The shops and trades were represented very much as now though
the old shopkeepers and tradesmen have given place to others to keep
the wheels of business moving. The present Grove
hotel was not what it now is, having been enlarged and improved.
It was kept by J. C. Hodge who about that time took charge
of the Beard Hotel. The Scollard
Hotel, kept by W. R. Scollard, occupied the
site of the school building; Eagle Hotel the site of the Catholic
church, the hotel being superseded by institutions of
learning and religion, which is somewhat offset by the old
Baptist church after a few transitions being
transformed into a hotel with a saloon appendage. The Wands
hotel was hotel kept by John Curtis.
David Collin, sr., lived in the house at Oak Grove, which
grove was the place of resort for picnics, celebrations
and general gatherings; it was the "Central Park" of Fayetteville.
The Academy building, used for the public
school and the Thomson dwelling on Academy street
were all unconscious of the notoriety which lurked within
them as the school and home of a future governor
of the state and president of the United States.
A striking character in our village, who became county surrogate, who
was then and is still the walking encyclopedia of all
matters pertaining to Fayetteville was Samuel Luce,
Esq., who if he would write down as we think he ought
to, all that he knows of Fayetteville,
it would be interesting reading for the generation following.
Of the young men who then were just blooming out
into the business life and who have since then been identified with the
business interests of the village were: Wm. Austin,
Dr. F. G. Tibbitts, P. H. Smith and from about that time DeLancey Bartlett
and Volney H. Nichols.
The Fayetteville bank was in a flourishing condition and ranked among
the first of the smaller banks of the state.
In the general famine of 1857 when nearly all the
banks of the state closed their doors, the Fayetteville
bank stood firm. When the directors
became nervous and proposed that they should close
the doors, Hervey Edwards, who was president
from its organization in 1854 till
his death in 1868, said "Gentlemen, anyone who wishes
to dispose of his stock in the bank can bring it to me
and receive for it its full value, but the doors of the bank will
not be closed," and they were not.
The churches were the same as now, except the Catholic,
with about the same relative proportion of membership, and financial
strength, though a much larger proportion of the
population attended the church than now and the financial strength
was much larger than it is now. The houses of worship were all
frame structures, not particularly imposing but
in keeping with the average churches in those times. It was of the
times not long preceding this that John Leland
referred to when he said "they formerly had homespun
preachers, wooden pulpits and golden sermons: now it is
broadcloth preachers, golden pulpits and wooden sermons. We had at
least wooden churches, instead of the imposing
and attractive houses of worship we now have, and sermons must have improved
by my time and since then judging from all I heard.
During my time the Baptist church was much enlarged and improved, the
present Presbyterian church and afterwards the Episcopal and
Catholic churches were built here was some time
a spirit of rivalry among the churches but much more a spirit
of fraternity, always ready to unite in any effort for the general
good or to be helpful to each other. Rev. L. H. Reid was the
only pastor whose pastorate was commensurate with my own, and our
relations as also with the other pastors,
were most pleasant and
helpful.
But I am expected to speak especially of the Baptist church,
as this is the church of which I was pastor, and which I represent.
My first Sunday in Fayetteville was the third
Sunday in December, 1855. I preached three times and baptized
nine persons, of whom so far as I know only three are living,
Charles Tremain of New York, Dewitt Sprague of Washington,
D. C. who became a lawyer, served with credit in the Civil war,
was U. S. consul abroad many years
and is now connected with the Treasury department in Washington,
and Margaret Whaling, now the wife of a prosperous farmer in
Central City, Neb., who has always maintained an interest
and attachment for this church and people.
When I came here in 1855, the church membership was 234,
when I left in 1860, it was 285. Of
these only 36 are now living, and only 20 members.
During my pastorate 105 united with the church; by baptism
64, of whom only six are now members. I married
35 couples and attended 57 funerals; since then 51, making 108 of
our people at whose funerals I have officiated.
During the fifty years there have been 928 different members
of whom today there is 215, 87 males and 128 females.
The Sunday school of which O. D. Blanchard was the efficient superintendent
at that time reported over 300 members, the largest
in its history. Mrs. Lucy Collin Tremain had charge of
the infant primary class at this time
and for a long time thereafter, and for part of the time the class
enrolled 100 members. Mrs. Tremain was peculiarly
gifted for this kind of work and left her impress for life
on many, who were under her instructions. Her infants are still in
our homes and on our streets, and scattered through many lands, though
they have emerged from infancy into men and women
of from 100 to 200 or more pounds avoirdupois.
The large chorus was under the direction of Prof. Glidden, a
musical director of considerable note, with an orchestra
consisting of a Cabinet organ, bass-viol, flute and
violin, and the music was an inspiring and helpful part of the service.
Rev. Allen Breed, son of the first pastor of the church,
and one of the first of three converts, and the second
pastor, then old and feeble, was often in the pulpit on Sunday mornings,
and would offer a closing prayer of such sweet
simplicity and loving spirit as held the hearts of the people,
and seemed to bring the blessing of the early church upon the descendants
of the later day.
The deacons were Hervey Edwards, William Fillmore, J. Henry Smith and
William L. Knapp; Dea. Knapp was the father of our present Henry
J. Knapp; and J. Henry Smith has served
the office of deacon well for more than fifty years.
The two senior deacons, Edwards
and Fillmore, were sermonic thermometer's such
as no other preacher probably ever had in his congregation to preach to.
One sat to my left and the other to my right, in the cross
pews each side of the pulpit. If the sermon was progressing well
Dea. Edwards' countenance would begin to lighten up with a
new expression and take on a new glow.
As the interest increased his lips began to move as
if repeating the words of the sermon, and
with his ineffable smile he kept his eyes running over the congregation,
as if inviting their attention to what was being said.
Dea. Fillmore would sit upright and stoical in his seat, and as he
became interested he would lean forward, till with first one elbow
on the seat in front and then the other his face between
his hands, his eyes becoming moist and a tear trickling down his cheek,
told that the service was reaching its highwater mark but when Dea. Edwards
assumed a passive attitude or Dea. Fillmore crouched back into
his seat, it was an indication that the services might as well close.
The office of deacon to Mr. Edwards
was no sinecure. He was considered the friend
of the sick and the needy of the whole village. He made on
these as many visits as pastors usually do, and was everywhere
just as welcome; and his presence was
as acceptable as any pastor as leader of any of
the social meetings of the church. The junior deacons were
fortunate in having worthy footsteps in which to follow, and honored
themselves and honored the church in following the lead of
those who were tried and true. The trustees were, Porter
Tremain, J. Henry Smith, Chas. Meade, O. D. Blanchard,
Jeremiah Decker and O. S. Gillett. The church
treasurers were, N. R. Chapman and Wm. Harmon.
Porter Tremain, sr., was clerk of the church and
represented the town of Manlius in the Board of Supervisors.
The character of the congregation may be judged somewhat by the
positions held then or afterward by those who were at that time member
of the church or congregation.
In addition to Mr. Porter Tremain, Chas. Mead,
Hervey Edwards and Augustus H. Tremain were supervisors, Chas.
Mead, Chas. Tremain and Hiram Eaton were members of the legislature.
Mr. Eaton, though not a member of the church was a regular
attendant, a trustee, and interested in all that pertained to it.
Mr. H. K. Edwards was sheriff of the county. There were four
physicians, Drs. H. C. Avery, Charles S. Hickson, Charles
Baker and James H. Eaton. Dr. Eaton though a regular
physician gave his attention to the drug business
instead of the practice of his profession, and one lawyer was
N. R. Chapman. Dr. Charles Baker, Hiram Eaton, H. J. Knapp
and Jeremiah Decker have served as presidents
of the village and of school teachers and prominent business men not a
few.
Besides these were a respectable host of others old and
young whose names were not emblazoned to the world and who were an
honor to the church and are among those who shall shine as the stars forever.
Among the prominent families of the church at that time who have
had representative members of the church all through these
fifty years to the present were. Hervey Edwards,
W. L. Knapp, O. D. Blanchard, N. R. Chapman, Ambrose Smith,
Joseph Smith, Levi Snell, Joseph Hess, H. K. Edwards, L. P. Noble,
Harry Fillmore, Ira Blanchard, Samuel Clark,
James Boyd, Dr. Charles Baker, Dr. C. S.
Hickson, Edwin Williams, Calvin Worden, Nathan McLyman and Hiram
Fulmer. To these should be added T. B. Robinson, for while Mrs. Robinson
is identified with another church and society, she has represented
her husband in frequent attendance of our services and her continued financial
support.
And of the congregation, John Lowe, Geo. Adcook, A.W. Bessee,
Russel Morgan, Abram Hoag, Charles Andross,
James Nixon, Henry Ecker, Hervey Morse, Bartlett Smith,
Clark Snook and Ambrose Clark. It was these men and women
who left their impress on the past, who have had much to do with making
the present what it is--what we are in the present is having to do
with moulding and fashioning the future, and making it what it is to be.
Times have changed since fifty years ago. More advance has been
made in all that constitutes the world's progress during
the last fifty years than in any other fifty years since the
Christian era began. When I came to Fayetteville the
telegraph was in its embryo and the first Atlantic cable
had not been laid. The first message "What had
God wrought", was sent in 1857, and we had
a celebration of the event, as did towns and cities throughout the
land, and before another message an accident delayed its operation
for another year. But telephones, phonographs,
ex-rays, radium, bicycles and automobiles had not yet leave to be.
There have been more inventions and discoveries
which have astonished the world; the kingdom of
human knowledge has been more enlarged; more problems of human advancement
have been solved; more has been done to start the nations of
the earth on a new career of attainment and progress than in any other
fifty or five hundred years the world has known.
It is more of a privilege, worth more to have lived during
the past fifty years than any other fifty
years in time. Grander opportunities have been and are opening than
in any preceding age.
And here we stand, marching up the
ages toward the world's more perfect day. As Tennyson sung:
"Through the
shadows of the globe we sweep into the younger day,
Better fifty
years of England than a cycle of Cathay.
Not in vain
the distant beacons, forward, forward, let us range!
Let the great
world spin forever down the ringing groves of change."
It is well to keep in mind
and trace the hand of God in human progress, or keep with the
march of years, that we may keep faith and hope alive in the coming kingdom
of God in the world.
Before this is consummated a great and mighty
work must be done, a mighty conflict must be waged,
not merely against flesh and blood, but "against principalities against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness must be dislodged,
and corruption, dishonesty and all evil doing be done away, and the
kingdom of Satan itself be destroyed.
It is a work such as can never be accomplished by
weakness, faint-hearts, by any half-hearted living
or service; but demands the fullest consecration of body, soul and
spirit; all we have and all we are. Though the church
has not made the advance we could wish and for which we could hope,
it has not been losing ground as some would have us believe. It may
have changed front to meet the changed
condition of things, but not therefore has it lost
its power. In its adaptation to the spirit of the times it
has changed its methods and appliances, but its old time spirit remains.
Sentimental and emotional religion, heavenly contemplation, doctrinal
insistence have given place to the
wider diffusion of the spirit of religion as it pulsates
through all the veins and arteries of society and the race,
and finds expression in the great missionary
movements in humanitarian and charitable organizations and
institutions where millions of dollars are being
expended where were only thousands, possibly
hundreds, expended not many years ago, and where formerly
the pulpit was about the only center of influence and power, now
that influence and power is shared by other institutions
and organizations and especially by the press which carries religious
as well as secular knowledge and information to every hamlet
in the land, and not only secular books, but books with the
leaven of the gospel and scattered like the leaves of
autumn, while more bibles are being printed
every year than any other book, and some claim than of
all secular books combined, and their sale is increasing year
by year.
The church or religion is more of a power in the world today
than in any preceding age, and the revivals
under Moody, Torrey, Chapman and a host of others and
the wide spread revivals in many of our large cities, and in many
lands, and especially in Wales where in a few months more than one
hundred thousand have been gathered into the churches, indicate
that the old spirit is not extinct and that we may still expect
Pentecostal showers.
The future is full of promise. The next fifty years
will be richer in grand developments along social, commercial, intellectual
and religious lines than the world has ever seen.
Let us not be indifferent, careless or cowardly
confronted by such times as these, when such opportunities
with such grand possibilities are opening before us,
and surely not ally ourselves with the forces of evil which have
in them no promise of present or future good, and are destined to ultimate
and complete defeat and overthrow.