Continued from post of February 19, 2016
Some Things of Early Chenango - Read at the Chenango County Dinner
John C. Wait
Chenango Union, March 28, 1907
Immediately following, or contemporaneous with these pioneer settlers came Isaac Foote, Peter B. Guernsey, Nathaniel King, James Glover, Joseph Moore, Joel Thompson, Asahel Steere, James Greene, Obediah German John Noyes, Thompson Mead, Henry Snow, Lot Clark, Samuel A. Smith, Edmund G. and Abraham Perlee, William Mason, Uri and John Tracy, Charles York, Silas Holmes, John Latham, Charles Medbury, Elisha Smith, Edward Andrews, James Birdsall, John F. Hubbard, Henry Mitchell, Tilly Linde, Jarvis and Samuel Pike, Jonathan Johnson, Benjamin Chapin, Abial Cooke, and many others who were active in the organization and construction of the county and its towns. They became legislators and judges, and were the solons who preserved the peace and steady growth of our native land.
Public Buildings: A court house was erected between 1807 and 1809 at Norwich, and about this time Peter B. Guernsey gave to Norwich the "West green" and Stephen Steere gave the "East green," which in 1874 were improved and thereafter called the village park. In 1814 - 1815 the old County Clerk's office was built at a cost of $800. In 1837-39 the present county Court House was erected after a violent political struggle between Norwich and Oxford as to which place should become and be the county seat. The first court held in the Norwich Court House was in 1810, and Chenango may be proud that she had a judge who, later, was U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Smith Thompson.
The Canal: In 1833, February 23, the legislature authorized the construction of the Chenango Canal and it was completed in 1837 at a cost of $1,737,703. It proved a great benefit to the Chenango Valley for a period of thirty-five years; when the old Midland Railroad brought to the upper portion of our valley a more modern means to transportation (1869). The Lackawanna road came to us from Binghamton in 1873 which sealed the doom of the canal. for the canal we are chiefly indebted to Senator John F. Hubbard who deserves the title of its chief promoter.
Chenango has been the cradle of many distinguished lawyers and jurists. Starting with the eminent author of Kent's Commentaries, and his distinguished successor, U.S. Justice Thompson, we have a long line of distinguished judges. Of 53 Judges and Assistant Justices of the Common Pleas and General Sessions or County Court Bench, Norwich has furnished fourteen, beginning with Joab Enos, 1798, Jeremiah Whipple, 1801, and with twelve others between him and our beloved Gladding. Dadly L. Follett may doubtless lay claim to the greatest distinction as a later representative jurist of our county. The monument of work that he has done and left behind him is probably unequalled; both in amount and quality by any other Chenango representative. The appreciation of his great and good work will grow with generations to come. What he did in determining the application of our laws to some of the most difficult situations and conditions of our social and business life is known best to those who daily quote and cite his broad-minded opinions.
Another distinguished scholar who lent his charming presence and influence to our county was the poet and journalist, Benjamin F. Tracy (1819-87). He was principal of the Norwich Academy. He attended a reunion of Norwich Academy and delivered a poem specially written for the occasion, which is well worth republishing.
To Be Continued
No comments:
Post a Comment