IX.

MAIN AND MILL STREET MEN.

1815-1840.

Early in the eighteenth century the village had become divided in its business interests, two trade centers having been created. Sharp rivalry had well begun before the new century was ten years old. As time went on, this rivalry deepened and spread until it permeated the entire community. Indeed, for three generations it formed a pivot around which many interests revolved.

At the beginning of the settlement, the indications were that the center would be in the neighborhood of what is now Main and Martin Brook Streets, where the first goods were sold. The desire to be as near as possible to the terminus of the Catskill Turnpike, and directly accessible to the river from their store, led Noble and Hayes to begin their enterprise at the extreme eastern end of the village. But the interests which centered at that distant point were afterwards shifted to Main and Mill Street, largely because new enterprises had grown up there. Here was found a site more nearly central; here were the thriving mills of Joel Bragg; here Roswell Wright in 1815 built his store; nearby was Bragg’s Hotel; here was St. Matthew’s Church; and here was established the post office.

Meanwhile, had occurred the opening of the store of Stephen Benton at Main and Clifton Streets, and the building of the hotel by Dr. Cone diagonally across the way. Here therefore was now another center. Thus had been cast the die from which so much of the subsequent history of the village was to take its rise—two rival centers of trade. Colonel North has shown with fullness, in a paper reprinted in a later chapter, what had been the growth of the two ends by 1828. Each in some respects had advantages. If the eastern, or upper, end had a young ladies’ private school, the western end had two physicians as against the other’s one. Up-town had the only church building and the grist and saw mill; but down-town had the fulling mill and the tannery. Each had a hotel. Wagons were made down-town and clocks and watches were there repaired, but hats were made up-town and so were coats and trousers. In one respect the honors were notably easy. Each had its own distillery; but this fact may have increased rather than allayed the disputatious tendencies.

The opening of the two stores of Stephen Benton and Roswell Wright was almost simultaneous. Mr. Wright at the beginning did business alone, but soon had as partner Moses G. Benjamin. Mr. Wright had come from Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he was born in 1785, and had previously started in business in Catskill. After remaining his partner in Unadilla for several years, Mr. Benjamin went to Bainbridge. Their store stood on the southeast corner of Main and Mill streets, and among those who helped to build it was Guido L. Bissell. Standing in the centre of the village, it supplanted for its immediate area the store formerly conducted by Solomon Martin and Gurdon Huntington, General Martin having died in 1816 and Dr. Huntington having gone to Cairo in 1813. It continued for a long period of years to be the up-town centre of village business life. Mr. Wright was postmaster for a number of years and he had in his employ, or as partners, at one time and another, young men who were to become notable factors in the future of the village. More than one was to remain a resident for sixty years.

Arnold B. Watson, one of the number, was a native of Albany County, and came to the village in 1821 to take charge of a classical school in the upper story of the building that long stood on the site of R. K. Teller’s residence. He was then twenty-three years old. Two and a half years later he entered Roswell Wright’s store and in a short time was a partner, the firm becoming Wright and Watson. Later it was Wright, Watson and Company, Abiel D. Williams having joined the firm.

Mr. Wright died in 1832 and Mr. Watson went into business on his own account in the brick store which had been erected across the street in 1832, on the site of the Masonic Hall. The Masonic Hall was then ten years old. It had been built by Lord and Bottom and was now removed eastward to the site of the present beautiful residence afterwards built by Mr. Watson. Here Mr. Watson continued to do business for many years, and here he established the Unadilla Bank, which for more than twenty years was perhaps the most widely known bank in this part of the valley. Clark I. Hayes became his partner, and by this firm the extensive operations of Noble and Hayes were revived and long continued.

Mr. Watson’s activities outside his firm extended in many directions. He became active in the organization and building of the Albany and Susquehanna railroad and his name was one of those proposed for president. Of St. Matthew’s Church he was senior warden and treasurer for thirty years. To him more than to any other one person was the village indebted for the old Academy. He not only had the largest amount of stock but in every possible way promoted its welfare afterwards, his interest never ceasing until his death.

Mr. Watson had twenty-two shares of the Academy stock; A. D. Williams had sixteen; L. B. Woodruff, twelve; Erastus Kingsley, thirteen; Mrs. Charles C. Noble, eight; C. I. Hayes, eight; the estate of Isaac Hayes, twelve; Mrs. Isaac Hayes, seven; Joel Bragg, five; and W. J. Thompson, two. An effort was made to secure for the Academy the land known as the Harper lot, which faced Main Street opposite the present Sands and Arnold residences. Subscriptions were solicited, but disputes arose, ending in the purchase of the present site from Joel Bragg, land which was then an orchard.

The absence of down-town names from the list of stockholders would indicate that down-town men had been disappointed in the selection of the site, the stock being entirely taken by men living uptown. The building was erected by Mr. Thompson in 1851. It continued in use until 1894, when the present fine structure of brick was erected and the old building sold and taken down, the Academy site and its endowment fund being united with the new school.

Mr. Watson, in 1832, built for his residence the brick structure which now forms part of Bishop’s Hotel. Erastus Kingsley afterwards acquired this property and enlarged it for hotel purposes. Later on Mr. Watson erected the residence which still stands east of the brick store. Mr. Thompson built it for him. This involved the second removal of the Masonic Hall, which was taken to its present site where with its enlargements it stands as the summer home of Lester T. Hubbell. Mr. Thompson found a model for Mr. Watson’s new house near Utica, or at least some suggestions for it; but otherwise he was the architect as well as the builder of that noble village residence.

Mr. Watson’s first wife was Susan Emily, daughter of Isaac Hayes. Their children were Henry M., now of Buffalo; Julia N., who died in her youth; Sarah A., who was married to the Rev. E. Folsom Baker; Susan H., the wife of Frederick T. Sherman of Brooklyn, and William H. of Buffalo. In 1865 Mr. Watson married Isaac Hayes’s daughter Augusta, who survived him until December 20th, 1891, when at the age of seventy-three she died in the house her father had built in 1804. In this house she had been born. In St. Matthew’s Church she was baptised; she remained all her life a member of it and in its churchyard she lies buried.

Mrs. Watson’s brother, Clark I. Hayes, at the age of seventy, followed her to this last resting place a little more than a year afterwards. Mr. Hayes during his business career was universally popular throughout a large territory. Mr. Rogers, whose acquaintance with him was intimate, has described him as “a gentleman by instinct, courteous, pleasant, affable.” Amid many changes of fortune he maintained through life a placid, hospitable and manly relation towards society and those who compose it. Born as he had been to rural affluence and reared in refined surroundings, he personally seemed never altered by trials which might have been sufficient to break the spirit of men trained in sterner schools. Under his influence, probably more than that of any other man in the community, was due the elevation of the standard of farm stock in this part of the valley.

Like his sister Mr. Hayes was born in the house in which he died. Her home for some years was elsewhere, but Mr. Hayes spent all his days in this dwelling, which was part of his inheritance. Few lives have embraced so long a period of village history as these two. When this brother and sister first saw the light scarcely more than twenty houses were standing; the turnpike was still the main highway from the Hudson to this part of the state; lumbering was the chief industry and produce arks were making voyages down the Susquehanna. These lives were interesting in many other ways, ways more personal, for all who knew and understood this man of staid courtesy and sweet spirit, this woman of bright and gentle life, whose careers closed in the very place where they began.

Another year brought to this churchyard another child of Isaac Hayes, his son Frederick T., of whose boyhood more than one pleasing glimpse is given in Henry Noble’s diary, of which extracts will be printed in a later chapter. Frederick Hayes spent his business life in a New York bank of which he was an officer, but he often came back to Unadilla, pleased once more to walk among the scenes of his youth.

In Erastus Kingsley was seen perhaps the most popular landlord which this valley ever knew. He was a native of Franklin where he was born in 1800, his father being Bradford Kingsley. On coming to Unadilla, he was employed by Daniel and Gilbert Cone. For a short time he kept the hotel at Main and Bridge Streets. A sister of his was the first wife of Marvin C. Allen and the mother of Chester K. Allen. Mr. Allen for some time lived in the Bradford Kingsley house and later on bought a house then standing on the corner of Main and Walnut Streets, where he died. For his second wife he married Caroline Gregory. Mr. Kingsley died in 1865. His hotel at Main and Depot Streets was the headquarters in stage-coaching times and in the rear of it travelling circuses usually fixed their tents.

Around this village corner gather many other memories. After Mr. Watson perhaps comes Colonel Williams, at least in point of duration of associations. He was a native of Westford, Otsego County and a son of Israel Williams. He began life in Unadilla as a clerk in Wright’s store and afterwards was a partner. In 1827 he removed to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where with his wife’s brother, Thomas Hayes, he was engaged in trade for ten years. He then returned to Unadilla and resumed business on the old site, Mr. Wright having died. Mr. Wright’s house became Colonel Williams’s home. He was elected supervisor in 1855 and died in 1871 at the age of sixty-nine. Long after his death his son Thomas and his daughter Elizabeth remained familiar and pathetic figures amid the scenes of their father’s life, which had been active and honorable in youth and prime but which closed in misfortune. Thomas Williams died in Cooperstown in 1890, and was buried in the churchyard here at his father’s side.

Contemporary with these names is the name of John Colwell. Dr. Colwell was a bachelor, and a bachelor he died. He was born in Richfield in 1794. An authentic story of his youth relates to his dislike of school. Found missing one day, he was long searched for in vain until at last discovered by his mother half way down a well. Being urged to emerge from his cool retreat, he refused to do so unless assured that he would be neither punished nor made to go to school. Dr. Colwell read medicine in Cherry Valley with the elder Dr. White and settled in Unadilla as early as 1820. Here he remained until his death, widely known and always beloved. His office still stands on Mill Street just below the blacksmith shop. He boarded for many years at Kingsley’s hotel and previously had lived at Bragg’s hotel.

Mr. Kingsley was tolerant of Dr. Colwell’s eccentricities in money matters. The doctor never kept any book accounts, seldom made collections and infrequently made payments. Mr. Kingsley in consequence acquired a habit of collecting some of the doctor’s bills himself, and thus took care of his own claims; it might now be money that he collected, or it might be a “side of beef.” This simple method of paying two debts by one transaction seemed to accord admirably with the doctor’s liking for simple methods in finance. He was supervisor in 1845 and 1846 and died in 1868 at the home of Dr. Joseph Sweet. He was laid away in St. Matthew’s churchyard.

Dr. Colwell was an old schoolmate of Levi Beardsley, the author of the “Reminiscences.” Contemporary with him in Unadilla was Henry Ogden, whom Beardsley describes as “a fine, talented fellow, but amazingly fond of hunting and fishing and a most keen sportsman.” Mr. Ogden was from Catskill. He had four sons and two daughters, the eldest son being a graduate of West Point, who died a brevet-major in the regular army, receiving his rank for meritorious conduct. He served in the Black Hawk war of 1832 and in the Florida wars of 1837-38 and 1840-42. He died at Fort Reilly, Kansas, in 1845, and lies buried in the churchyard here with his father and mother. Henry Ogden’s two other sons removed to California. Mr. Ogden was a lawyer and his office building still exists as part of the home of William H. Sewell on Watson Street. His house occupied the site of the church rectory and was built as early as 1815. It now occupies a new site on Martin Brook Street.

Another name permanently connected with this village corner is that of Levi Bennett Woodruff. Mr. Woodruff was a native of Hartford County, Connecticut, whence he went with his father, Joel Woodruff, to Meredith, in Delaware County, when ten years old. In coming to Unadilla he was the forerunner among four brothers, one of whom, Lloyd L. Woodruff, is still living here. Joel Woodruff spent his last years in the old house on the turnpike just above the Foster Thompson farm, an ancient dwelling with an old sweep well and once owned by Ira Spaulding. A portion of this structure had formerly been used as a schoolhouse on another site.

L. B. Woodruff came to Unadilla in 1829 in company with Edwin J. Smith, who also was from Meredith. The two engaged in blacksmithing near the present stone shop and for many years conducted a prosperous business. Blacksmithing had previously been carried on in the same place by Turner McCall and Charles Wood. Mr. Woodruff in 1835 or 1836 built the stone shop still standing and later on the spacious dwelling on the Main Street corner. Retiring from the shop, he engaged in trade in a store near his house, and during the railroad building years conducted a large business. He died in 1879.

Mr. Woodruff was followed in 1835 by his brother, Henry S. Woodruff, who survived him several years. He also was a blacksmith, but he abandoned that calling from ill health and for a long term of years was proprietor of the stage line from Unadilla over the old Turnpike to Delhi, by way of Meredith Square. He had exceptional eminence for familiarity with that road. He was born upon it in the town of Meredith and had travelled over its western end more times than any one else living in his day. When he died the buildings on his premises were found stored full of many curious relics of the stage business, from the smaller hardware of sleighs and harnesses, to worn-out whips and ancient buffalo robes, from two-horse vehicles to an old-time covered sleigh that marked in signal manner the passing away of an interesting era.

The year 1841 brought to the village the third of these brothers, Lloyd L. Woodruff, who engaged in trade as a merchant tailor and then as a general dry goods merchant, builder, &c., with his brother-in-law, Milo B. Gregory, in the uptown brick store. John Woodruff, the fourth brother, spent some years as a clerk in the old brick store when a young man, but finally removed to Delhi where he became an eminent citizen and merchant.

More than sixty years ago, when the Masonic Hall stood on its original site, one of its occupants was Seleck H. Fancher, whose sudden death from heart failure in March, 1891, startled the community. He was found in his garden about eight o’clock in the morning with life extinct. He was a native of Connecticut and died at eighty-two years of age. Until the hour of his death, his life had been an active one. Several generations of boys and girls will long preserve the memory of this open-minded man, this kind-hearted friend of theirs. He was a shoemaker and like Samuel Rogers was wise in many things besides his craft. A building that will long be associated with his activities is the octagon house built by him and which was his home for more than twenty years. Mr. Fancher was himself as many-sided as the house he dwelt in. His mind had as many windows open to the sun.