and intelligent
support, always. He had been one of the original
founders of Ingham University in LeBoy, one of the first
institutions in the country established for the higher ed-
ucation of women. He was also one of the early suxv
1H8 IITSTORY OF TIIK
porters of Oberlin College, paying for several scholar
ships there for many years. He took an active part i«n
the organization of the Freo-Soil party in 1818, a move-
ment which resulted later in the formation of the Re-
publican party, and his well known record in anti-slav-
ery matters led to his nomination again at this time to
public office, when as their candidate for Lieutenant
Governor he ran several thousand votes ahead of his
ticket. His record as an Anti-Mason is not less honorable
and consistent than as an anti-slavery man and a tem-
perance reformer, and up to the very end of his long
life he was unchanged in his belief in the undesirabil-
ity of a Christian's belonging to the Masonic order or
kindred ones.
He married in LeRoy in 1827, Miss Eliza Keyes of that
place and they had seven children, six of whom survived
their mother whose death occurred in Le Roy in 1840.
He married for his second wife, in 1841, Miss Fanny
Jeannette Parsons of Lisle, Broome Co., N. Y., and they
had five children, four of whom are now living, their
mother having died in Warsaw, in 1866. In 1807 he mar-
ried Mrs. Ann Cornelia Bishop, widow of the late W. S.
Bishop of Rochester and daughter of the late Colonel
Nathaniel Rochester.
In closing I venture to quote from an editorial in T)m
Western New- Yorker, written shortly after his death ;
"The character of a man like Seth M. Gates cannot be
estimated in its completeness by the aspect which it pre-
sented to the public. He needed to be known in the
private companionship and more intimate ways of his life
to be fully appreciated. Men knew him mainly as a bold
controversialist and fearless champion of what he deemed
to be just. To them he seemed an armed warrior, always
on guard and always with battle-axe in hand, alike ready
to repel an attack or to make one.
"Those who knew him best found this man of steel
to be one of the most genial and warm-hearted of friends.
His large culture and his knowledge of men and of the
world, that had been amplilied by the years of three-quar-
ters of a century, made him the most interesting of asso-
ciates. His mind was observant, his apprehension alert
and accurate, and his judgment almost unerring. These
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 169
qualities of his, together with the power of arrjinging his
thoughts in well-chosen and forceful language, gave a
value to his conversation that few possessed.
"In a small literary association of which he was a
member for the last few years of his life the charm of
his peculiar qualities shone at its best. The intimacy
of the circle revealed him in new lights to those who
thought they knew him well before. His years largely
exceeded those of the oldest of them all, but the spright-
liness of his mind and his readiness to meet every call
for a literary contribution was a marvel to them all.
Be it a poem, a historic essay, a reminiscence of the
political conflicts he had passed through, a story, or a
song of the olden time, it was all the same to him — he was
ready for each and all of them, and he entered into the in-
terest of each with a zest that was of itself an inspiration to
all around him. His burden of seventy-flve years was not a
burden to him. His remarkable temperament seemed to
transfigure the years as they came and went and change them
to a glory. He was never an old man, for he kept his
heart always young. Only a year before his death he said
to a friend who had spoken of his advancing age, that
in all his life he had never enjoyed the days the Lord
was giving him better than he did then.
"What a faithful and friendly counselor he was those
can tell best whose footsteps his judgment has guided.
The man who could be as stem as Pate when the occa-
sion demanded it — was as tender and pitying as a woman
at a spectacle of suffering or wrong.
"While he will be remembered longest among men for
those great qualities and heroic virtues that became him so
well, others, and these among the most intimate of the
friends of his latter years, will praise him for those gentler
elements of his character that did not so much attract
the public eye, but were a perpetual surprise and a per-
petual joy to all who were within reach of their influence."
William Lloyd Garrison, in a letter written at this same
time to the bereaved family said : "Indeed he was made up
of such grand elements that to think of him is to be at
once reminded of the portraiture of Abdiel, by Milton in
Paradise Lost. For such was Seth M. Gates, bold for the
iro
truth, uncompromising for the right, faithful to a sensitive
and an enlightened conscience, devoid of all fear of the Ad-
versary and his machinations, strong in the conflict of freedom
with oppression, serene and confident in the midst of flery
trials and deadly perils, untainted by selfish considera-
tions, choosing to be popularly misunderstood and ma-
ligned rather than to be false to his conviction of duty
to God, his fellow-men and his country; patriotic in the
purest sense of the term and noble in his aims and am-
bitions."
Of my father's family of twelve children it remains
only to be said that six of them are now living, five
sons, and one daughter whose greatest claim to fame here
and now is that she was the first one of the children of
Seth M. Gates born in Warsaw and that the many happy
years of childhood and youth spent in this village until
her marriage took her away, made it to her always, as
it still seems, the loveliest village of the whole world;
and to have been present at the exercises of this Centen-
nial celebration one of the pleasantest experiences of her
whole life.
JAMES WEBSTER and SYLVAN US HAWLEY
BY ELLA HAWLEY CROSSETT
James Webster, the grandfather of John B. Crossett,
was one of the pioneers of Warsaw who filled quite a
place in its history. He was a carpenter and cabinet-
maker, and built the first frame house in Buffalo, in 1800.
He was with the Wadsworths in Geneseo for a time,
then went back east but returned to the then western
country, Wyoming (or Genesee) county in 1810. He often
employed thirty carpenters and his wife always had sev-
eral apprentices in the family. He was the contractor for
the old Presbyterian church, afterwards used as the plan-
ing mill. He also built the house now occupied by Charles
L. Morris, for Judge Webster; the residence of Albert
P. Gage for Dr. Sheldon; one for Captain Fargo, and
others. He lived to be 83 years old, so that many now
living here remember him well.
Sylvanus Holly, or Hawley, my grandfather, came to
Warsaw from White Hall in 1816, with his brother David.
They had married sisters by the hame of Waldo, and
decided to spell their name Hawley instead of Holly. In
1822 other brothers came here and held to the original name.
Alanson Holly, John and Milton Holly were identified
with the growth of the town for many years. Alanson
published the Wyoming County Mirror and was one of the
members of the first school board for higher education
which was established in 1853.
John Waldo Hawley, my father, lived in Gainesville
for a few years, but the most of his life was identified
with the business interests of Warsaw. He built the
store now occupied by M. W. Campbell. After salt was
discovered he and members of his family built the Hawley
Salt Works, naming it for him. Since the works were
sold to the National Salt Company, his son, Warren W.
Hawley, has had the management of the salt works here.
The traits of character of the family have been fidel-
172
ity to the truth, temperance, liberality in religious
thought and interest in the growth of freedom of the
citizens of our Eepublic to have their opinions expressed
at the ballot box, or in the words of Abraham Lincoln,
"by no means excluding women." Two of the four college
presidents spoken of by one of our speakers, namely,
David Starr Jordan and Devello Sheffield, came from the
Hawley family.
On my mother's side, among the pioneers, was Elder
Pattison, pastor of the Baptist Church here in 1818.
Two of his sons were ministers ; one a doctor ; one
daughter married Dr. Binney and they went as mission-
aries to India. Lucy Pattison married Warren Thorpe.
They lived for many years on the farm south of the
cemetery. Grandfather Thorpe had charge of the ceme-
tery and set out the fine maple trees that surround the
grounds. There are still a few people in town who can
say that they have known five generations on both my
fathers's and mother's side, and it behooves the present
generations to endeavor to keep up the good record of
their ancestors.
MIDDLEBURY FAMILIES
BY IRVING B. SMITH
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am asked to speak as a representative of an old fam-
ily, or of old families of Middlebury. You may ask
what that has to do with a Warsaw centennial. I re-
ply that for the first few years of Warsaw's history —
until 1812 — Middlebury was a part of Warsaw. It is
only just to credit much of our present glory to the glorious
beginnings made in Middlebury one year before the wilder-
ness of the present Warsaw was discovered. The time al-
lowed forbids even the mention of the illustrious names of
pioneers who began Warsaw on Middlebury soil; Jabez
Warren, Amzi Wright, Silas Newell and many others. Mr.
Newell was the real founder and early builder of that
little village down the valley known as Wyoming. He
seems to have been to Wyoming in those days what
Mrs. Coonley Ward has been in these more recent times
— "The whole thing." Then there is the long line of
Ewells introduced by the seven brothers from Massa-
chusetts who seemed to have belonged to the aristocracy
as they brought into the wilderness a barrel of pork and
a half bushel of potatoes.
But I must not radiate from the whole town of Mid-
dlebury as a starter. Take one feature of the town, the
old Middlebury Academy, How could I even hint at
the glory of that institution of learning and ever finish
my talk? How much the present renown of our War-
saw is due to the output of this famous old school !
Many of Warsaw's most noted men brought from thence
knowledge and inspiration. One name, that of Seth M.
Gates, has been several times mentioned here. Seth M.
Gates was one of the graduates of Middlebury Academy.
In passing we might notice the fact that the great War-
saw salt interest was bom in Middlebury.
If I should start from my own family center, how many
174 HISTORY OF THE
of you would listen to the long family story of the Smiths ?
John and Samuel were in Attica in 1805 ; then came Isaac
Smith, my grandfather, who was then a Revolutionary
veteran and who lived to the advanced age of 93 years.
There can be no question of the Smith superiority as
they seem almost without beginning or end. Again I
might notice my maternal grandfather, Aaron Bailey, who
came into Attica in 1808, a shoemaker who " whipped the
cat," that is, went about from house to house making up
cowhide shoes for the family just before winter set in.
If 1 had time I would introduce you to the pioneer honors
of my "better half" and confuse you in the wilderness
of the great Miller family. I will not expand along any
of these lines but simply say that both my wife and myself
are wonderfully deacended.
We hold this Centennial to remind ourselves of the
good that has been done in the progress of a hundred
years, to remember some of those who did it, and to
note how we are historically connected with the benefits.
The pictures of our beginning and of the struggles of
progress cannot help but make us more appreciative,
more sensible of obligations, and more patriotic. In this
way we keep firm hold upon our institutions, our Amer-
icanism, and in this way we become inspired with the
spirit of our fathers. In these days of our prosperity
and comparative ease it takes just such reminiscences to
energize our loyalty and refresh our patriotism. Thus
breathing in something of the spirit of our pioneer
fathers and mothers, we are kept from a spirit of in-
difference. Some one has said that there are three
great enemies to our national life; violence, corruption,
indifference, but the greatest of these is indifference.
We have here among us a great flood of people from
across the sea who cannot trace their ancestry to these
early settlers. When these foreigners look back through
the line of progenitorship they are not one with us, but
when we all look back through the declaration of inde-
pendence made by those first people here upon American
soil, where they declare: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created equal, &c," we find
that these are one with us. What really constitutes an
American? This question was once disputed between a
WABSAW CENTENNIAL CBLEBEATION 175
man bom in America and. a man born in England but
naturalized an American citizen. The American born
said: "You are an Englishman since you were born in
England." "No," said the man born in England, "I am
no longer an Englishman, I am a naturalized American
citizen; I have renounced my allegiance to the crown of
of England. I have adopted America and America has
adopted me. I believe in America. I am filled with
American ideas and therefore I am an American." "No
you are not, as you were born in England; I am an
American, born here in America." "Well," replied the
man born in England, " oar old cat found a brood
of kittens in an old stove oven; I suppose you would say
they are therefore biscuits."
With the broad and true brotherly old declaration be-
fore us, all truly loyal Americans are brothers as though
they were of one flesh and of one blood. Such is the mys-
tic cord of true fellowship among our American citizens.
There will be unity of patriotic hearts as long as there
is love of freedom in the world.
We need to cultivate a knowledge of our beginning and
our progress as a people and to consecrate such ■ knowledge
in love and true fellowship. Knowledge of our institu-
tions is sanctified by love of our institutions and our peo-
ple. In our efforts to emphasize home, there springs up
a home patriotism which is the beginning of all true patri-
otism. Principal Wicks, of the Syracuse High School, is
accustomed to train his pupils along lines of practical
citizenship. At the time of a heated political campaign,
involving the question of the tariff, his pupil congress
was discussing the issue. One boy arose and said: "Mr.
President, we don't want any free, foreign salt; here in
Syracuse; what we want to do is to fill ourselves up on
American Salt so that we shall be ready to die for our
country." Is it not a good thing to become thoroughly
salted with American ideas so that we may live or die
for our country upon occasion? Warsaw will be hence-
forth dearer to ourselves and dearer to our children for
this Centennial's intellectual and spiritual salting.
I have particularly noticed the gladness of those who
have come back to Warsaw for this occasion, and I think
I can discover some manifestations of regret for ever
176
having left this goodly town for other parts of the world.
Now I am sure that we would all be glad to add to our
Centennial invitation a long welcome to every prodigal
son and daughter. What you see here provided for these
few Centennial days is only the "fatted calf;" there is
left a whole herd which we are willing to slaughter in
your interest.
HON. AUGUSTUS FRANK
DR. AUGUSTUS FRANK; REV. JOSEPH E. NASSAU
Augustus Frank, bom at Warsaw, July 17, 1826, was
the son of Dr. Augustus and Jane Patterson Frank. His
early education was secured in the schools of Warsaw
and from private instruction. At an early age his at-
tention was turned to the mercantile business, first enter-
ing his father's store. But in 1847, when he was twenty-
one years of age, he established a business for himself,
which he pursued with unusual success. His natural
interest in public matters and his desire to promote the
general welfare, combined with his eminent fitness for
such service, early called him into a broader field of
activity.
His father. Dr. Augustus Frank, was bom in Canaan,
Conn., January 12, 1792. In early life the family moved
to Granville in this state where he completed his educa-
tion. He studied medicine at Dorset, Vermont, and be-
gan the practice of his profession at Victor, New York,
where he remained three years. In 1817 he came to this
village and formed a partnership with Dr. Sheldon, first
in a professional and soon afterward in a mercantile
business. This partnership was dissolved ui 1822. Dr.
Frank continued in the mercantile business until his
death. He was also largely interested in various manu-
facturing establishments and real estate transactions. He
took an active part in the measures designed to promote
the prosperity of the town, and the moral and intellec-
tual improvement of the community. His efforts in the
cause of temperance were unremitted to the last, and
contributed largely to its advancement. He was among
the first to take part in the anti-slavery movement and
aided in the formation of a society in this town. In 1842
Dr. Frank was appointed an Associate Judge of Wyom-
ing County, which ofittce he held until 1846. He was a
member of the Presbyterian church and was a liberal
178 HISTORY OF THE
contributor to that and other religious and benevolent
institutions.
He was married to Jerusha H. Baldwin, at Dorset, Vt.,
September 12, 1816. She died March 15, 1825. They had
three children. Two died in infancy. The third, Hen-
riett, became the wife of Edward A. McKay, a lawyer
of Naples, New York. Dr. Frank married for his second
wife Miss Jane Patterson of Londonderry, New Hampshire.
To them were born seven children : Augustus ; Elizabeth
W., who became the wife of Rev. Joseph E. Nassau;
George "Washington, who now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska ;
Jennie P., who became the wife of Edward K. Greene,
of Montreal, Canada ; Mary A. who became the wife of
Philo p. Browne and lives in Oakland, California.
Dr. Frank died January 26, 1851, at the age of fifty-
nine years. Mrs. Jane Patterson Frank died February
19, 1867, at the age of seventy-one years.
Eev. Joseph Eastburn Nassau, D.D., who married Dr"
Frank's eldest daughter, was born in Norristown, Pa.,
March 12, 1827. He came of distinguished Presbyterian
ancestry, his father being a minister and his grandfather
an elder in that denomination. He was graduated with
honor from the class of 1846 in Lafayette College, and
acted as tutor for two years in his Alma Mater. He
then taught the classics for three years in a seminary for
young women at Lawrenceville, N. J. After graduating
in 1852, from Princeton Theological Seminary, he founded
an institute for young women in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and
remained as its principal for two years. Having accepted
a call to the Presbyterian church of Warsaw, N. Y., he
was there installed as pastor by the Presbytery of Gen-
esee River, October 24, 1865, and remained in this, his
only pastorate, until his death in 1894. In 1872 he re-
ceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma
Mater. Dr. Nassau was for more than 38 years Stated
Clerk of the Presbytery of Genesee, several times Com-
missioner to the General Assembly, and was twice Mod-
erator of the Synod of New York. He acted for many
years as a trustee of Ingham University at Le Roy, and
of the Academy at Geneseo.
He was of a genial, lovely disposition, of great intql-
WABSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 179
lectual ability and strength of character — a man whose
influence will long remain helpful in the town and church
he loved so well. On October 16th, 1856, he married
Miss Elizabeth W. Frank, who was a true "Pastor's wife"
in every sense of the word, and a fitting helpmeet to
this man of God. Mrs. Nassau, with two daughters,
Mrs. Z. J. Lusk, and Mrs. Wm. E. Miller, survive him.
Hon. Augustus Frank became identified with public
matters in his very early manhood. In 1850-1852 he took
an active interest in the construction of that branch of
the Erie Bailroad which connects Hornellsville with Buffalo,
was made one of its directors and afterwards was elected
Vice-President. In 1856 he went to Philadelphia as del-
egate to the first National convention of the Republican
party. In 1858, when he was thirty-two years of age,
he was elected representative in the United States Con-
gress from his district which then comprised Allegany,
Wyoming and Genesee Counties. His business capacity,
his uniform courtesy and his sterling integrity early won
for him a place of importance in the affairs of the nation.
In 1860 his constituents testified to their admiration
for their representative by returning him to the thirty-
seventh Congress by a majority of nearly eight thousand.
In 1862 the district had been changed to Wyoming, Genesee
and Niagara counties from which he was elected to the
famous thirty-eighth Congress. He was thus in Congress
during and previous to the whole period of the Civil
War. He was a strong supporter of the policy of the
Administration, and an assiduous laborer for every measure
for the suppression of slavery.
The crowning act of his national career was the service
which he rendered towards the passage of the Xlllth
Amendment to the Constitution which prohibited slavery
anywhere within the national domain. The press through-
out ttie country gave the credit for the final passage of
the measure to Mr. Ashley of Ohio and to Mr. Frank of
Warsaw. The New York Tribune in its issue of February
1, 1865, said, " To two Republicans in particular does the
nation owe a debt of gratitude— to James M. Ashley of
Toledo, Ohio, and Augustus Frank of Warsaw, New York.
180 HISTOBY OF THE
They held the laboring oars." The Washington corres-
pondent said at the time, "It will not be out of place
for me to say here that the supervision and direction of
this policy was confided to the Honorable Augustus Frank,
to whose clear insight and discreet management there is
perhaps more due than to any other member, in the work
of securing this grand consummation. In this connec-
tion I have good reason to know that his services were
invaluable. He watched the progress of the measure,
improved opportunities, and pressed upon every doubting
one the duty and expediency of an affirmative vote. The
result is all that we could ask. It reflects honor on an
able representative who has performed his duty faithfully
and well. Let me add, upon one too, who retires from
his position in the present Congress, after three terms of
successful service, with an honorable record, and with
the regrets of many friends who have been cognizant of
his influence and usefulness."
In 1861 Mr. Frank was chosen one of the delegates-at-
large to the Constitutional Convention of this state. The
other names on the ticket were such eminent men as
Charles Andrews, Sanford E. Church, George F. Corn-
stock, George "William Curtis, Samuel J. Tilden, William
M. Evarts, Charles J. Folger, Horace Greeley, Francis
Kernan and William A. Wheeler. In 1870 he became
one of the managers of the State Hospital for the In-
sane at Buffalo. In 1888 he was a member of the
Electoral College which elected Harrison and Morton. In
1894 he again became delegate-at-large to the State Con-
stitutional Convention. In this convention he made
few speeches, but exercised a strong influence on his as-
sociates and in committee work because of his ability,
integrity and large experience in public matters. He
was the chairman of the committee on banking and cur-
rency, and was a member of the committee on preamble
and bill of rights. Mr. Frank was one of the commis-
sioners for the preservation of the public parks of the
State of New York, and held positions as trustee or on
the board of managers of several benevolent, charitable
and educational institutions. Soon after his retirement
from Congress Mr. Frank established a banking business
in Warsaw. The Bank of Warsaw was established by
WAHSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBUATION 181
him in 1871. His broad influence, his well established
integrity, his exceptional executive ability, and his large
experience well fitted him to carry this business suc-
cessfully for a quarter of a century. He' had previous-
ly helped to organize the Wyoming County National
Bank of which he was for several years a director. He
was also a director of the Rochester Trust and Safe
Deposit Company. He was one of the projectors and
a director of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh
Railroad. Many other branches of business in and near
Warsaw received the touch of his personal influence.
His regard for the soldiers of the Civil War was
shown by his efforts to secure the Soldiers' Monument
for Wyoming County. He contributed liberally towards
its purchase and gave much time and thought to its
erection. He was vice-president of the Monument As-
sociation, of which Hon. William P. Letchworth is
president.
Mr. Frank was deeply interested in the material, moral
and spiritual welfare of his own community. He was
for several years the President of the Wyoming County
Pioneer Association. He gave much time and foresight
to the development of the salt industry in this valley.
He agitated constantly, by addresses and newspaper arti-
cles, the importance of public improvements and the
cause of temperance in Warsaw. Many of the advanta-
ges which make Warsaw an attractive village in which
to live are due to his unwearied advocacy.
Religious institutions received a large share of his in-
terest and beneficence. He was a member of the Pres-
byterian Church of Warsaw, and for more than forty-five
years was active in its Board of Trustees. The present
church building was made possible by the contributions
both from himself and his friends in New York whom
he interested in the movement. It was his policy to
contribute liberally to every branch of the work of this
church including its missionary and benevolent causes.
But he was generous also of his time, never being too
busy to consider any question which would help the re-
ligious life of his community and in any denomination.
His attractive personality, his genial disposition, his high
182
ideals, his btoad knowledge of public matters and his
large interest in living questions; his sterling integrity,
his strong and persistent devotion to the right, his kind-
ness and sympathy towards those needing his assistance,
and his deep spirituality made him the center of a host
of friends and acquaintances. His death at the Murray
Hill Hotel in New York on April 29th, 1895, at the age
of sixty-eight years, was deeply regretted by all who knew
him.
Mr. Prank was married in 1867, to Miss Agnes McNair,
the daughter of William W. McNair of Groveland. Of their
two children William Augustus died in childhood, and Mary
Louise is now Mrs. George D. Miller, of Rochester.
a:
H
O
D
m
Q
Z
<
z
s
2
OS
O
u
HON. WOLCOTT J. HUMPHREY
Wolcott Julius Humphrey, son of Deacon Theophvlus
and Cynthia Hayden Humphrey, was born on November
11, 1817, at Canton, Connecticut— one of seventeen children.
When he was two years old the family moved to Sheldon,
New York, where the home was a large farm, and not
only agriculture was pursued, but also the trades of tan-
ning, shoemaking and harnessmaking. Wolcott was given
a common school education supplemented by study with
a neighboring clergyman. He was brought up with a thor-
ough knowledge of all the home industries. Later he be-
came a merchant, and followed that business for twenty-
four years at Varysburg, Sheldon Center, North Java, and
Bloomington, Illinois.
Early in life Mr. Humphrey began public service. When
twenty years old he entered the New York State Militia;
in 1840 he was chosen Colonel of the 9th Regiment, 8th
Brigade, New York State Artillery and resigned in 1844.
He held various town offices; in 1850 was Census Marshal
in six towns of his county ; in 1849, '63, and '60, was post-
master of his town, which position he resigned. In 1850
he was elected to the Assembly, and returned in 1851, his
political talents and constant activity giving him a lead-
ing position in that body. He was Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Bailroads, and reported the Central Railroad
Bill authorizing the consolidation and establishing the
existing restrictions of that road. He was also chosen
by caucus to take charge of the Prohibitory Liquor Law
passed at that session.
During the Civil War he was enrolling officer for the
U. S. Government, and was mobbed while in discharge
of his duties. He served two terms in the New York
Senate, being first elected in 1865, and again in 1867 from
the Thirtieth District, (Wyoming, Livingston and Allegany
Counties) by a majority of 6,240. In the first term he
became a member of the Committees on Railroads, Inter-
184 msTOEY OF THE
nal Affairs, and Printing, and Chairman of tlie Commit-
tee on Beads and Bridges. In the latter session he was
a member of the Committees on Finance and Banks, and
Chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Navigation ;
and on a Joint Library. He was a faithful, indefatiga-
ble worker, and was recognized as one of the most able
of the non-speech-making Senators. He was an acknowl-
edged leader in his section of the State, being a member
of the Republican County Committee for thirty years,
and for twenty years of that time its Chairman. During
those years he was a delegate to more than half the Re-
publican State Conventions, and was a member of the Na-
tional Conventions of 1876 and 1880. He was a Whig so
long as that party existed, and then a Republican of the
staunchest fibre.
In the history of Warsaw, Mr. Humphrey was a prom-
inent figure from 1864, the date of his removal to that
place, until his death. In 1869 he became interested in
the Wyoming County National Bank and two years later
was elected President, holding that position throughout the
remainder of his life. He was President of the Warsaw
Water and Gas Companies, and of the Cemetery Associa-
tion. He was a Trustee of the Congregational Church
for twenty years. For eight years he was a member
and for three years President of the Board of Trustees
of the State School for the Blind at Batavia, New York.
Mr. Humphrey died on January 19th, 1890— but in tlie
memories of those who knew him he lives- — a courageous,
cultured, courteous gentleman; a gentleman of fine pres-
ence, great nervous energy, warm friendships, and good
impulses; a man of wisdom, ability, integrity and honor;
a generous and noble man.
He was married on March 30th, 1841, to Miss Amanda
Martindale, daughter of Major William A. Martindale of
Dorset, Vermont. She died June 17th, 1873, at Sonora,
California. No children were born of this marriage. On
July 8th, 1874, he was married to Miss Hannah Adams,
daughter of Hugh Mulholland of Parma, N. Y. Mrs.
Humphrey has continued her husband's work at the School
for the Blind at Batavia, having been appointed a Trus-
tee in 1893 by Gov. Flower, re-appointed in 1898 by Gov.
WAKSAW CKNTliNNIAL CfiLfiBftATION l85
Black, and re-appointed again in 1903 by Gov. Odell.
She is also the vice-president of the Wyoming County Ka-
tional Bank. Children by second marriage, Annabel, born
February 1st, 1876, a graduate of Ogontz School; Wol-
cott Julius, born October 29th, 1877, a graduate of Wil-
liams College and now President of the Wyoming County
Kational Bank, having been elected to that position in
1902.
HON, L. H. HUMPHREY
Lester Hayden Humphrey was born in Sheldon, Wyo-
ming County, January 22, 1850, the youngest child of
Lester H. and Hannah Blakeley Humphrey. "When sixteen
years of age he removed with his parents to Warsaw,
where he resided until his death in 1902, and where he
was honored and esteemed in the highest degree. At the
age of nineteen years he engaged in tanning and the
leather trade, which he sold out in 1872 to accept a po-
sition in the Wyoming County National Bank.
On January 22nd, 1873, Mr. Humphrey was elected vice-
president of the bank, and from that time until 1888 was
its executive ofBcer. In 1886 he became associated with
Dr. W. C. G-ouinlock in the manufacture of salt at War-
saw, and in 1887 they erected a salt plant at Hutchinson,
Kansas. In 1888 Mr. Humphrey resigned his position
in the bank at Warsaw in order to devote himself more
closely to his salt interests, and for the next two years
he spent fully one half of his time in Hutchinson, having
especial charge of that branch of the firm's business until
it was sold out in 1800.
On January 22nd, 1890, his fortieth birthday, Mr.
Humphrey was elected president of the Wyoming County
National Bank to succeed his uncle, the Hon. Wolcott
J. Humphrey, who had just died. This position he still
held at the time of his death.
In 1891 he disposed of a portion of his salt interests
in Warsaw, and in 1893 his partnership with Dr. Gouin-
lock was dissolved, Mr. Humphrey retiring from the Arm.
Previous to this he became associated with M. E. Calkins
in the erection of a salt plant at Pavilion and also had
large interests in salt works at Ithaca, all of which he
sold to the National Salt Company in the spring of 1899.
He had large business interests in Warsaw and was ident-
ified with all movements for the advancement, growth
and improvement of the town.
Mr. Humphrey was the acknowledged leader of the
187
Republican party in Wyoming County for a long time, as
well as a strong factor in state politics. For twelve
years he had been chairman of the county central com-
mittee, and a zealous and efficient worker for the interests
of his party. In the fall of 1896 he was elected Senator
from the forty-sixth district, the term being then three
years. He was again elected in 1898, and re-elected in
1900, and was known as one of the most careful, conser-
vative, honest and courteous gentleman who ever sat in
the State Senate.
Senator Humphrey died in Albany on March 17th, 1902,
after a brief illness, aged 62 years. He is survived by
his wife, formerly Miss Harriet Gates, to whom he was
married on September 1st, 1898, and by three children,
Onias S. Humphrey, Mrs. Elizabeth Humphrey Dibble and
Miss Maude S. Humphrey.
Senator Humphrey's first wife and the mother of his
children, was Miss Maude Wilton Skinner, only child of
Judge O. C. Skinner of Quincy, 111., to whom he was
married on May 18th, 1875, and who died on February
25th, 1897.
Part Four
MONUMENT DEDICATION
and
GRAND ARMY DA^
Wednesday. Jaly 1st. 1903
Z
O
o
tn
Q
Z
<
z
9
5
03
Z
D
O
U
THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT
A beautiful granite shaft, erected in memory of
the soldiers of Wyoming County has stood in the
center of this village since 1877, and it was decided
that its formal dedication and transfer should have
a prominent place in the proceedings of Centennial
week.
On the 30th of May, 1872, an association was
organized called The Wyoming County Soldiers' Mon-
ument Association, with Hon. William P. Letchworth,
President ; Hon. Augustus Frank, Vice-President ;
Col. Abram B. Lawrence, Secretary ; and Loyd A.
Hayward, Treasurer. On March 3d, 1873, an act
was passed by Congress appropriating captured Con-
federate cannon and sixteen iron balls for the use of
the Association. By an act of the Legislature of
New York State passed May 9, 1873, the Wyoming
County Mutual Insurance Company was authorized to
sell and dispose of 110 shares of the stock of the
Warsaw Water Works Company and to pay over the
same or the proceeds thereof to the Treasurer of the
Wyoming County Soldiers' Monument Association, to
be used and employed by said Association for the
erection of a monument to the soldiers of Wyom-
ing County who fell in the War of the Rebellion.
Through the efEorts of this Association and others
192 HISTORY OF THE
interested in the matter, voluntary subscriptions were
obtained until the monument fund was completed.
At a meeting held in this village on September
8, 1877, a committee was appointed to select a site
for the monument within the limits of the county,
and the village of Warsaw was decided upon for its
location. The memorial chosen was the beautiful
granite shaft which was on exhibition at the Cen-
tennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. The
column is of the Corinthian order, surmounted by
a bronze statue of an American soldier, of heroic size.
The shaft rests upon a fortress-shaped base of nearly
twenty feet, with salient angles, upon which are laid
as trophies the four captured cannon donated by
Congress. These cannon are of brass and were cast
at Macon, Ga., at a time when the Confederacy was
in dire need of artillery, and the material from which
they were cast was obtained from church bells given
to the Confederate authorities for that purpose. The
cost of two of the guns was paid into the monu-
ment fund by President Letchworth, he taking them
to his own place, Glen Iris, and the money being
used to procure the bronze figure which surmounts
the shaft. Under the principal granite base are de-
posited many valuable records, including the names
of 1,575 Wyoming County soldiers.
In the winter of 1903 a bill was passed by the
Legislature authorizing the transfer of this monument
from the Wyoming Coxmty Monument Association
to a board of perpetual trustees, consisting of the
WAB.SAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 193
County Judge, County Clerk, Chairman of the Board
of Supervisors, and President of the Village of War-
saw, and their successors in office.
"Wednesday, July 1st, 1903, was Grand Army and
Monument Dedication Day in the Centennial program,
the veterans, their wives and families being guests of
Gibbs Post and the Woman's Relief Corps. At 11:30
A. M. a fine dinner was served in the opera house
to more than five hundred visitors, and at 5 o'clock
a supper to at least one hundred.
The entertainment was in charge of the follow-
ing committees :
Gibbs Post Executive Committee— John W. Hatch,
Hon. I. Sam Johnson, J. M. Smith, H. O. Holly, W. H.
Cornell, E. M. Jennings, H. W. Burlingame, M. W. Norton.
Gibbs Post Reception Committee— John W. Hatch,
H. W. Burlingame, Wilson Agar, John T. Knox, Charles
H. Crocker, E. M. Jennings, I. Sam Johnson.
"Wojian's Relief Coeps Reception Committee— Mrs.
John W. Hatch, Mrs. Mary Harman, Dr. Cora Cornell,
Mrs. Mary Gray, Mrs. Irving B. Smith, Mrs. E. R. Rob-
inson.
Woman's Relief Corps Entertainment Committee:
Mrs. Florence E. Smith, Mrs. Frank Davidson, Mrs. Flo-
rence Kidder, Mrs. Emma Smith, Mrs. Charles Holly, Mrs.
Emma Martin, Mrs. H. S. Baker, Mrs. Porter B. Munger,
Mrs. H. W. Burlingame, Mrs. Frances Bixby, Mrs. Sarah
Richards, Mrs. John Gayer, Mrs. Charles H. Crocker.
The Monument Association and Dedication Com-
mittees were as follows :
Monument Association Executive Committee — Hon.
William Pryor Letchworth, LL. D., Col. A. B. Lawrence,
Maj. H. A. Dudley, Capt. Francis Murphy, John W.
Hatch.
Reception Cosimittee— Hon. E. E. Farman, LL. D.,
194 HISTORY OF THE
Col. A. B. Lawrence, Hon. James E. Norton, Hon. .hunea
H. Loomis, Col. James O. McClure, Dr. W. C. Gouinlook,
President J. C. IJuxton, Prof. Irving 13. Smith. Mrs.
Augustus Frank, Mrs. Wolcott J. Ilumpln-ey. Mrs. Henry
Page, Miss Agnes Cleveland, Mrs. Chauncey S. Pettibt)no,
Mrs. John B. Crossett.
Dedication Oommittek— Arcade, William Howard;
Attica, A. G. Rykert; Bennington, Eugene I'lumley:
Castile, Franlc Thomas; Covington, William II. Clark;
Eagle, J. D. Eager; Gainesville, M. W. Marchant; Gen-
esee Ealls,' Kobert Rae, M. D. ; Java, lliram Carpenter;
Middlebury, Simeon Howard; Orangeville, James Tilton;
Pike, E. Newcomb ; Perry, William B. Tallman ; Sheldon,
John M. Jones; Wethersfield, Hon. Daniel B. Whiijpio;
Warsaw, Prof. Irving B. Smith.
GiBBS Post Centennial Committiok — John W. Hatch,
Commander; Hon. I. Sam Jolnison, Jacob M. Smith, Homer
O. Holly, William 11. Cornell, Col. A. B. Lawrence, Maj.
H. A. Dudlev.
The Veteran Parade formed on East IkiiTalo SLi'tuil,
at 12: 30 o'clock. At ita head were Statu I)(',[)art-
ment Commander John S. Koster, of Port LoydoJi ;
Charles A. Orr, Past Department Commander, of IJuf-
falo; Samuel McAuliffo, Inspector-Ounoral, of Jiochos-
ter and the Warsaw Concert JJand.
These Grand Army Posts were reprciweiited as
bodies :
Gibbs Post, Warsaw; John P. Kobinson Post, Perry;
II. P. Taylor Post, Attica ; Buford Post, Jolinsoiisburg ;
John M. Ilutclnnson Post, Pavilion; Wing I'oat, Eagle;
George H. Pierce Post, Castile; A. A. Curtis Post, Geneseo.
Besides these there wore prcHciit as guestH of GibbH
Post, members of the (Jrand Army from lloclKister,
Buffalo, and many towns in Wyoming and adjoining
counties. After a march of about half a milu, the,
WABSAW CKNTEiraril CEXEBRATIOIT 195
Grand Army men filed into the big tent and took
seats which had been reserved for them.
At precisely 2 o'clock ihe reveiUe was sounded by
Burt Kidder of Buffalo, on an artillery bugle whidi
wiis in ihe United States service for four years, from
1861 to 1866.
ColcHiel A. B. Lawrence, Secretary of the Soldiers'
Monument Association, presided, in the absence of the
President, Hon. William Pryor Letchworth, LL.D., who
was detained at his home by illness.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
BY COL. A. B. LAWRENCE
Warsaw extends welcome to Wyoming County veter-
ans and friends. The regretful absence of our Presi-
dent, the Honorable William Pryor Letchworth, by reason
of sickness, from which he has not sufficiently recovered
to be with us here today, imposes upon me the duty
which his letter of yesterday's date explains; and we
are also reminded of the great loss sustained in the
death of our Vice-President, the Honorable Augustus
Frank, whose zealous and untiring interest in and regard
for the Volunteers of '61 and '65, associated with Presi-
dent Letchworth, and our Treasurer L. A. Hayward,
also deceased, has made possible the ceremony of dedica-
tion of this monument today. This letter of President
Letchworth 's will explain itself:
Glen Ibis, Portage P. O, N. Y., June 30, 1903.
Colonel A. B. Lawrence
Secretary of the Wyoming County Soldiers'
Monument Association.
Dear Sir:
In consequence of illness it will be impracticable for
me to be present at the dedication of the Soldiers' Mon-
ument in Warsaw to-morrow, and in my unavoidable ab-
sence I venture to request that you will discharge the
duties naturally devolving upon me in carrying out the
program prepared for this occasion.
Though debarred from the long-anticipated pleasure of
meeting with those who will assemble in your village
to-morrow, it affords me unspeakable gratification to re-
flect that the obstacles have been removed which for
many years stood in the way of adapting the grounds
about the monument to the beautiful column they en-
circle, and that the time has arrived for its formal ded-
ication.
Among those who were actively interested in the
197
erection of the monument, including the late Honorable
Augustus Frank, who labored zealously for the comple-
tion of this Memorial to the soldiers of 1861-65, there
is one whose name should not be overlooked on this oc-
casion. I refer to the late Dennis R. Alward, formerly
connected with the American Embassy in London, whose
attention to this subject greatly aided in originating the
plan upon which the monument was built.
Please extend my congratulations to the citizens of
Wyoming County upon the completion of a monument
unsurpassed for the chasteness and elegance of its de-
sign, which will stand for centuries an object of beauty,
and will evoke from generations yet to come, feelings of
admiration and gratitude toward the brave men who suf-
fered and died for their country and whose heroic deeds
it commemorates. I am,
Yours with great respect,
Wm. Frtob Letchwobth.
One of the greatest regrets of my life, shared I be-
lieve by all present and who shall hear of this, is that
the words of presentation and tribute to the Volunteers
of 1861-65, and dedication to their memory, cannot be
pronounced by our President Letchworth, whose name
and fame stands high on the roll of honor for his life
service, seeking the betterment of his fellow men, es-
pecially the unfortunate, with conditions approved and
adopted in this and foreign lands — and I have the honor
to give you the words prepared by him for this presen-
tation and dedication.
"In the name of the Wyoming County Soldiers' Mon-
ument Association, and in compliance with the wishes of
those here assembled, this Memorial is dedicated — a lov-
ing tribute to the brave men of Wyoming County who
offered their lives in defense of their country,— 1597 of
whose names are recorded on a roll deposited beneath
this monument; it is also a lasting testimonial to the
valor of all our Soldiers and Sailors who fought for the
flag and whose heroic deeds, crowned with success, kept
the United States a Nation and preserved for those who
come after them the priceless heritage of union and
liberty."
ADDRESS
BY HON. WILLIAM BRISTOL
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Grand Army, Ladies and
Gentlemen :
The causes which provoked and precipitated the War
of the Rebellion are not so well understood by the pres-
ent generation as they will be when the complete history
of the great struggle shall have been written.
The question of negro slavery was a bone of conten-
tion from the organization of the Republic, until its final
abolishment at the close of the Civil War; although there
was what might perhaps be called armed neutrality from
the time of the Missouri Compromise between the two
sections of the country until the agitation regarding the
organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska,
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the inaugu-
ration of the doctrine of squatter sovereignty. For a
short time the Compromise measure of 1862 allayed the
storm which had been for several years gathering, but in
18B4 it broke out with renewed force which disrupted the
political parties and resulted that year in the division of
the voters of the State of New York into three political
parties — so evenly divided that it required the oflicial can-
vass to decide the result.
That year the anti-Nebraska party was started, com-
posed of members of all the other political parties, ex-
cept the politician. That was the last of the Whig, and
Know-nothing and Abolition parties — some of the mem-
bers going to the Democratic party, while the remainder,
joining the Radical or Barnburner element organized the
Republican party and nominated Fremont for President
in 1856. He was defeated by the vote of the solid South
combined with Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and James
Buchanan was elected. Then the Southern states, under
199
their doctrine of squatter sovereiguty, undertook to force
slavery into tlie territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
The history of that struggle is familiar to you all —
their failure to accomplish this purpose was the final and
immediate cause of the War of the Eebellion — the pretext
being the election, under the Constitution and laws of
the United States, of Abraham Lincoln as President.
They then tried to accomplish with bayonets what they
had failed to accomplish with ballots.
The scene changes — now, members of the Grand Army,
you make your appearance as important factors in the
long struggle for the maintenance of the government.
I have often talked of, and to the soldiers of our Civil
War and always with the kindest thoughts of my heart
and words of my lips, but never have I, nor can I ex-
press all that I feel, because language sufliciently strong
is not at my command.
I am called upon to say something today as the only
surviving member of the old War Committee appointed by
Governor Morgan to aid in making New York State fore-
most in the ranks to put down the Rebellion. The other
members of the Committee from this county were Gene-
ral Thayer, Judge Comstock, John B. Folsom and John
B. Skinner, 2nd; Judge Grover and others from Allegany
and Livingston Counties, making up the Committee.
Early in 1862 the exigency of the times seemed to
make it necessary that very conservative men should rep-
resent the people or the government, as dissatisfaction
with the slow progress made toward putting down the
Rebellion on the one hand, and the "peace at all hazards"
party on the other, made the condition of affairs gloomy
indeed, and not until late in that summer was there much
earnest and united effort made toward putting volunteers
into the field.
Early in August, 1862, I received from Governor Mor-
gan the notice of my appointment as member of the War
Committee for this Senatorial District. Before the close
of that month the 130th and 136th regiments were put in
the field and from that time on every effort was made
200 HISTOEY OF THE
by the Committee to fill the depleted ranks of the army,
and raise men and money to sustain the Government.
As an illustration of the unsettled condition of the
country, the brave and gallant General Wadsworth, while
fighting for his country was nominated for Governor of
New York and defeated by Governor Seymour, the peace
candidate, on the ground that the war was a failure — and
Horace Greeley, the greatest editor of the age, and the
brilliant Henry "Winter Davis of Maryland, were crying,
"On to Richmond," and planning to defeat Lincoln's re-
nomination and put Salmon P. Chase in his place. On
the other hand the conservative element, who were dis-
pleased with Fremont's proclamation, issued while he was
commanding the army in Missouri, were aiding the enemy
by their "do nothing" policy.
Monarchies were watching the results of the conflict
with the hope and expectation of seeing the failure of
republican government and to substitute the two warring
factions, like the South American States. France was
trying to place one of her subjects on the throne of
Mexico— England was preparing to recognize the Confed-
erate Government, and only autocratic Russia had a kind
word for the American Republic.
Then came Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation
which frightened the conservative element of the Repub-
lican party. The Republican convention of 1863 reported
a resolution of approval of the general policy of the Ad-
ministration, but had not the courage to approve the
Emancipation Proclamation.
The committee on resolutions was composed of two
members from each judicial district with Henry J. Ray-
mond as chairman, and among the members were George
Opdyke of New York, Dennis McCarthy of Syracuse, and
Augustus Frank of Warsaw. Mr. Raymond said that the
object of presenting the platform was to unite the people
— not for party purposes, but in the interest of our com-
mon country.
That resolution did not satisfy the body of the conven-
tion, but it seemed likely to pass until George W. Demars,
WAfiSAW CfiNTSmwAl, CELEBRATION 201
a young man who stood in the back part of the hall,
wrote and sent to the chairman the following resolution:
Kesolved — " That the Proclamation of President Lincoln
decreeing the emancipation of slaves of rebels who refuse
to lay down their arms, receiving as it does thfe support
of every true soldier and general of the army of the
Union, and every patriot at home, demands from all
loyal men a cordial endorsement, and this convention de-
mands an emphatic and unqualified approval."
A man whose name is not embalmed in history moved
to lay the resolution on the table. I had the honor of
representing in part this county in that convention, and
stood beside the young man when he wrote and sent his
resolution to the chairman. A vote was about to be
taken when some one suggested that it would be well to
hear from the mover of the resolution. Allow me to
quote the closing words of Mr. Demars' remarks on that
occasion :
"And in that glorious day, in that coming time, when
the star of peace again beams upon our horizon, and in
the sky there is no cloud to mar the prospects of our
glory and our happiness ; and when, on the green fields of
peace, reunited confederations come and assemble again,
with brother haiid to hand, with brother heart to heart, all
the people of the United States — all the people south as
well as north — will feel that when you carry 'out this
measure, you take a curse off the shoulders of every true
union man; all the people will feel that the glory and
dignity, and the strength and the honor of this Republic
lay wrapped in the swaddling bands of the Emancipation
Proclamation. "
Amid all the difficulties surrounding the President, he
stood unmoved, undaunted — the colossal figure of the 19th
century. He said to Prance that the Monroe Doctrine
would be maintained at all hazards.
The representatives of the Protestant and Catholic
churches of this country — ^Henry Ward Beecher and Bishop
Hughes — visited England. Beecher by his eloquence and
courage silenced a mob and compelled them to listen to
him. Bishop Hughes, by his shrewd diplomacy, changed
the current of feeling in England toward this country
and thus put an end to the Confederacy's last hope of
recognition. President Lincoln's Proclamation of Emanci-
pation aroused the patriotic feeling of the whole civilized
202 HISTORY OF THE
world, and from the hour of its promulgation victory was
assured.
Members of the Grand Army of the Republic ! the men
who make up your organization in this county belonged
to thirty-one different regiments.
The 104th of Col. Borbach and Col. Prey engaged in
fifteen battles, from Cedar Mountain to Fredericksburg.
The Fifth New York Cavalry, Col. Hammond, renowned
for having made the first sabre charge of the war, in
which Ashley's troops were driven from the Shenandoah
Valley; the 9th Cavalry with its untarnished record of
161 battles; the First New York Dragoons, with its bril-
liant record of daring deeds from Deserted House to Win-
chester and the stirring times at Appomattox with eight
successive days of fighting; the 136th, which won laurels
at Lookout Mountain in that triumphant march of Sher-
man's to the sea — and in that great battle of Get-
tysburg of which this day is the fortieth anniversary.
Comrades, you all have a right to be proud of the part
you bore in that fierce struggle for the maintenance of
this government. The history of this country for the
last half century is as familiar to you as to me, for you
have been active participants in the startling events
which make the grandest record of any government un-
der the shining sun, and the greatest meed of praise is
due to men of the Grand Army of the Republic for their
share in the glorious result. In the years to come the
history of this country will read more like fable than
fact. Forty-two years ago the civil war began. Thirty-
eight years ago the last call for troops was made; thir-
ty-eight years ago last April, Lee surrendered to Grant;
thirty-eight years ago the l-5th of last April President
Lincoln was assassinated. A turbulent crowd of work-
ing men gathered in front of the New York World
Office, determined to avenge the death of the martyred
president, and their hands were stayed from violence by
a word from General Garfield, who was himself to be,
later on, an assassin's victim.
Thirty-eight years ago on the second of June, Gen-
eral Ulysses S. Grant, the polar star in America's
constellation of brilliant officers, issued his famous
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 203
order disbanding the army, and more than two millions
of soldiers were mustered out of service. Thus rapidly
as well as peacefully and joyously was the mightiest
army which ever fought for a Republic restored to the
tranquil paths of thrift and industry, melting back by
regiments into quiet citizenship, with nothing to distin-
guish them from their fellow citizens except their own
proud consciousness of having served and saved the
country.
And now, men and women of Wyoming County, I take
this occasion to thank you for the efficient aid rendered
the war committee in the discharge of its duties. You
contributed money to pay bounties to soldiers, you paid
taxes without a murmur, you paid cheerfully our share
of the millions of money expended by the government,
and now you complete your obligation in the dedication
this day, of yonder beautiful monument, to the living
and the dead soldiers of this county. The president
of this Monument Association, the Hon William Pryor
Letchworth, should ever be held in grateful remem-
brance, as should also the late Hon. Augustus Frank,
for generous contributions and for efforts in the purchase,
location and erection of this monument.
Eemember that these soldiers and their comrades saved
for us the grandest country on earth, a country that
commands the respect of the whole world and leads all
nations. Let us not forget the sacrifices made, the noble
work accomplished by the women of our country and see
to it that the qualifications for suffrage be those of ed-
ucation and not of sex.
Who shall say that the clear, far-reaching vision of
the sainted mothers of the soldiers whose memory is per-
petuated by that monument, may not rest upon this scene
today and that they will plead for the continued happiness,
peace, prosperity and perpetuity of this grand Republic I
DEDICATORY ADDRESS
BY GENERAL E. S. OTIS, U. S. A.
To those of us who have passed the meridian of life,
the reflections which this occasion arouses are responsive
to our most cherished memories and anticipations. To
those of a later generation they should be an inspiring
lesson in the duties of citizenship.
You have builded this monument to commemorate the
public services of representatives who went out from
among you and participated in the dangers incident to
war. You have erected it in token of your apprecia-
tion of their patriotism, as manifested in their devotion
to country which was attended by hardships innumer-
able — even the sacrifice of life. It is a tribute of affec-
tion, regard and obligation to those who by heroic deeds
through great tribulations won for you, in the brunt of
many hard fought battles, security and peace.
And still, if it only thus far symbolizes your intent
in constructing it, if its meaning is thus circumscribed,
it conveys no novel lesson — none which numberless
ancient memorials did not reflect. Affection for the de-
parted is a natural instinct of humanity. Beverence
for the dead who have conferred substantial benefits
through sacrificing labors has been a common sentiment
for ages. Exalted appreciation of individual sacrifice for
country is as old as national existence, and among civil-
ized people has always received outward expression in
highly wrought designs in enduring material. The
Spartans who erected the marble monument to attest the
valor of the three hundred defenders of ' the Pass of
Thermopylae; the Bomans who reared in the Eternal City,'
column, arch and memorial building to signalize the vic-
tories of her sons of Mars, that, as declared, their merits
might not lie sepulchred and be forgotten, were actuated
by this ever prevailing desire to preserve from oblivion
their national military achievements and to honor those
205
by whose labors and powers those achievements were ac-
complished.
But this monument has a more significant meaning
than those of by-^one periods. You who have fashioned
it have embodied therein your ideals of manhood's worth
and excellence — ^ideals which distinguish a modem civili-
zation based on individual liberty and the sovereignty of
the people. No longer do brute force and personal vio-
lence excite approbation; no longer is that form of per-
sonal courage which characterized the age of chivalry ap-
plauded; no longer can the victories of an alien, subsi-
dized soldiery, or an army for conquest, awaken disin-
terested enthusiasm. Our countiTmen would not sustain
a war unless they considered its prosecution subservient
to Justice, and they never have engaged in one in which
the moving impulse was subjugation, or territorial expan-
sion. In aU instances our wars have had their origin
and support in a demand for some positive political right,
in defense of imjierilled government or for needful social
amelioration; and thus I believe it will always be. It
is only when national honor or the supremacy of the law
is assailed, or when some requisite element of our civili-
zation is dangerously threatened, that an appeal to arms
can secure popular consent. Even our late so-caUed glo-
rious war for oppressed humanity's sake was inspired
and occasioned by the national insult received in the
harbor of Havana. With us, war can only result when
defense of some essential principle of our highly devel-
oped civil polity becomes urgent. The more vital the
principle — if its maintenance involves the life of the nation,
or the security of society, the more pronounced will be
the popular response to its demands, and the higher will
be the public consideration for those who actively par-
ticipate in its dangers.
Our estimate, too, of the degree of excellence displayed
in individual action differs from that which prevailed in
former times. The measure of regard in which the
soldier is now held is conditioned both by the nature of
his services and the character of the cause in which they
are rendered. Approved valor must take the form and
wear the garb of virtue. The strength which it then dis-
206 HISTORY OF THE
plays and the perils it encounters determine the quality
and extent of the approbation it will receive.
Again, our wars, whether foreign or sectional, have not
been fought with an alien, mercenary or professional
soldiery. In all our great contests our troops have very
largely consisted of native citizens who have voluntarily
abandoned for the time their peaceful occupations, and
taken up arms to establish or crystallize important tenets
in our accepted science of political government. With
no thought of individual advantage, anticipating much
personal suffering and the possibility if not probability of
violent death; young in years, enthusiastic, and prepared
to engage creditably in professional pursuits and business
enterprises, or in the full vigor of manhood and enjoying
the rewards of peaceful vocations, they have of their own
volition been marshalled for battle and have thus far
preserved the integrity of the nation and the rights of
the citizen. Not in any armed struggle of the world has
this characteristic been so marked as in our Civil War.
In none other has there been so great a ratio of earnest,
cultured and truly patriotic soldiers as our armies then
contained. And never before were such mighty hosts
assembled as during that memorable four years of the
country's agonizing travail.
To the memory of this class of our citizens you have
reared this beautiful shaft. In real significance, and as
you would have it understood, it is a tribute to all who,
through vicarious sufferings experienced on the exhaus-
tive march, in the rigors of camp, in the nightly vigil,
in attending physical ailments and in the deadly wrestle
of battle, helped to redeem, and as we hope, make se-
cure forever the basic principles of republican government
which were then in jeopardy. It is your consideration
for the performance of a certain specific duty by this
class that has prompted you to fashion and raise this
monument in their behalf. It is not reared to exalt
the brilliant achievements of any individual either in
war or peace; not to ascribe honor to one who, gifted
with superior intellectual abilities, has employed them
successfully for the glory of state ; not to present as a
model for public contemplation and inspiration the sem.
WAESAW CENTENNIAL CELBBBATION 207
blance of the loved philanthropist who has blessed his
day and generation by countless humanitarian deeds; but
to memorialize for all time the members of a class of our
countrymen — few of them publicly known, mostly un-
known, few still living, for the most part dead and gone,
many of whom were sanctified by a glorious death in the
hard fought contests for the supremacy of truth and right-
eousness, which dwelling in the bosom of God, have in
these latter days begun to illumine the minds and direct
the aspirations of well intentioned men.
Why should your sense of obligations or the influences
generated by the chords of sympathy move you to con-
struct this work? Let the monument speak. "In memory
of the defenders of our country, who though citizens be-
came soldiers, not from ambition or lust of war, but from
devotion to country and to assert the sovereignty of
her laws ; and who by valor and by sacrifice through
unmeasured suffering and death preserved the honor
and integrity of the nation and maintained the princi-
ples of free government in America." You thus honor
these men, not because they were soldiers, not because
they suffered great hardships and exhibited individual
courage in war; not that their valor brought victory
and with it peace to a distracted country, but because
at a period when representative government was in peril,
when the safeguards which upheld society were endan-
gered, when the established maxims of our modern civil-
ization were challenged, they willingly offered themselves
as sacrifices for the welfare of their fellow men and for
tlie cause of humanity. Never before were such tran-
scendent problems submitted to the arbitrament of war.
They involved all progress which had been made in civil
and religious liberty during more than three centuries of
time and presented for defense the legal supports, the
checks and balances, which had been devised and developed
through long continued toil and suffering to insure it.
They involved the security of the tenets upon which our
social and domestic institutions depend and by which the
old Saxon love of personal freedom, happily divorced
from license, has found satisfactory solution in equality
of individual rights and privileges. In fine, they involved
208 HISTOEY OF THE
the great issue, important to all the world, whether man
has sufficient intelligence to create a thoroughly repre-
sentative government and sufficient virtue to defend and
maintain it.
This summary of the character and importance of the
principles exposed to the hazard of conflict is by no means
extravagant. Not alone was there at stake the dismem-
berment of the nation with consequent loss of prestige,
population, wealth, and means of protection against foreign
aggression, with the certainty of future dire contentions
between its divided parts; but also what was of greater
consequence, the rule which prescribes submission to the
will of majorities exercised within conceded limitations,
which is the basis of representative government, of organ-
ized society living under it, and of every law upon which
our political and civil institutions rest.
The permanency of our representative government de-
pends on the will of the people and the strength of their
determination to uphold it. They may safely modify it
or invent new expedients to attain results if vital agen-
cies remain properly adjusted, but the mandates it pro-
claims must be obeyed until recalled by the authority
which issued them. Created and inspired by the peo-
ple, it acts on the individual. Animated by the most
advanced intelligence and the highest moral convictions to
which man has attained, controlled by the best impulses
of humanity, moving apace with the evohttion of society
to a constantly progressive standard of excellence, it de-
mands implicit obedience from the person, and, while
safeguarding his liberties, gives tendency to his aims and
aspirations. It cannot be destroyed except through in-
difference, or by the hand of its creator.
During a series of years factions, rebelling against its
salutary restraints, assailed it with invective and specious,
argument. Eepresentatives of the press, the pulpit and
the political forum, swayed by party strife or unholy
ambition, sought to dethrone it by assaulting the princi-
ples which give it life and energy. Captious criticism
and sophistry, silent as to the blessings it confers but
magnifying its annoyances, resorted to deceptive theories
and misapplied aphorisms to debauch public opinion re-
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 209
garding its significance. "The tyranny of majorities,"
"legitimate resistance of an oppressed minority," "the
right of revolution," the rights of communities to arrest
the operation of law considered by them injurious to their
interests, the power of the State to determine the validity
of TJnited States legislation, and other like expressions
and forms of casuistry denote the cant and character of
the logic then employed. The result of these efforts was,
as all know, a people divided in opinion — one portion deny-
ing and the other asserting the sovereignty of the nation
in matters entrusted to its keeping. Those denying alle-
giance and obligation could not plead oppression, nor the
violation of any of their constitutional rights or privileges.
Their excuse, if one can be discovered, is found in their
apprehension that, possibly, new legal provisions might in-
terfere with or destroy institutions which were uncongenial
with the tendency of modem sentiment.
This apprehension, however, was not the exciting cause
of the division. The question whether the black man
should remain bond or becoine free was not at that time
of sufficient import to arouse the bitter antagonisms which
were then displayed, although society had reached that
stage of progress and had so extended its appreciation of
justice as to acknowledge " that tyranny was not the birth-
right of any particular type of the human race, that slavery
was not the eternal law of nature." But the real mov-
ing impulse was the advocacy of an asserted absolute po-
litical right apparently intimately connected with exist-
ing affairs. The claim was, the right of a portion of our
citizens to withdraw at wiU their support from a govern-
ment set up, quickened and empowered by all to exact
obedience from all. This assertion by one section of
country and its positive denial by another, really occa-
sioned the intemperate excitement which fanned the spark
of discontent into a flame of revolt too violent for argu-
ment or entreaty to subdue. It was the ever living crav-
ing for absolute freedom of action and thought in the in-
flexible, uncompromising nature of the descendant of the
Saxon, now sadly unmindful of the necessary restraints
which the best perfected system of laws must impose,
Which forced dissension into open rebellion. Nothing but
a firm conviction in the justness of denied demands, with
210 HISTOBY OF THE
a courage to sustain them at every cost, could mass the
inhabitants of one part of the United States against those
of another part in order to try conclusions on the field
of battle; and whatever the impressions and intentions
of political leaders, that mass was honest and incited
by what it conceived to be the spirit of liberty and
patriotism.
Shall these misguided citizens of several of the States
of the Union be allowed to withdraw in peace? Shall
they be permitted to arrest the rightful application of the
laws and defy the majesty of a common government which
all had covenanted to uphold and respect? Shall they
be permitted to destroy a government which embodied
the highest conceptions of justice, mercy and the elements
of civil liberty as yet vouchsafed to' man, which secured
our past and encouraged our future, — our only hope for
protection against social and political chaos? The re-
sponse was immediate and unequivocal. That great pop-
ular uprising to assert the supremacy of law was the
greatest moral lesson ever presented to the world.
Considering, therefore, the character and temperament
of the men who composed the armies contending on
either side of that bloody controversy, the war in so far
as all armies were concerned may be said to have been
one of high resolve and strong conviction, marked by
superior individual courage and mighty determination.
No wonder it was protracted and sanguinary. Being of
such a nature it was not possible to bring it to a con-
clusion until one of the two opposing forces was ex-
hausted. Contemplating its cost, reflecting upon its
sacrifices, sufferings and sorrows — sacrifices rendered and
sufferings sustained by those actively participating; sac-
rifices, sufferings and sorrows endured by relatives and
devoted friends who were compelled to bear the bur-
dens of wasting anxiety, of great privations and
grief without the recompense in excitement, occupation
and consequent temporary self-forgetfulness which active
war bestows — and thereupon estimating the results obtain-
ed by such vast expenditures, the thought already ad-
vanced recurs; that the substantial benefits enjoyed by
man in his relation to SQCiety and government, have been
WAESAW OENTEinSIAL CELEBRATION 211
gained through superlative endeavor and bitter experi-
ences. Although the war was pitifully cruel, the har-
vest has been abundant; and one of the pleasing reflec-
tions regarding the war is due to the fact that all con-
cerned, both friend and former foe, have cheerfully ac-
cepted results. None wish that the issues had been dif-
ferently decided. "We speak of a restored Union, of a
re-united people, of the advantages of profound peace
and the permitted rapid development of a country, rich
in material resources, of magnificent geographical extent.
For all these blessings we should be devoutly thankful;
but they are of minor importance compared to the
gracious boon conferred on our people, and humanity in
general, by the glorious triumphs of law, order and civili-
zation.
We knew when the war terminated that the integrity
of the nation had been preserved; that the false logic
which had sought to prove its infirmity could no longer
become a source of danger; that the people possessed the
strength, inclination and determination to defend their
public institutions and government, and what was of even
more consequence, that they had abundantly manifested
the courage and civic virtue to maintain the supremacy
of established law by every means at their command.
We did not then know the marvelous vitality of the re-
public which had been preserved, and the amazing progress
it was destined to make in the short period of a little
more than one-third of a century toward social, moral,
commercial and political ascendency among nations.
Hence we can appreciate at present better than ever be-
fore the prominence of the principles which the war
permanently settled and the value of the services of the
men who assisted to win the great victory.
To what nobler cause or more deserving class of men
could you give this enduring proof of your regard and
affection? Those whose deeds we here to-day commemo-
rate — those who made the sacrifice of health and manly
strength that truth might prevail; those who surrendered
life, soon at least to be demanded by nature, as a debt
due to their country, performed a memorable duty and
fulfilled a glorioug destiny. They need not your pity nor
212 HISTORY OF THE
any manifestations of sorrow, but deserve your praise
and esteem. Could they speak to you they would com-
mend your action in erecting this monument and say
that it is what they most desired ; for by it you not only
show the highest appreciation of their services, but you
appeal directly to the manhood, patriotism and sense of
duty of the men of coming generations to sustain the
principles for which they contended. And herein is wit-
nessed its two-fold significance: it lovingly perpetuates
the memory of those to whom it is ascribed, and shall
be to future citizens for many years a lesson in the
sanctity of law, and an inspiration to make personal
sacrifices for its support.
In closing permit me to .refer to that other class of
citizens — those who labored so constantly for the public
welfare and deserve the lasting gratitude of their country-
men. Although prevented by controlling circumstances
from taking an active part in the contests of the bat-
tlefield, they contributed materially, and as much if not
more than all others, of the means which make success
possible. By their efforts to arouse and intensify a public,
patriotic spirit, by their vigorous support of the meas-
ures adopted for the overthrow of rebellion, by their en-
couragement and support of those who went forth to battle,
and the sympathy and aid they gave to those left to the
care and protection of neighbors and friends ; indeed by the
spontaneous manifestations of the highest impulses of be-
nevolencp, philanthropy and patriotism, they nobly sus-
tained the arm of government throughout that entire period
of passionate contention.
And here as a further proof of the sentiments which
prompted their action, they have builded with their own
hands, as it were, this enduring tribute to the memory
of the martyrs who died for country, that the knowledge
of their services might be preserved, that the importance
of the principles for which they gave life may be fittingly
exalted, and that the patriotic instruction which the lessons
of the "War conveys may be perpetuated.
To them be all honor and praise and may they be
everlastingly remembered by a grateful people.
As we look upon this monuinent which they have con-
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBftATiON 213
structed, so suggestive of the divine truths on which all
the hopes of humanity depend, it assumes infinite pro-
portions. It reaches to Heaven and the smiles of God
shall forever illumine it.
ADDRESS
BY COMMANDER ZERA L. TANNER, U. S. N.
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:—
I deem it an honor as well as a pleasure, to be per-
mitted to participate in the dedication of yonder monu-
ment to the men who fought the fight which preserved
our national union; the men who left their peaceful avo-
cations, their homes, their families, everything that man
loves in this life, and took up arms for the defense of
their country. These men had the courage of their con-
victions, they believed they were right, and they had
confidence in their ability to win the fight. This confi-
dence was voiced by President Lincoln in a singularly
prophetic speech at the very outset of the war when he
said, "The lingering chords of memory, stretching from
every battlefield to every loving heart all over this broad
land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when
touched, as they surely will be, by the gentler angels of
our nature."
Mr. President, we appreciate the beauties of yonder
monument and we revere the sentiment which prompted
its erection by the survivors of the Civil War and their
friends and neighbors in this community. "We all love
its graceful lines and its imposing appearance, for it is
our loving memorial to the men whom we delight to
honor. Under its shadow the veteran stands face to
face with the events that led up to the war; in his
mind's eye he sees visions of many weary days and nights
of ceaseless action and of anxious watchfulness on land and
sea. From his vantage ground he views in retrospect
the progress of the war and is thrilled again with the
patriotic emotions which forced him, I might say, to take
up arms and to fall into the ranks at his country's call.
There were dark and gloomy times during those four long
years of strife, but finally the cause of the Union prevailed,
and we came out of the fires of rebellion with renewed na-
COMMANDER ZERA L. TANNER, U. S. N.
215
tional life and vigor, which have gained for us a lead-
ing position among the great world powers; and the
United States stands today an evidence of advanced
civilization and an advocate for justice and fair dealing
among the nations of the earth.
Comrades, we honor ourselves in paying homage to
those brave men who fought the good fight, and it be-
hooves us also to make grateful acknowledgement for the
service rendered to the Union cause by the American
women. It has been said, and truthfully said, that their
influence in the great struggle was second only to that of
the forces in the field.
Comrades, this beautiful monument should be a per-
petual monitor to the actors in the Civil War, inspiring us
to use our best endeavors to instill into the hearts of our
youth the noble attributes of honor, virtue and patriotism,
in that they may be the better prepared to take our places
as we pass over to the Great Majority. Mr. President,
I am a believer in our American youth. It is my firm
belief that the rising generation will be worthy successors
of the men of '61, and I know of no greater honor to
which they could aspire. I believe also that the sacred
memories kept green in the minds of our youth by asso-
ciation with yonder monument, dedicated today to their
sires, will, as the ages roll by, exert a beneficent influ-
ence over the lives of untold generations of American
manhood.
ADDRESS
BY GENERAL JOHN S. KOSTER, DEPARTMENT COMMANDER
G. A. R.
[In introducing General Koster, Hon. I. Sam Johnson
said: "Comrades; General Koster, or what there is left
ol him, comes here to respond on behalf of the Grand
Army of the Eepublic. He is not all here — that good
right arm was left at Cold Harbor, but we elected him
Department Commander because he was a fighting man.
Before I introduce him I want to say that Gibbs Post
thanks you, Comrades, for coming here today to assist us
and you have done nobly to come in such large numbers
as representatives of the Grand Army. That monument
is, yours— it is not a Warsaw monument. I take great
pleasure in introducing to you our fighting Commander,
General Koster, Department Commander of the State of
New York.]
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Standing here to unite with you in the dedicatory
services of this beautiful monument to the memory of
the bravfi and patriotic soldiers and sailors of the County
of "Wyoming, who served in the Union army and navy
in the Civil "War of 1861-1865, permit me as Commander
of the great Department of New York to thank you for
your courteous invitation to participate in the ceremonies
of this notable occasion.
It signalizes the happy completion of the labors and
efEorts of your Monument Association, in the erection
and dedication of this splendid tribute from the County
of "Wyoming, to the noble valor and loyalty of her sons
in that mighty struggle for the preservation and perpe-
tuity of our great republic.
I regret that the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand
Army of the Eepublic is not here to greet you, and re-
alize that in me you will find a poor substitute. It was
at the request of Comrade Johnson that I came here to
217
join in these interesting ceremonies. As Department
Commander let me commend and honor your patriotic
work and congratulate you upon its completion.
Your gallant soldier and sailor boys, who fought for
the flag in the awful battles of that Civil War, in the
Mfth and Ninth Cavalry, in the One Hundred and Fourth
and the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Eegiments, Co.
K, 17th N. Y., the First New York Dragoons, the Fourth
and Eighth Heavy Artillery, the Twenty-flrst New York,
the Fiftieth Engineers and many other fighting regiments,
were and are worthy of this beautiful testimonial to their
glorious deeds and patriotic fidelity to duty.
The Grand Army of the Republic speaks for itself in
almost every town, village and hamlet, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific oceans, and its noble deeds of charity
and fraternity are known to all. Its members fought
for the honor of our flag and the integrity of our country,
and they cherish the memory of their departed comrades
with fidelity and lasting love. Well do I recall the scenes
at Fredericksburg in December, 1862, when my regiment
charged the Confederate troops on those blazing and ter-
rible heights. Our colors fell time after time, but never
halted in the charge, until Sergeant Plunkett, with both
arms shot off, fell to the ground, his blood staining its
torn folds.
Comrades, we are rapidly passing away, and soon the
parting volleys and the call of the bugles sounding "Taps;
Lights Out " will be heard over the graves of the sur-
viving veterans of that great conflict and nothing will be
left but the history of your matchless heroism and valiant
deeds in the cause of liberty and humanity. But, thank
God, you saved our country from disunion, and placed
our flag in the fore-front of all the ensigns of the world,
and will bequeath to our posterity the grandest gift which
men can give to their sons and daughters.
This is what the Grand Army and their comrades will
leave to this nation, and in honor and confiding faith
they believe the coming generations will defend the flag
and our country with the same strong arms and hearts
as did their sires in the years now flown.
Fellow-citizens of a younger generation! To you we
218
look to defend and preserve our beloved country, and to
instruct your children in these lessons of loyalty and duty
to the flag. Will you keep this sacred trust? I believe
you will, and may God bless you and yours in this re.
spect.
Stand by the flag, the flag of freedom's pride.
Stand by the flag your fathers fought to save,
Stand by the flag for which those heroes died.
Stand by the flag, that it may forever wave.
REMARKS
By frank coffee, jr., (17 Years of Age)
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I represent today my father, Mr. Frank Coffee of Syd-
ney, Australia. He would have given much to have been
here with you to-day in person at this Centennial, for
Warsaw is dear to my father. It is associated with that
memory which is dear to any man — the memory of his
boyhood and old time friends. But business knows no
master and so he cabled me to represent him.
I am a stranger to you and to "Warsaw. Some of the
older citizens here no doubt, remember my grandfather,
Mr. Charles Coffee, or, as he was more familiarly called,
"Charlie" Coffee.
In 1862 he enlisted in Company E, 136th New York
Volunteers. September 3d, of the same year,, he was
mustered into service. May 2'7th, 1863, he was honora-
bly discharged, afilicted with chronic rheumatism con-
tracted on the field. It was from this complaint that
he gave up his life in 1870. And a noble life it was,
too ! He won the respect and admiration of all who
knew him.
Col. A. B. Lawrence informs me that my grandfather's
name is on the roll of those who went from Wyoming
County, and, who by their deeds proved that Warsaw and
Wyoming County had men who were ready, not only to
taUs, but to do and die, if necessary, to preserve the unity
of the States of America.
My father was born here in Warsaw in 1852, April
12th. He has told me of picking berries and sliding down
the hill on which now stands the B., E. & P. Ey. depot,
of the raps he got across his back in the old school-
room. And he has told me of being a "printer's devil''
in the office of The Western New-Yorker. He remembers
Mr. Owen and many others quite well. He has had pictures
taken of different views in and around Warsaw by Mr.
Salisbury, your photographer. But there is one which
220
he prizes above all others. It is a large one and a fine
one — of the monument erected to the memory of those
heroes of '61-'65. It is the Soldiers' Monument yonder.
My father has been in Australia for 26 years, but
he has not forgotten his native land. No citizen of Warsaw
ever has, for that matter. He has not forgotten Warsaw
— as he sends me here to represent him today. And he
will always remember with pride those who have answered
the roll call of the Great First Sergeant, up there.
G. A. R. VETERANS
THE NATION'S TRIBUTE
BY BESSIE CHANDLER PARKER
The blue skies bend today o'er fields of plenty,
The stars look down on homes of love and peace.
The air is full of sounds and scents of summer.
The harvest waits, the flocks and herds increase.
We listen, but there is no sound of battle,
"We hark, no roll of drums, no bugle call,
"We watch, and see no smoke of campflre burning.
And all our swords hang idle on the wall.
Only in city park and country village,
All through the land these graven shafts arise.
Telling the story of our grief and glory,
Pointing, like marble fingers to the skies.
Telling the story of those men who left us.
To walk with death, where battle raged and burned.
Telling the story of our loved and loving,
"Who went, so many, and so few returned.
How must our thought go out in love and pity.
To those fair southern fields, where all alone.
Deep in their nameless graves, our dead are lying,
Swept to the end, down paths and ways unknown.
And yet today, above us, unsullied.
Flies the same flag for which they gave their all.
The flag they followed through the smoke of battle.
Their glory living, after that, their pall.
Though links of iron have firmly bound our country,
Though magic wires her distances have spanned.
Still that dear blood, shed for her preservation,
Is the true bond which holds our land.
"We stand today in loving contemplation,
Of those who freedom's stony pathway trod.
Feeling our pulses, the heart beat of the nation.
Having one flag, one country and one God I
ADDRESS
BY GEN. S. F. McAULIFF, INSPECTOR GENERAL
Comrades :
I did not expect until a few minutes ago to say any-
thing to you. I will not come before you with the old
story which you have heard many and many a time,
that I had a speech prepared and that somebody stole
it from my pockets, for that would be a lie, and you
never knew a soldier to tell a lie.
What greater inspiration does a man need than to
stand in the presence of representatives of more than
twenty-two hundred of the greatest battles that have
ever been recorded in ancient or modern times. Here
stand before me men who have climbed the heights
of Lookout Mountain unbidden and carried the battle flag
of the Union up to the very gates of Heaven. Here
stand before me men who threaded the mazes of the
Wilderness; who stood in the burning woods at Laurel
Hill; at Spottsylvania Court House, where for twenty
long hours the sound of cannon never ceased; who
fought at Cold Harbor, at Petersburg, at Five Forks,
and carried Old Glory in triumph at Appomattox;
raised it to the highest and loftiest pinnacle of fame, a
beacon light to all the world that here is a land of
liberty.
You who live in the present time know but little of
the sacrifices, of the toils, the suffering that these men
endured that you might to-day enjoy prosperity and
peace. To them you owe much. The debt can never
be paid. Honor them not only on the days when you
have your celebrations, but honor them three hundred
and sixty-five days in the year. Young man, when you
meet a man with a bronze button upon his breast, doff
your hat to him, for he left you a legacy such as the world
never saw before and never will hear of again in any
other nation except here in the United States of America.
223
We who have followed that old flag amidst shot and shell,
who followed it even up to the cannon's mouth, learned
to love and revere it. The greatest eulogy that I ever
heard in reference to that flag was uttered by Bishop
Simpson at Chicago, when he said: "Nail it up there
high on the mast, just a little below the banner of the
Cross; hunt the world over, the flag of every nation on
earth, where can you flnd another flag fit to take the
same place that that would take?",
There is no other flag that represents so much as that
flag does; there is no other flag that has cost so much
in life and treasure, and there is no other flag for which
life and treasure were more freely given. We had an
army such as the world never saw before and perhaps
never will again. Out of the ranks of that army were
men fitted to command armies. The present command-
ing general of the United States army rose from the
ranks of a Massachusetts regiment. Only a short time
ago when the combined armies of Europe were with the
United States army in China, it was a Yankee boy
among them all who lifted the old flag and laid it upon
the walls of Pekin before any other nation could place
their banner there. The fortitude of the American
soldier was something that has called forth the encon-
iums of the world. Under the most trying circumstances
they would always willingly and cheerfully perform their
duties, doing their part like men.
I have heard the story of a young captain at
Antietam, who was fatally wounded through both thighs,
and as he lay at night gazing up at the stars, unable
to move or to get a drop of water to quench the thirst
which was consuming him, he began to sing:
"When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I'll bid farewell to every fear
And wipe my weeping eyes."
The refrain was taken up by a wounded comrade
near by, and then by another and another, until nearly
a hundred wounded soldiers were singing that grand old
hymn that we all learned in childhood. Who has not
heard the story of Company D, the "Die-no-mores," and
224
their midnight attack upon Port Fisher. The young
captain as he went farther and farther over the sand
dunes shouted to his men, "Follow me, Die-no-mores,
follow me," until at last he fell fatally wounded. His
men fought their way to the parapets, and all save one,
from whose lips I heard the story, followed their young
captain that night ■ into the gates of the Eternal City.
Where on earth can you find men more devoted to a
cause than you find in the American army in the men
who fought from '61 to '65?
Still, my comrades, we should not take all the glory
to ourselves. The women, the women of America, helped
to flght these battles. To them all honor, all glory.
They were the ones who stood behind the men who stood
behind the guns. They were the ones who encouraged you
by word, by counsel, and by loving sentiments which they
sent to you in letters, to stand up like men and come
back to them as heroes, but not come back as cowards.
I remember a story that was told to me by Chaplain
Ferguson at the encampment at Utica, when he said
that in the early part of the war, in a small school-
house, he was addressing a company of young men,
endeavoring to get some of them to enlist. In the back
part of the school room there was a class of men we
used to call copperheads. They had tried to disturb
the meeting and to discourage any one from enlisting.
Finally from among their ranks a young man stepped
forward to sign his name, and as he did so one of the
men shouted to him, "Jim, what will your wife say?"
Quicker than lightning Jim turned around and said, "My
wife says she would rather be the widow of a soldier
than the wife of a coward." And that, comrades, was
the kind of material the American women were made of
and the kind that stands with us to-day.
REMARKS
BY COL. CHARLES A. ORR, U. S. PENSION AGENT
Mr. President, Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I regret very much my inability to say a few words
to you, for the reason that I am suffering from a disa-
bility which makes it very diflBcult for me to speak. I
am not on the program even. I came here at the invi-
tation of Comrade Johnson, and I am very happy that
Mrs. Orr and I have had the privilege of enjoying this
delightful Centennial celebration.
I was very much pleased with the exercises last night,
and also very greatly interested. I was bom but a few
miles from "Warsaw, and there is an old comrade here
from my old town who belongs to the same Post, the
Post named for my brother, Robert Orr, who was killed
at Fredericksburg. He drove twenty-six miles to get
here. I have always kept my legal residence at my
birthplace and never expect to change it unless I move to
Warsaw. I am very glad that I am here to participate
in these patriotic ceremonies. I was especially interested
in the remarks the young ladies made here on this
platform last night. You are to be congratulated,
greatly so, on the splendid appearance of Warsaw. I
have attended Department and National Encampments
from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, and I never saw
more beautiful decorations than you have on this Main
street of Warsaw, and not only on the main street, but
on all the side streets. It shows great civic pride as
well as interest and enthusiasm in your Centennial
celebration.
HIGH SCHOOL BANQUET
On Wednesday evening, July 1st, the Alumni of
the Warsaw High School gave a banquet that will
long be remembered for the number of graduates
present and the brilliancy and interest of the occa-
sion. The banquet was given in the Town Hall,
tables being arranged in three long lines the length
of the hall with one running across the room at the
south end. Covers were laid for one hundred and
ninety guests, and a fine menu was served by Teal
of Rochester. Principal George W. Glasier presided
as toastmaster and called for responses to the fol-
lowing toasts : « Our High School," Prof. Irving B.
Smith ; « The Class of 77," Prof. Floyd J. Bartlett
of Auburn ; « The Class of '03," Lloyd B. Wheeler
of Bliss ; « The Board of Education," Mrs. Ella Haw-
ley Crossett ; " Our College Boys," Emery D. Web-
ster ; " Our College Girls," Miss Margery Gouinlock ;
" Athletics," Charles B. Smallwood ; " Our Profes-
sional Men," Addison W. Fisher ; « Our Normal
Graduates," Prof. Charles D. Seely of Brockport ;
"Reminiscences," Miss Mary E. Dann of Hempstead,
Long Island.
REMINISCENCES
READ BY MISS MARY E. DANN AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
BANQUET
Your committee so wise, has done one thing amiss,
In giving a place to a subject like this;
No dearth of material under my text,
No deep anxious thought as to what to say next.
But floods of fond memories over me flow —
And floods are not popular here, we all know.
I could talk to my pupils, of days that are flown;
You primary youngsters, dear me, how you've grown,
Or my students in High School — we worked, and we worked
With test-tubes and magnets, and nobody shirked;
We analyzed flowers, found fossils in stones.
And examined the joints of the. slim Mr. Bones.
I could talk to my schoolmates of days long ago,
Can it be on their heads I see traces of snow?
If I say that we always were studious and good.
That we learned every lesson, and did as we should,
There are some right before me who might make me blush
And say, "Martie, don't tell; and Floyd, won't you hush."
But the pictures of childhood are brightest and best.
When we turn but to these, we forget all the rest.
I see a stone building, a yard full of trees,
And wide open windows that catch every breeze;
Of students a hundred, or possibly more,
Of teachers, say three, with now and then four,
And my father presiding, ah, now you can see
Why these long-distant days should fascinate me.
There are some of you here, will agree, when I say.
The tasks were well done, in that far away day.
You worked as he bid, and when college days came
To your joy and to his, you were not put to shame.
A few stupid books tucked away on a shelf,"
Some rocks, and an air-pump— I've seen them myself.
But pupils and teachers were eager for more.
There were lectures and concerts and fees at the door,
228
With the citizens' help, and the state fund beside
Apparatus and books soon fill all with pride.
There were public exams., when the parents all came,
And the ministers called on each pupil, by name.
Of Latin and Greek, Trigonometry, too,
Of Science or History, to tell what they knew.
While the Board of Trustees, with their faces intent.
Were trying to show that they knew what it meant.
Exhibitions were held at least once a year.
Would you see the old programs? I have them right here-
with speaking, and music, and essays so bright.
And tableaux and plays, they'd have lasted all night.
But begun at 6:30 they ended quite soon.
And the youngsters went home by the light of the moon.
Of sports they had some, in those days we recall,
For big boys and teacher, together played ball.
And my father's old journal quite thrillingly tells
How they swung Indian clubs and played with dumb-bells.
And the girls in the front yard, fine days after school.
Were strengthening their lungs, by playing at goal.
One plump little girl, with brown curls, who was I,
Would try hard to laugh, but wanted to cry.
When they started her on a long run, for she knew
That her breath would give out, e're the journey was
through.
A slap on her shoulder, and then, don't you see.
She's taken a captive, to another girl's toee.
But I fear you will think— it would be only human—
That short-winded girl makes a long-winded woman.
So I make you my bow, e're you're tired out quite.
And give you my thanks as I wish you good night.
For each, and for all, in the days that will come.
Here's Tiny "iim's wish, may God bless every one.
Part Five
GOVERN OR 'S DAY
Thursday. July 2. 1 903
TENT SCENE, GOVERNOR ODELL SPEAKING
GOVERNOR'S DAY
One hundred guns at sunrise opened the last, and
in the matter of crowds the greatest day of War-
saw's Centennial Celebration.
Governor Odell was escorted from the Erie station
amid cheers and music, and held an informal reception
at the Gridley Hotel. Long before the hour set for
his appearance the enormous tent was filled literally
to overflowing, for the crowd fringed the outer edge
of the canvas a distance of twelve or fifteen feet
around its entire circumference. At half past 11
o'clock, in accordance with the punctuality which had
marked every stated event of the week, the Gover-
nor appeared upon the platform and was most en-
thusiastically received. Before beginning his address
he had a pleasant word to say of Warsaw and its
citizens, and paid a high tribute to the late Senator
L. H. Humphrey.
At half past twelve o'clock a banquet was given
in the Town Hall in honor of Governor Odell, two
hundred guests being present, including many dis-
tinguished visitors.
AD DRESS
BY GOVERNOR B. B. ODELL, JR.
When we measure the age of our government by the
span of years; when we consider its achievements and
wondrous growth and compare it with older civilizations,
celebrations such as this serve but to stimulate patriotic
impulses and bring respect for a people who have made
of the experiment of democracy a republic whose posi-
tion among the nations of the world is most command-
ing. The history of our common country is the glory
of all, and the conspicuous part taken by the patriots of
our own commonwealth in the great struggle which
brought our Union into existence is the especial pride of
the people of New York. There is no spot within this
great state but that has its stories of valor and heroism,
and the struggles of its pioneers in pushing civilization
and intelligence to the west and north; the perils en-
dured by them, and their self-sacrificing devotion, while
not always evidenced perhaps by monuments, yet is shown
by the sturdy growth which has made our state the
greatest commonwealth of the nation. Its fertile fields
were the scenes of privation, defeats and victories, and
the devotion of the people of the Revolutionary period
to the cause of liberty is held in grateful recollection by
their descendants whose adherence to the principles for
which they fought insures the permanence of our republic.
It seems but yesterday that the Tort Stanwix line
which left the major portion of the state in the posses-
sion of the savage tribes of the Six Nations, marked the
western boundary of our commonwealth. The adventur-
ous trader and the hardy explorer had brought stories of
the richness of the vast regions beyond — tales of the
Mohawk and the Genesee and of the great inland seas
which were afterwards to become the outlet for the com-
merce and wealth of the far ott "West. Indian warfare
and French invasion gave additional evidence of that
233
which awaited the vigor of manhood and the daring of
the frontiersman. At the close of the Revolutionary war
therefore it is not surprising that the attention of those
who were charged with the administration of the state's
affairs should have been directed to the development of
the natural resources which had so long laid dormant,
and it was the enterprise of our citizens which saved to
New York the commerce which made of it the most im-
portant port in the civilized world.
Education is the bulwark and strength of our republic.
Contentment and happiness are its handmaidens. What-
ever, therefore, adds to our comfort insures loyalty and
brings advancement and prosperity. "We too often disre-
gard momentous events and periods in the history of our
state and country, and are somewhat careless in award-
ing the credit that is due to those who in their desire
for freedom made possible the string of villages and
cities which everywhere within the borders of this com-
monwealth are an ever present reminder of the achieve-
ments and glories of the past. It is a pleasure,
therefore, to find upon an occasion such as this so many
patriotic citizens gathered together for the purpose of re-
calling and celebrating such events. A republic such as
ours could not exist were its policy to be controlled and
dictated by envy and discontent, or by a careless disre-
gard of our own privileges or the rights of others.
America stands as a prominent example of a government
of majorities, whose ofHcials are but the servants of the
popular will. Although we measure our strength by the
loyalty of our citizenship, it is well for us to stop at
times and reflect upon the history of the past and con-
sider wherein we differ from nations whose future was
apparently as bright and whose government seemed as
permanent as our own.
For after all, human nature in all its phases does not
differ materially from one generation to another, and the
pathway of time is strewn with the wrecks of nations.
Borne with its jurisprudence and magnificent armies;
Venice with its learning and arts; Judea with its relig-
ious enthusiasm, all failed because of the lack of indi-
vidual freedom and the selfishness of nations. In a
234 HISTORY OF THIS
study of the history of the past it is well for us to
consider, therefore, not only the material growth of our
state and of this Union, but also the effect of its gov-
ernment on other nations and whether the great power
which our people wield has been used for the uplifting
of mankind. Vast as is our commonwealth of itself;
great as has been her increase in population; powerful
as is her influence through the products both of the
field and the factory — while all these contribute to our
material well-being, 1 doubt if we should measure the
achievements of our country by this standard alone, but
rather whether this power and this influence have been
exerted for the common good and for the advancement
of civilization.
The struggle of the Revolution, while it brought into
existence a democracy, failed of its object until the ex-
periment of a limited suffrage had been tried with the
result that the independent spirit of the American people
demanded the broadest possible liberty in selecting not
only the ofiicers of the commonwealth, but of every lo-
cality within its borders. The boasted freedom of the
country was but a half truth until the immortal Lincoln
by his proclamation struck the shackles from three mil-
lions of slaves, and only after a conflict of unparalleled
bitterness which threatened to rend the republic in twain,
and whose solidity was only maintained by the sacrifice
of the lives of thousands of brave and patriotic men,
whose memories you have fittingly commemorated at this
centennial celebration of your town.
In every struggle in which our government has been
engaged, the patriotic, undying and unfaltering devotion
of our people has been manifested. Upon every field of
battle their courage has been attested. Yet the tears of
widows and orphans have saddened the victories of our
arms. Out of this has grown the desire whenever and
wherever possible to leave questions of international dif-
ferences to arbitration rather than to the clash of arms
and opposing forces.
America, the first to advocate this new principle of
settling international disputes, has gone farther perhaps
than any other nation in this direction. It is one of the
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 235
triumphs of our government and marks an epoch in the
world's history of which we may feel justly proud. It
is the greatest tribute which America lias paid to the
cause of civilization. In this movement no other state
in the Union has taken a more active part than our
own. Its commercial relations with all the world have
brought us into close touch and communication, and has
established a community of interests among the nations and
producers of the world, creating a spirit of forbearance
and amity which may eventually prevent a recurrence of
the straggles of earlier times. By inculcating a belief
that the functions of the state are to protect the inter-
ests of each individual, we have established principles
that bind our people together by ties of affection and
common interests and local pride, instead of leading to
neglect of, or interference with, the rights of any, and serves
as a stimulus for the linking together of all interests;
making of our commonwealth a state not of segregated
communities, but one where the interests of each are the
interests of all.
We therefore can well afford to celebrate the advance
that you have made here. We can glory in your suc-
cesses because they are but a measure of our own. The
broad acres of our state with their products are of addi-
tional value because they are essential to those who in
her manufacturing centers are striving to uphold our com-
mercial supremacy. The ease with which these products
may be brought to the centers of population determine
the value of your land and add to the wealth of the agri-
cultural section of New York. It seems but a short
time ago when the possibility of easy communication
with the then sparsely settled villages and rural commu-
nities was a far ofE dream, but the faith of those who
projected the many roads and waterways which now bring
every part of the state in close touch has been more
than realized, and there is now no section of New York
that is so far distant that its inhabitants are not a part
of its great commercial ports whose interests are our
interests.
With the expanding growth of the nation, reaching be-
yond the confines laid down by those who preceded us.
New York becomes more and more an important factor in
'2'66 HiSTOftY OlF THE
working out the problems of the future. The intelligence
of her citizens not only projects, but their wealth furnishes
the means for the building up of vast enterprises which
are rapidly making of this country the great producer
upon which all other nations must eventually depend. Our
continued prosperity and the welfare of our people depend
upon the ability with which we meet these new condi-
tions and the forbearance which is exhibited by those
who contribute their wealth toward those whose capital
is their brain and sinew. The rights of all will be best
conserved by an intelligent consideration of the necessi-
ties of the times. Hope will fail of its fruition if from
our citizens is taken away the possibility of advancement
and culture and material well-being which, after all, are
the strongest motives for patriotism and the greatest in-
centives to good citizenship. "We marshal no invading
army for the acquisition of territory. The force that we
call into existence is that which will transform the wealth
of the earth into the products of industrial arts ; to make
of it an invading army of skill and not of arms to pen-
etrate into the remotest quarters of the globe. Our suc-
cess may not be evidenced by the laurel wreath of battle,
but by the commendation of all the people of the earth
whose aid we seek in advancing civilization and the best
interests of mankind.
This invasion will bring with it no sorrow, no tears,
but it will bring with it the luxuries and comforts which
other countries afford, and add to the contentment, pros-
perity and happiness of our people, and to the grandeur
of a nation whose proudest boast will be the fulfillment
of that heavenly hosanna, "Peace on earth, good will to
men," Let us hereafter do our part. Let us aid in every
laudable undertaking. Let us extend a welcome to our own
commonwealth to those who seek freedom and indepen-
dence, and who will aid us in maintaining that supremacy
of which we are so justly proud. As time rolls on may
we leave to those who shall come after us all the liberties
transmitted by our forefathers, not only amplified in
scope, but made better by the uses to which we have
put them, a nobler and better citizenship, which not only
glories in the past, but which looks forward to the future
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 237
with a certainty that is born of belief in the principles
of our government. Let us maintain a republic so ample
and so complete as to make of our country a government
not only of the people, but one where equal rights and
liberty are the sure possession of all.
AFTER DINNER TALKS
BANQUET IN THE TOWN HALL, JUDGE E. E. FARMAN.
TOASTMASTER
GOVERNOR ODELL
In responding at the banquet Governor Odell said:
Mr. Toastmaster, Gentlemen: 1 was flattering myself
until the toastmaster arose that I had not made much of
a sacrifice after all in coming to Warsaw. I have changed
my mind now, since he got upon his feet. I understand
that the ceremonies or the parade which is to occur shortly
limits the time which has been allotted to me, and I am,
therefore, not going to inflict another speech upon you
today. I think that the one you were unfortunate
enough to hear an hour ago is certainly enough for a warm
day like this. I can only say that I am very grateful
for the reception that has been accorded me. I felt the
warmth of it as I descended at the station, and it has
been getting hotter and hotter ever since. I think if
we keep up the same sort of a clip we will be pretty
nearly ready to sing, "There'll be a hot time in the old
town to-night."
Your centennial is something to be proud of. You
may have commenced early in the week, and I don't
know whether to-day is the end of it or not, but you
are having such a good time that I am almost tempted
to postpone my trip again. I thank you for the cordial
greeting which you have given me, which is a repetition
of that which one meets all over the state. It is not
the man, but it is the great government of which we
are all a part, which elicits such a response as you have
given to-day. I thank you for it, and especially for
239
your courtesy, and I am going to make way now for
some one else.
JUSTICE HAIGHT
Hon. Albert Haight, Justice of the Court of Appeals,
was next called upon by Toastmaster Parman, and in re-
sponse, said in part:
It is not my custom to have my decisions overruled,
but the president on this occasion has seen fit to over-
rule my judgment that further speech making be dis-
pensed with on this occasion. After the eloquent, grand
address which was delivered this morning by his Excel-
lency it did seem to me that further speech was super-
fluous. It has been my fortune to have the acquaintance
of a number of governors that preceded the governor
who now occupies the executive mansion. They have all
distinguished themselves as orators at county fairs, but
our present governor, as I observe, has discovered a new
field. He has become a great centennial orator, and as
such will his fame go down to history.
There is but a single suggestion that I have to make
to him with reference to it, and that is, after he has
accomplished all of the reforms and has relieved us from
local taxation as well as state taxation, and has tired of
performing the duties of the chief magistrate of this state
and has gone up higher (applause), then I hope he will
condescend to have these Centennial addresses put in type
and handsomely bound and gratuitously furnished to those
of us who expect to take part in the next centennial.
Looking forward a century appears very distant, as
embracing a great period of time, but looking backward
it is seemingly a short time. Under the ancient civil
law, in the absence of proof to the contrary, a man was
presumed to live one hundred years. Therefore, the event
which we are here celebrating today is but the span of a
single life.
The century that is passed has been most remarkable.
Its history has recorded events more numerous than those
which have been recorded in any century that has preceded
it since creation. There have been great wars, great
battles, great men, but none of these is the distinguishing
240 HISTORY OF THE
feature of the period. That which has chiefly distinguished
the period is the fact that it has been the age of inven-
tion. Thousands upon thousands of factories have been
constructed throughout the land, filled with machinery,
machinery in which nearly every article that is used by
man is manufactured and supplied. Among the chief,
perhaps, of the discoveries of the age is that of steam
and electricity, through the agencies of which we are
enabled to encircle the globe in nearly as short a time,
and with much more comfort than formerly a man could
travel from the city of New York to the Mississippi river.
Great steamships plow the ocean from continent to con-
tinent. We talk with our friends a thousand miles dis-
tant with nearly the same ease as if they were seated
in the same room with us. The pioneer has approached
our shores upon the East and has advanced to the Pacific,
clearing our continent of its forests. Eailroads, telegraph
lines and telephone lines traverse the country in every
direction. Hundreds of cities have arisen upon our sea-
boards and upon our plains, and eighty millions of people
live and prosper within the borders of our own govern-
ment, enjoying the blessings of liberty, the protection of
the law and the highest civilization known to the world.
HON. JAMES W. WADSWORTH
The next to speak was Hon. James W. Wadsworth,
who said :
Mr. Chairman: I feel very much complimented indeed
in having been asked to say a word in this representa-
tive body of men from "Western New York; but, after
listening to the very able and interesting remarks from
the Governor this morning, and the speech of Judge
Haight this minute, I am sure nothing I can say would
either enlighten you or amuse you, but I shall not re-
frain, Mr. President, from thanking you for the invitation
which you extended to me to come here to see you, and
to say how much I enjoy it, and the pleasure it has
given me to meet, here the comrades of the Grand Army
and the citizens of "Wyoming County and "Warsaw in
general.
My wish to them is many happy returns of this pleas-
M
k
-'K^ -,'P>
^
'Yf
rf|
r
^
PARADE SCENE
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 241
ant anniversary, and in the words of old Rip Van "Win-
kle, "Here's to their good health, and their family's good
health; may they live long and prosper."
HON. JAMES H. LOOMIS
After the toastmaster had introduced ex-Senator Loomis,
the latter said in part:
This introduction reminds me that we have a live
Senator here, and I am surprised that he is not given
the preference. I shall be very glad to resign my posi-
tion, standing before this audience, to Senator Stevens who
is not an ex-Senator, but I will say this much, that it has
been a very great pleasure to me to be with you upon
this occasion. A native of old Genesee County, a resi-
dent of Wyoming County from its birth, living in Attica
and always paying tribute to Warsaw, I congratulate my-
self upon having been invited to be with you. I believe
that you, people of Warsaw, have reason to congratulate
yourselves that you have been so well represented from
Albany as well as Attica, and it will be ever a pleasant
remembrance to me.
I saw by the papers not long since, " ex-Senator Loomis
celebrated his eightieth anniversary on the 4th day of
June." I could hardly believe it, but when I looked in
the old family Bible at the family record I found that
on the 4th day of June in 1823 there came on the Holland
Purchase, a barefooted boy. While I have lived I
have been greatly honored by the people of Wyoming
County, and I have very pleasant remembrances of the
many kindly greetings 1 have received in the last few
days from friends I remember, and many friends who
had passed from my mind. My talk is limited to two min-
utes. Brevity, Shakespeare says, is the soul of wit. If
there is any wit in my address it will be because I am
brief.
THE PARADE
The last event of the Centennial, and its crown-
ing feature, was the grand street Parade for which
elaborate preparations had been in progress for sev-
eral weeks. Like everything else on the program
of the Celebration it was a marked success and awa-
kened the wildest enthusiasm.
The principal motive of the Parade, and of the
various floats, was to illustrate the progress made in
agriculture, manufacturing industries and social life
during the past 100 years of the town's history.
While there were several floats which had ele-
ments of genuine humor of local interest, there was
a studied absence of the aimless and vulgar carica-
tures, which not uncommonly mar the effect of pa-
rades of this type. An old fashioned grain cradle
had its obverse in the very latest harvesting machinery
made in the valley ; the simple forge of the early black-
smith was placed in contrast with a model Warsaw
machine shop, in full operation. The ancient carriage,
and James S. Wadsworth's well-preserved but antique
Concord coach were followed by an up-to-date automo-
bile. Following the automobile was a yoke of oxen
similar to the one virhioh transported the goods and
IN THE PARADE
chattels of ancestors of the automobilists into the
country.
Taken altogether or in its details, the parade was
one of the most attractive features of the celebration.
The grand centennial parade started at 2 P. M., the
marchers appearing in the following order :
FIRST DIVISION
Warsaw Police Department.
Grand Marshal, B. P. Gage.
Aide, O. S. Humphrey.
74th Regiment Bugle and Drum Corps,
Gibbs Post No. 130, G. A. E, and visiting Comrades.
SECOND DIVISION
Aides, Charles Crocker, Asa A. Luther.
Fire Departments Wyoming County.
Citizens Band, Perry, N. Y.
Perry Fire Department.
Castile Fire Department.
Wyoming Fire Department.
Silver Springs Fire Department.
Warsaw Concert Band.
Warsaw Fire Department.
Castile Gun Squad.
Warsaw Gun Squad.
THIRD DIVISION
Aides, C. D. W. Hunger, George Luce.
Drum Corps.
Independent Order Foresters.
Lodges from Attica, Silver Springs, Perry, Varysburg.
Float, National Salt Company.
Float, Warsaw Elevator Company.
3 Floats, Warsaw Button Company.
4 Floats, Warsaw-Wilkinson Company, showing old
Feed Cutters, Modern Machinery as manufactured by it,
and actual details of manufacture.
244 History of the
Float, Warsaw Association of Stationary Engineers.
Float, representing old manner of Harvesting.
Modern Self Binder.
Float, representing old method of Threshing.
J. I. Case Exhibit modern Threshing Machines.
Theron Main Exhibit modern Threshing Machines.
Bidwell Exhibit modern Threshing Machines.
Automobile Parade.
Old and New Bicycles.
FOURTH DIVISION
Aides, Dr. Z. G. Truesdell, C. O. Gallett.
"Vehicles of Long Ago.
Float, representing Elizur Webster, first settler.
Early settlers, Amos Keeney and Shubal Morris in covered
wagon drawn by oxen.
Float, representing Log House.
Float, representing Surveyors opening Transit Line.
Float, old fashioned Spinning and Weaving.
Float representing Old Cobbler.
Float, with "Village Blacksmith," Joe Turner-Brag, born
in 1810.
Old Concord Coach, which belonged to General James S.
Wadsworth — Four-in-Hand.
Old time Doctor with Saddlebags.
Allegorical Float, "Living Shield."
Shetland Pony Parade.
FIFTH DIVISION
Aides, B. F. Williams, F. Herington,
Bube Band.
Allegorical Float, "A Garden of Long Ago.
Warsaw's Zoo, "The Lion Trainer."
Display of Furs by Herman Seege.
Old Mail Carrier.
E. F. D. Wagons.
Old and new methods of Road Making.
Old time Wash Day.
Wyoming Valley Laundry.
Implements for Butter and Cheese Making, Ballintine
Hardware Company.
WATCHING THE PARADE
WARSAW CENTENNIAL CELBBKATION 245
Going to Mill on horseback.
Allegorical Moat, "Neptune."
Float representing "Warsaw Opera House.
Float, representing Warsaw Club House.
Floral Float— H. S. Baker.
SIXTH DIVISION
Aides, Dr. Hayden Humphrey. Charles Van Allen
Drum Corps,
Float of "Warsaw Lumber Company.
Float, of Boberts Bros.
Float, T. S. Glover.
Float, M. A. Eichards' Up-to-date Big.
Float, Gallett & Fargo.
Float, Moody Lumber Co.
Exhibit of Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo.
John Goetz Grocery on Wheels.
Other Merchants' Floats.
Bands of Cowboys, Bough Biders and Indians.
INDEX
PAGE
Introduction . . .9
Programs . . . 16
Presbyterian Church . • . . 19
Methodist Church ... 39
Congregational Church ... 46
Baptist Church .... 56
Episcopal Church .... 64
Evangelical Association ... 70
St. Michael's Church .... 72
Address, Hon. E. E. Parman, LL. D. 75
Address, Hon. W. H. Merrill ... 80
Centennial Oration, M. E. Gates, LL. D. 87
Address, Harwood A. Dudley . 112
Centennial Hymn, Mrs. M. E. Gates . 118
Resolution, (S. D. Lewis) . .119
Address, Rev. George D. Miller, D. D. . 12B
Elizur Webster . . . .126
William Webster .... 131
Amos Keeney .... 134
The Fargo Family ... 185
The Munger Family . . . 138
Remarks, L. E. Walker 141
William Bristol . . . .142
Linus W. Thayer .... 144
INDEX 247
Reminiscences, Z. L. Tanner . . . 147
The Smallwood Family . . 150
Warsaw Academy, Dr. Briggs . . 153
The Darni Family .... 157
Joshua H. Darling . . . 159
The Gates Family .... 162
James Webster and Sylvanus Hawley . 171
Middlebury Families ... 173
Hon. Augustus Frank )
Dr. Augustus Frank I . . 177
Rev. J. E. Nassau )
Hon. W. J. Humphrey . . .183
Hon. L. H. Humphrey ... 186
Soldiers' Monument .... 191
Address, Colonel Lawrence . 196
Address, Hon. William Bristol . . 198
Address, General Otis . . . 204
Address, Commander Tanner . 214
Address, General Koster . . . 216
Remarks, Frank Coffee, Jr. . . 219
Poem, Mrs. Parker . . 221
Address, General McAuliff . . 222
Remarks, Colonel Orr . . 225
High School Banquet . . . 226
Poem, Miss Dann .... 227
Governor's Day . . . .231
Address, Governor Odell . . 232
After Dinner Talks 238
Parade ..... 242
it 'i
PW'J
S'rfi
■I'W
VMi.KH
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