History of Oswego, (Oswego County) New York United States of America

OSWEGO, a county in the N. N. E. part of New York, has an area of about 960 square miles. It is bounded on the N.W. by Lake Ontario, and in part on the S. by Oneida lake and river, and is drained by the Cawego and Salmon rivers, and other smaller streams which furnish abundant water-power. The surface in the southern portion is slightly undulating; in the N.E. more elevated and adapted to grazing. The soil is generally fertile. Indian corn, potatoes, and grass are the staples. In 1850 this county produced 396,605 bushels of corn; 320,166 of potatoes; 60,930 tons of hay; 2,031,574 pounds of butter, and 1,340,545 of cheese. Then were 45 flour and grist mills, 1 cotton factory, 5 woollen factories, 259 saw mills, 6 iron foundries, and 27 tanneries. It contained 64 churches,. 8 newspaper offices, 14,710 pupils attending public schools, and 1078 attending academies or other schools. This county contains iron ore and sandstone, and some very valuable salt springs are situated in it. Its lake coast of upwards of 35 miles affords great facilities for navigation. It is traversed by the Oswego canal, by the Syracuse and Oswego railroad, and by the Rome and Watertown railroad. Organized in 1816. Seats of justice, Oswego and Pulaski. Population, 62,198.

Biographies:

Frank Gaylord Hubbard, educator, was born in Oswego, N.Y., Jan. 15, 1859; son of Joseph Bardwell and Chloe (McChesney) Hubburd, and a lineal descendant from George Hubbard, who emigrated from England in 1633 and settled in Guilford, Conn. He attended the Boys' English and Classical school at Oswego, N.Y., 1872-76, and was graduated from Williams college in 1880. He was a graduate student at Johns Hop. kins university, 1884-87, at Berlin in 1886, and at Oxford, 1888-89; was assistant in English at Johns Hopkins in 1887; instructor in English literature at Smith college, Mass., 1887-88, and at the University of California, 1889-92; assistant professor of English literature at the University of Wisconsin, 1892-95, associate professor of English philology, 1895-98, and was elected professor of the English language in 1898. He was elected a member of the Modern Language Association of America in 1886; and of the American Philological association in 1896. He was married, Sept. 13, 1888, to Louise Parke Rowe. The degree of Ph.D. was conferred on him by Johns Hopkins university in 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Cuyler Bunner, author, was born in Oswego, N..Y., Aug. 3, 1855. He was educated at the public schools, removed to New York city, and engaged in journalism as assistant editor of Puck, 1877-80, and as chief editor, 1880-96. He is the author of: A Woman of Honor (1883); Airs From Arcady and Elsewhere (1884); The Midge (1886); The Story of a New York House (1887); Zadoc Pine (1891); The Runaway Browns (1892); Made in France (1893); Short Sixes (1894); Jersey Street and Jersey Lane, and Love in Old Clothes (1896). He died in Nutley, N. J., May 11, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Humphrey Barker Chamberlin, philanthropist, was born in Manchester, England, Feb. 7, 1847; son of Robert and Eliza (Barker) Chamberlin. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1853; was educated in the State normal school, Oswego, N. Y.; entered the telegraph service in 1862, and served in the military telegraph corps, 1863-65. He engaged in the drug business in Oswego, 1866-76; was general secretary of the Y.M.C.A. of Brooklyn, N. Y., 1876-79, and engaged in the real estate business in Denver, Col., in 1879, becoming president of the Denver chamber of commerce in 1889. He gave the Chamberlin observatory costing $60,000 to the University of Denver, and contributed $40,000 to the Trinity M. E. church in Denver. He died at Staines, England, May 17, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Raphael Pumpelly, geologist, was born in Oswego, N.Y., Sept. 8, 1837; son of William and Mary Hollenback (Welles) Pumpelly; grandson of John and Hannah (Bushnell) Pumpelly and of George and Prudence (Talcot) Welles, and of Huguenot descent and Italian origin on his father's side. He attended Owego academy, Russell's institute at New Haven, the polytechnic school in Hanover, and the Royal Mining school at Freiberg, Saxony, and traveled extensively in Europe, studying geology and metallurgy, 1854-60. He had charge of Arizona mines during the Apache war of 1860; made an official exploration of the island of Yesso, 1861-63. and of the coal fields of northern China in 1864 for the Chinese government. He also made unofficial explorations in Corsica, 1854-60; through central, western and northern China and Mongolia, 1863-64, and across the Gobi desert into Siberia in 1865, and was professor of mining in the School of Mining and Practical Geology, Harvard, 1866-73. He was married, Oct. 20, 1869, to Eliza Frances, daughter of Otis and Ann (Pope) Shepard of Dorchester, Mass. He conducted the geological survey of the copper regions of Michigan, 1870-71; the geological survey of Missouri, 1871-74; organized the division of economic geology in the U.S. geological survey in 1879, and was special agent of the tenth U.S. census, 1879-81. He conducted an investigation of the soils from a sanitary standpoint for the national board of health, 1879-80; organized and conducted the Northern Transcontinental survey for collecting topographical and economic information in Dakota, Montana and Washington territories, 1881-84, and was chief of the Arch?an division of the U.S. geological survey, 1884-90, in directing the mapping of western New England. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1872; was American vice-president of the international geological congress at Washington in 1891, and a member of various scientific societies. He contributed to the American Journal of Science, and to the transactions of other scientific societies, and is the author of: Geological Researches in China, Mongolia and Japan (1866); Across America and Asia (1869); Copper Bearing Rocks, part II. of Vol. I. of the "Geological Survey of Michigan" (1873); A Preliminary Report on the Iron Ores and Coal Fields of Missouri with an atlas, for the report of the "Geological Survey of Missouri" (1873); Publications of the Northern Transcontinental Survey (1882 and 1883); The Mining Industries of the United States in Vol. XV. of the "Census Reports" (1886), and Geology of the Green Mountains (1894).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Oswego, (Oswego County) New York

Local History Notes:

Biographies: