Chemung County NY History of Tompkins, Schuyler, Chemung, Tioga 1879 Chemung County Section - Chapter 36

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CHAPTER XXXVI.

CIVIL HISTORY.

Organization of the County—Origin of the Name of Chemung—Organization of Towns—The Courts: Circuit, Oyer and Terminer, Supreme, Common Pleas, General Sessions, County Court, Surrogate—Capital Causes—Board of Supervisors—Income and Outgo of 1877—Appropriations for 1878—The Tramp Nuisance and its Suppression—The Cash Cost of the Rebellion—Assessment and Taxation, 1836-1878—Corporate Property: the Hundreds of 1836 and the Millions of 1878—The "Erie" of 1845 and 1877—Bonded Indebtedness of Chemung and her City and Towns—The State as a Broker.

The county of Chemung was taken from the county of Tioga by the act of Legislature of March 28, 1826, and included territory bounded as follows: "Beginning at the intersection of the Massachusetts pre-emption line with the Pennsylvania State line; thence north on said pre-emption line to the intersection of the south line of the Military Tract, continued west to said pre-emption line; thence east on said line to the northeast corner of Catharine township; thence south on the east line of said township to the south-west corner of Tompkins County; thence east on that south line to the northwest corner of Spencer township, in Tioga County; thence south along west line of Spencer to the southwest corner of the town; thence west on north line of Barton town to Cayuta Creek; thence down the creek to southeast corner of lot No. 152; thence south along the east line of Chemung town to Tioga or Chemung River; thence down said river to the Pennsylvania line; thence west on said line to beginning."

THE DERIVATION OF THE NAME

was from that of the river, which flows through the county from west to east, and which rises in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where it receives the name of the Tioga, and sweeping westward and northward by a circuit of 150 miles, through enchanting and picturesque valleys and gorges, returns to a point less than thirty miles from its source, where it debouches into the Susquehanna. In New York the name "Chemung" was given to the river, which signifies "big horn." This name was given to the river, undoubtedly, from the discovery therein by the Indians of the tusk of a mammoth, as indicated by the following incident related by Captain McDowell, formerly a pioneer of Corning. He says that while a captive with the Indians he saw pieces of a large tusk which his captors said their fathers had found in the river, and on account of which they had given the name "Chemung"—big horn—to the stream.

In volume iv, page 42 of the "American Museum," published in Philadelphia, 1788, by Matthew Carey, appears the "description of a horn, or bone, lately found in the river Chemung, or Tyoga, a western branch of the Susquehanna, about twelve miles above Tyoga Point." It was 6 feet 9 inches long, 21 inches in circumference at the larger, and 15 at the smaller end; a cavity of 2½ inches in diameter and 6 inches depth occupied the larger end, the remainder of the tusk being solid. It was smooth, and, where not discolored by exposure, of a clear white. It was round, or surely so; was not palmated, and was incurvated like the arc of an extended circle. Two or three feet from each end of the tusk seemed to have perished, or been broken off; the entire length presumed to have been ten or twelve feet.

The tusk was, at the time of publication, in the possession of Hon. Timothy Edwards, of Stockbridge, Mass., and must have been forwarded to him prior to, or very early in 1788. This is probably the tusk that Judge Caleb Baker, in another published account, within a few years past has been credited with exhuming in the Chemung soon after his arrival in the country.

In 1872 two huge teeth, the molars of some prehistoric monster that ranged these valleys, were exhumed from the bank by the freshets and found by some parties on the farm of H. S. Beidelman; one of them, now in the possession of Mr. B. weighs nine pounds. Still lower down the valley bones of the huge jaws of the mammoth have been found, the portions found being about a foot in length, six inches wide, and two inches thick. That the mammoth and mastodon ranged over the country in the reptilian age and later there is positive proof in numerous museums, where their restored skeletons show what gigantic forms Nature produced in her earlier workmanship; and the valley of the Chemung seems to have been the haunt of one of these monsters, and by his death therein to have unwittingly given a name for future generations to remember him by.

TIOGA OR CHEMUNG.

The old settlers of Chemung Valley cherished strong predilections for the name of Tioga, and on the division of the old county of that name were earnest and persistent in their efforts to retain the old name, basing their claims on the fact that the Tioga, as the river had been for years called, was the principal stream of the county, while not a foot of it watered the newly-limited county of Tioga. The name was endeared to them by a thousand fond recollections, and to give it up and transfer it to a locality removed from the scenes and the stream that had given it birth seemed a sacrilege. The Susquehanna, a noble stream, still traversed the old county, and the people of Chemung thought the name of that river should be given to the new county of Tioga. But to no purpose were the remonstrances; the old name was retained by the eastern portion, and Chemung was given to the western jury district, and the old pioneers passing away soon removed all memory of bitterness, and the name of Chemung is as fondly cherished now as was that of Tioga. They are both relics of a vanished people who were once lords of all this country, and are of the few monuments that remain to tell of their once princely heritage.

In 1854, Chemung suffered her first and only diminution of territory in the erection of Schuyler County, which took the towns of Catharine, Cayuta, Montour, and Dix from Chemung. By the act of erection of Chemung County the county-seat of justice was fixed at Elmira, and the courts and Board of Supervisors authorized and directed to hold their sessions at the court-house in Elmira, and the Boards of Supervisors of the two counties of Tioga and Chemung to mutually arrange their joint matters and divide their joint effects.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNS.

Chemung,* 1788, as part of Montgomery County; Elmira, as Newtown, 1792, from Chemung, name changed 1808; Erin, from Chemung, March, 1822; Southport, from Elmira, April 16, 1822; Big Flats from Elmira, April 16, 1822; Catlin, from Catharine, April 16, 1823; Veteran, from Catharine, April 16, 1823; Horseheads, from Elmira, 1854; Van Etten, from Cayuta; Elmira City, from Elmira and Southport, April 7, 1865; Ashland, from Elmira and Chemung, April 25, 1867; Baldwin, from Chemung, April 7, 1856.

*See Chapter IX. (Civil History of Tioga County.)

THE COURTS.

The first court held in the new county of Chemung was a term of the Circuit and Oyer and Terminer, which was begun May 16, 1836, Hon. Robert Monell, Circuit Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, presiding, with Hon. Joseph L. Darling, First Judge of Chemung County, and Joseph Westlake and Guy Hulett, Judges, as associates. The seal of the Clerk of Common Pleas was adopted as the seal of the Circuit Court. There were thirteen jury trials at this term, three of them for slander, damages being awarded for $1251, to repair the characters of the plaintiffs. The total awards of the term amounted to $3280.58 damages, besides costs.

In the Oyer and Terminer a grand jury of twenty members, with Elijah Sexton, as foreman, was impaneled, and one trial by jury was had, resulting in the acquittal of the defendant on a charge of forgery; and another trial, on an indictment for breaking jail, was brought to an abrupt termination by the withdrawal of a juror, which two proceedings constituted the entire business of the term.

The new constitution of 1846 reorganized the judiciary, since which time the Circuit Courts have been held by the Supreme Court Justices of the judicial district, and the Oyer and Terminer by the same justices, with the County Judge and Justices of Sessions. A special term of the Supreme Court was held in Elmira, Oct. 12, 1847, Hon. Hiram Gray, Justice, for equity business. A general term was held in May, 1849, by Justices Gray and Mason.

The Chemung Common Pleas held its first term in Elmira, July 12, 1836, Hon. Joseph L. Darling, First Judge, presiding, with Joseph Westlake, James Hughson, Guy Hulett, and Simeon L. Rood, Judges as associates. The rules of the Tioga Common Pleas were adopted as the rules for the practice and pleadings of this court. Walter W. Kellogg, an attorney of the Supreme Court, was admitted to practice in this court, as were also all of the attorneys of the Tioga Common Pleas, and their names ordered to be entered on the roll of attorneys of Chemung County.

There were four jury trials, and orders were entered in twelve other cases, judgments to the amount of $276 being entered up. The court was abolished by the constitution in 1846.

The first term of the General Session of the Peace was held at the same time and by the same judges.

The first grand jury was composed of the following citizens: Caleb Baker, Foreman; Martin Lowman, Constable in attendance; Wm. F. Hull, David Edwards, James Mooers, Elisha H. Thomas, W. W. Mitchell, Henry C. Wells, James F. Jones, Anthony Collson. Samuel Vanderhoff was fined $10 for default as a grand juror.

There were indictments found as follows: one for an assault with intent to rape, defendant convicted, and given 60 days in county jail; another for selling liquor without license,--plea, guilty, $20 fine; same party fined $10 for keeping disorderly house; another for assault and battery,--defendant fined $30; another for misdemeanor, and another for receiving stolen property,--verdict, not guilty; three for riot and assault and battery,--guilty, and fined $15 each.

The General Sessions is held at present by Hon. Thomas S. Spalding, County Judge, Chas. C. Evans, Esq., Jno. W. Dilmore, Esq., Justice Sessions; A. Robertson, Esq., District Attorney; Edmund O. Beers, Sheriff; A. C. Eustace, County Clerk.

The County Court of Chemung County was created by the constitution of 1846, and the first term of this tribunal was held by Hon. John A. Wisner, County Judge, beginning on the 25^th day of October, 1847.

The County Court is at present constituted as follows: Hon. Thomas S. Spaulding, County Judge; Edmund O. Beers, Sheriff; Alexander C. Eustace, County Clerk; Michael Quigley, Deputy Clerk.

The first proceedings had before the Surrogate of Chemung County was on June 3, 1836, Lyman Covell being the officer. The will of John Smith, deceased, was presented for probate, and Phineas Heline, one of the executors named in the will made proof of the death of the testator, which occurred May 12, 1836. A citation was issued, returnable July 19, when the will was duly proven and admitted to record, and letters testamentary were granted. On June 13, however, the first letters of administration were granted, the same belong to Albert A. Beckwith on the estate of Richard Beckwith, deceased. John Warren, Jr., was also appointed special guardian for the minor children of the deceased.

The duties of Surrogate are now discharged by the County Judge, and have been since the adoption of the constitution of 1846.

CAPITAL CAUSES.

There have been but two executions in Chemung County, though several indictments for murder have been tried, resulting in convictions of manslaughter and confinement in the State prison for life, and lesser terms.

The first execution was that of Henry Gardner, for the murder of Amasa Mullock. The facts of the case, briefly summarized, were as follows: The dead body of a man was found March 19, 1863, by some soldiers who were rambling in a wood about a mile and a half from the city of Elmira, terribly mangled about the head, and the body otherwise bearing evidence of violent treatment. It was identified as that of Amasa Mullock, an old man well known about Elmira, and who had some three hundred or four hundred dollars and a watch on his person when he disappeared. Suspicion settled on Gardner, a soldier of the 12^th Regiment U. S. Inf., a native of Ohio, and about twenty-four years of age, who was last seen with the murdered man. He was examined before the Recorder of Elmira, indicted, tried, and convicted, and sentenced to be hanged June 1, 1866. The trial disclosed that Gardner killed Mullock, Dec. 29, 1864, by beating him with a musket. He was indicted at the September Oyer and Terminer, 1865. His counsel were Hon. H. Boardman Smith and A. Robertson, who most ably defended him; District Attorney H. F. Babcock and John Murdoch prosecuting. The evidence was overwhelming of the guilt of Gardner, against which the most ingenious devices known to the criminal practice availed not to shield him from the just expiation of his crime. Two indictments were found, and the case went to the general term of the Supreme Court on a plea of jurisdiction, which was held to be had by that tribunal. At the April Oyer and Terminer, 1861, one of the indictments was nol pros’d, and the plea of jurisdiction to the other overruled, as was also a plea in bar, founded on being once in jeopardy on matters charged in the indictment. The prisoner then refusing to plead further, the court ordered a plea of "not guilty" to be entered, and the second trial was had, resulting again in conviction and a second sentence. At the April term seventy-six jurors besides the regular panel were summoned before a jury was impaneled. Twenty-three witnesses for the people and thirteen for the defense were sworn. After the trial one of the jurors was charged with prejudice before his acceptance on the panel, and an application based thereon for a new trial; but the fact being ascertained that the implicated juror, so far from being prejudiced, was, on the contrary, the only one of the panel who voted on the first ballot against hanging, the motion was withdrawn by Mr. Smith, who generously and eloquently vindicated the juror before the court, and handsomely apologized for making the charge. Judge Balcom presided at the trial, and sentenced the prisoner. The Supreme Court refused a new trial, and March 1, 1867, he was executed in the jail-yard, the scaffold occupying the ground now being occupied by the southwest corner-stone of the jail.

The second and last execution up to the present time was that of Peter H. Penwell, who was hanged July 20, 1877, within a very few feet of the same spot whereon Gardner suffered the extreme penalty of the law before him. He was convicted of the murder of his wife, and the community was divided on the question of his punishment, though unanimous as to the killing. An Albany paper characterized his execution as a "judicial murder," and thus summarized the case: Penwell was an old man, half imbecile, whose father died in a mad-house. He married the woman he killed in Toledo, in December, 1871, when he was sixty years old, and with whom he had had an acquaintance of but one or two weeks. He became jealous of a magnetic quack, whose attentions to his wife was distasteful to the old man, and which led first to separation and finally to murder. Penwell said he and his wife at a certain interview at her relatives’ in Chemung County, whither she had come on their separation, agreed to take poison and so end their troubles. He purchased the arsenic, but gave her too large a dose and himself one too small, which resulted in putting her on a sick-bed and made him crazy. On the afternoon of March 10 he borrowed a razor under the pretense of shaving himself, and then proceeded to the room of his wife and with an old axe chopped her to death, and cut his own throat with a razor, but not seriously. On his arrest, he at first admitted the murder, and then subsequently denied all knowledge of it.

The city papers gave a resume of the case substantially as above. On the trial the prisoner’s own testimony went far to convict him. Application was made to the Governor to commute the sentence of death to imprisonment for life, but without avail, and he was executed as before stated, Judge Murray, of the Supreme Court, presided and sentenced the prisoner, who was defended by S. B. Tomlinson, Esq., counsel assigned by the court, S. S. Taylor, district attorney, prosecuting. The preparations for the execution, under the management of Sheriff E. O. Beers, were faultless in the consummation, the unfortunate man dying almost instantly. He was executed in the presence of officials of Chemung, and several adjoining counties of New York and Pennsylvania, and a large representation of the press.

THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.

The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Chemung County was held April 2, 1836, at the house of H. Miller, in Spencer, Tioga Co., the following members being present: Samuel Minier, of Big Flats; Timothy Wheat, of Catlin; Jacob Swartwood, of Cayuta; John G. Henry, of Catharine; Green Bennett, of Dix; John W. Wisner, of Elmira; Albert A. Beckwith, of Southport; and Asahel Hulett, of Veteran. The towns of Chemung and Erin were not represented at this first meeting. John W. Wisner was chosen Chairman, and Robert C. Hammill, Clerk.

The Board being equally divided on the question, refused to levy a tax, thereby postponing the levy until the annual meeting.

On the 20^th April, the Boards of Tioga and Chemung Counties met in join session, and instructed the superintendents of the poor to keep a separate and distinct account of the pauper expenses of the two counties, and also keep a list of the names of the paupers and of the towns from which they were sent to the poor house, and report the same to the October meeting.

Another joint session of the two Boards was held Oct. 18, 1836, and a further adjustment of joint accounts was made.

On the 21^st October the Chemung Board met, at which Robert Stewart appeared as the supervisor of Erin, and Isaac Shepard as the supervisor of Chemung. This meeting was also held at Spencer. The annual meeting of 1836 was held at Elmira, at the house of E. Jones. John W. Wisner was chosen Chairman again, and Hammill, Clerk. The committee on equalization reported an increase on the assessments of Catharine and Veteran of 10 per cent; Catlin, 20 per cent; Chemung and Elmira, 30 per cent; and Big Flats, 16 per cent; and a deduction of 10 per cent from Dix, 16 per cent from Southport, and Erin and Cayuta to remain as returned. The table of assessment and taxation will be found elsewhere.

In 1849 the application of the Chemung Bridge Company to build a bridge over the Chemung River at Chemung was granted.

In 1861, Colonel Henry C. Hoffman, the supervisor of the Second Ward of the city of Elmira, having enlisted, and being in command of the 23d Regiment New York Volunteers, in Virginia, when the Board was in session, very complimentary resolutions were adopted, setting forth his patriotism and gallant bearing.

In 1865, the question of taxing the national banks came up before the Board, and, after a long discussion, the Board decided to tax them, and did so, the same as other property, on $500,000 of stock. In 1867, the United States Courts having held that local taxation was illegal, the county refunded the taxes of 1864 and 1865.

At the annual meeting, in 1869, the Board accepted the invitation to meet with the Commissioners to locate the State Reformatory at Elmira.

The action of the Board in relation to the location of the State Fair at Elmira in 1872 will be found under the head of the Agricultural Society. At the annual session of 1873 the Board adjourned, and attended the funeral of John Arnot in a body on Nov. 17.

At the annual meeting of 1877 the county treasurer, Jesse L. Cooley, made his annual report, and which, like every report made by him in the eleven years of his incumbency in that office, is a model of concise and explicit information of the receipts and disbursements of the county treasury. By this statement the receipts and disbursements for the year ending Nov. 20, 1877, were as follows:

The total receipts from all sources were $178,877.85,--including $1014 fines paid by the district attorney,--and his disbursements were $177,274.69. Among these disbursements were the following principal amounts: to the Comptroller for the State tax (including school taxes), $38,598.56; county orders, $25,078.74; poor orders, $17,096.56; school moneys to supervisors, $29,487.59; county bonds, $16,000; interest, $5845; public charities other than for the poor-house, $13,094.84; salaries, $4300; Monroe County penitentiary, $2304.04; jury scrip, $10.083.45; rent of armories and pay of armorers, $2319.30; jail, supplies and grading, $2400; sinking funds of Horseheads and Erin, $4006.18; unpaid taxes, $3008.75.

The appropriations for the year 1877-78 were as follows: State tax, $28,295.28; State school tax, $15,591.96; county orders, $23,201.50; county poor orders, $4997.68; jurors, $10,000; county bonds, $23,530.30; interest, $4957.71; deaf, dumb, and blind institutes, $1479.08; salaries, $4800; Monroe County penitentiary, $2000; superintendent of poor at poor-house, $826.70; deficit at poor-house of Griffin’s account, $3574.14; rent of armories and pay of armorers, $2325; gas and water at county buildings, $1100; repairs on county buildings, $920; supplies for jail, $1500; insurance, $100; supervisors’ accounts, $1629.43; contingent fund, $171.22; total appropriations, $132,000.

The Board adopted for a suppression of the tramp nuisances the enforcement of the act on vagrancy,--Chapter XX., part 1, title 21, of the general statutes,--which seems to work very well in abating the nuisance, the old jail being used for the confinement of city offenders. The Chairmen and Clerks of the Board will be found named in the civil list of the county. The Board, as at present constituted, has not organized for the year’s work.

THE COST OF THE REBELLION.

The Board of Supervisors were patriotic in their actions in relation to the filling of the quotas of the county during the struggle for the maintenance of the Union.

The first meeting was held for war purposes Dec. 7 and 8, 1863, when a bounty of $300 for men was offered to fill the quotas of the towns, as follows: Baldwin 11, Big Flat 29, Catlin 20, Chemung 22, Elmira 142, Erin 16, Horseheads 35, Southport 60, Veteran 37, Van Etten 18. This bounty was to be paid by each town, the county guaranteeing the payment of the bonds, which were to be paid in ten annual payments, at seven per cent interest.

At a special session held Feb. 11, 1864, this bounty of $300 was continued for the calls of January previous. In July town bounties were offered of $200 for one year, $300 for two years, and $400 for three years, under the regulations of the resolution of Dec. 18, 1863. In August the towns were authorized to pay $500 bounties, and to make their bonds payable at times most convenient.

At the annual meeting of 1865 very complimentary resolutions were adopted respecting the patriotic conduct of Tracy Beadle, the same expressing the fact that his action in taking the town bonds at par was more effective than anything else in saving the town from a draft. The total amount of bonds issued by the several towns of the county for bounties, and the interest they paid thereon from date of issue to date of maturity and payment, are as follows:
 

In 1867, when Ashland was organized as a separate town, it assumed of the bounty debt of the towns from which it was formed the following amounts: of Southport, bonds $7713, interest $2015; Chemung, bonds $651, interest $167; Elmira, bonds $280, interest $71; total, $10,897.

ASSESSMENT AND TAXATION.

The first assessment and tax-list of the county was that of 1836, and it was as follows:
 

The assessment and tax-list of 1877 was as follows:
 

The assessment of such property in 1877 was as follows:
 

*The final assessment of the Erie was in 1845, $2000. Tax $9.

The total amount of taxes paid into the county and town treasuries, with the exception of the city taxes of Elmira and the local school taxes of districts, has been as follows since 1836:
 

The heaviest tax paid in any single year was that of 1864, when it amounted to $251,059.36. In 1872 the total taxes were $246,273.63.

THE INDEBTEDNESS

of the county and towns as civil corporations now outstanding is as follows: The county,
 

RAILROAD AID.
 

Horseheads has a sinking fund on hand—invested—of $8700, and Erin of $300, to which is added, each year, one per cent of the original issue, to liquidate the indebtedness. Erin has bought up bonds to the amount of $8700, and Horseheads to the amount of $1600. The city of Elmira has
 

RECAPITULATION.
 

THE STATE AS A BROKER.

The loans of the State to citizens of Chemung, under the act of 1792, amounted in 1836 to $2822.12, and under that of 1808 to $2301, being a portion of the amount received in those years by Tioga County. The amount of the United States deposit fund apportioned to Chemung County in 1837 was $42,991.07. these funds were consolidated in 1850, and at the last report of the Commissioners of Loans, made in November, 1877, the amount on loan was $38,961.26.