later the road became and is now operated as a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad system.

THE CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN

This road was built in 1886-7 and enters the county on section 25, in Bremen Township, and taking a northwesterly direction makes its exit at section 19, Richland Township. It maintains four stations in the county-Almoral, Oneida, where it crosses the Davenport & St. Paul, Thorpe and Dundee.

MANCHESTER & ONEIDA RAILWAY COMPANY

The Manchester & Oneida Railway Company adopted articles of incorporation on the 12th day of April, 1900. The first provisional board of directors consisted of the following named persons: E. M. Carr, Albert Hollister, B. W. Jewell, A. S. Blair, S. A. Steadman, J. W. Miles, W. A. Abbott, W. D. Hogan, Joseph Hutchinson, W. L. Drew, Charles J. Seeds, W. N. Wolcott, Charles A. Peterson, E. H. Hoyt and William Hockaday.

This board of directors elected the following named officers: President, E. M. Carr; vice president, S. A. Steadman; secretary, B. W. Jewell; assistant secretary, W. A. Abbott; treasurer, Charles J. Seeds; auditor, Joseph Hutchinson.

The object of the corporation was to build and operate a railway from the City of Manchester to the Town of Oneida, and in that way give the City of Manchester shipping facilities over the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railways.

Four-fifths of the electors of Manchester petitioned the city council to order an election for the purpose of voting a 5 per cent tax on the assessed value of the property of the city, to aid in the construction of the Manchester & Oneida Railway. At the election held in pursuance of said notice, on the 7th of May, 1900, the tax carried by an overwhelming majority. There were 1,118 ballots cast at the election. Five hundred and ninety-four men voted in favor of the tax; and 70 against; 423 women voted in favor of the tax; and 31 against. This vote showed conclusively that Manchester had commenced to stand up for better shipping facilities and that the powers that had held her down for so many years would have to either bend or break. Before the expiration of thirty days after the voting of the tax, an engineer corps was at work locating the line, and upwards of fourteen thousand dollars worth of stock had been subscribed for.

The offers of all foreign promoters, brokers and contractors for the construction of the road were declined and a Manchester corporation, called the Manchester Construction Company, composed of the following named men, was organized: Joseph Hutchinson, M. F. LeRoy, A. A. Morse, E. M. Carr, Albert Hollister, William Hockaday, H. C. Haeberle, E. H. Hoyt, J. J. Hoag and W. N. Wolcott.

These ten men signed a written agreement that they would each take an equal part of the company's $25,000 capital stock. There were several more whose names did not appear as incorporators, who became interested in the

company. The ten men signing the agreement constituted the company's provisional board of directors, and they elected the following as officers of the construction company, which commenced to transact business on the 1st day of September, 1900: President, Joseph Hutchinson; vice president, William Hockaday; secretary, H. C. Haeberle; treasurer, M. F. LeRoy; auditor, E. H. Hoyt.

The railway company forthwith contracted with this construction company, and the grading contracts were all let before the first of the following October. Morse & Son, of Manchester, took the contract for grading the four miles nearest the city, and other contractors commenced work on the remaining portion of the line. An endeavor was made to complete the grading before the end of the year, but unfavorable weather caused delays which retarded the work, and some of the grading had to be carried over until the following spring.

At the first annual meeting of the stockholders of the road, which was held at the council rooms in Manchester, on Tuesday evening, April 2, 1901, the following board of directors, consisting of fifteen members-five to serve one year, five to serve two years, and five to serve three years-was elected: A Hollister, M. F. LeRoy, A. A. Morse, C. A. Peterson and B. W. Jewell were elected directors to serve one year; E. M. Carr, J. W. Miles, C. J. Seeds, E. H. Hoyt and W. N. Wolcott were elected directors to serve for two years; and A. S. Blair, W. L. Drew, W. A. Abbott, William Hockaday and Joseph Hutchinson were elected directors to serve for three years. One thousand one hundred and twenty-three shares of stock were represented at this meeting. The newly elected board of directors elected officers for the ensuing year, as follows: President, E. M. Carr; vice president, A. Hollister; secretary, B. W. Jewell; assistant secretary, W. A. Abbott; treasurer, C. J. Seeds; auditor, Joseph Hutchinson; chairman executive committee, A. S. Blair. J. C. Scott, of Galena, Illinios, was employed as chief engineer, and it was decided to vigorously prosecute the construction work as soon as the weather would permit, and endeavor to have the line in operation by the following Fourth of July. Had it not been for a delay in procuring some of the steel rails, trains would have been running into Manchester on the Fourth. The failure, however, did not prevent the formal dedication of the road at the Fourth of July celebration held in Manchester that year. Nearly all of the officers of the road made short speeches at the dedicatory services. The late Col. D. E. Lyon, of Dubuque, delivered the principal oration of the occasion.

During the second week of August, 1901, regular trains commenced running on the Manchester & Oneida Railway, which for all practical purposes brought the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroads to within one block of the center of the City of Manchester. They also brought the Wells Fargo Express Company to Manchester, and a few months later, the Postal Telegraph Company.

It is now about fourteen years since the company engaged in the construction and operation of its line of railway, and, during that long period of time, the company has not had a single personal injury claim to adjust. The officers of the company do not refer to this marvelous exemption from accident

in a boastful manner. They feel that good management and constant vigilance could not, unaided by a greater power, have secured such immunity.

While a number of changes have taken place in the company's board of directors, caused mostly by deaths and removals from Manchester, the affairs of the corporation are now, and have been at all times, largely managed by men who were potential in the formation of the company and the building of the road.

The present board of directors consists of the following named members: Joseph Hutchinson, E. M. Carr, C. J. Seeds, E. H. Hoyt, A. S. Blair, A. R. LeRoy, Hubert Carr, W. H. Hutchinson, George W. Dunham, Lafe Matthews, William Hockaday, J. S. Jones, R. W. Tirrill, A. D. Long and A. A. Morse. The general managing board consists of E. M. Carr, chairman; A. R. LeRoy, secretary; and Joseph Hutchinson, C. J. Seeds and E. H. Hoyt.

The present officers of the company are: Joseph Hutchinson, president; E. H. Hoyt, vice president; L. Matthews, secretary; A. R. LeRoy, treasurer; Charles J. Seeds, auditor; A. S. Blair, general counsel; Hubert Carr, passenger agent; William Hutchinson, freight agent; J. S. Jones, superintendent of maintenance of way, and W. F. Grossman, traffic manager.

The Manchester & Oneida Railway was built to promote the welfare and happiness of the people of Delaware County and their business neighbors, and to aid in the upbuilding of the City of Manchester. That was the hope of the men who built the road. And that hope, that invisible guide, seems to have done more for the road and made it a greater success than its promoters anticipated.

CHAPTER XIV

EARLY SETTLERS SOCIETY

A large body of early settlers of Delaware County assembled in the city hall at Manchester, upon a stated call for the purpose, and organized the Society of Early Settlers of Delaware County after first having placed E. O. Clemens in the chair and selected E. Healey as secretary of the meeting. After the objects of the assemblage had been stated by B. H. Keller, a constitution was adopted and the following officers elected: President, Joel Bailey; vice presidents, J. S. Barry, of Prairie; B. H. Keller, Delaware; John Magirl, Adams; L. McNamee, Colony; John Lillibridge, Milo; Aaron Sullivan, Coffin's Grove; A. A. Strong, Honey Creek; H. D. Wood, Richland; A. Parliman, Elk; John W. Penn, Delhi; James Le Gassick, Bremen; William Nicholson, North Fork; Leroy Jackson, South Fork; C. L. Flint, Hazel Green; S. B. Whittaker, Union; H. C. Merry, Oneida, who was selected as the secretary; L. L. Ayers, recording secretary and treasurer.

This organization was effected January 17, 1877, and before adjournment the voice of the society was declared by vote in favor of according honorary membership to the wives of all pioneers.

A partial list of the names of members of this society is given below:

Joel Bailey, born in New York, came to Delaware County March, 1838; Henry Baker, New York, June, 1841; John Lillibridge, Mrs. J. Lillibridge, New York, October, 1843; Aaron Sullivan, Ohio, November, 1844; C. G. Reynolds, Pennsylvania, 1844; Mrs. S. E. Tilton, Pennsylvania, 1845; E. D. Olmstead, New York, 1847; Joseph S. Belknap, Vermont, May, 1848; H. D. Wood, Kentucky, November, 1848; E. Tilton, Pennsylvania, 1850; G. R. Buckley, New York, 1850; D. S. Potter, New York, May, 1850; Henry Acers, New York, March, 1850: S. Knickerbocker, New York, 1851; James Lewiston, Ireland, June, 1852; E. J. Skinner, New York, 1852; J. C. Skinner, New York, 1852; N. Andrews, New York, 1852; T. Crosby, Massachusetts, 1852; J. W. Robbins, Massachusetts, 1852; Allen Love, Scotland, September, 1852; W. Potter, Iowa, November 18, 1852; Mrs. T. Crosby, Massachusetts, 1852; Mrs. E. A. Strong, New York, 1853; Mrs. W. B. Smith, New York, 1853; W. B. Smith, Canada, spring of 1853; A. Swindle, Ireland, April, 1853; James McLaughlin, Ireland, 1853; A. A. Strong, Ohio, 1853; Rufus Dickinson, New York, May, 1853; Chauncey M. Mead, Indiana, May, 1853; J. F. Gillespie, Michigan, fall of 1853; W. J. Doolittle, New York, October, 1853; H. L. Ryan, New York, July, 1854; H. Munson, New York, 1854; S. P. Moshier, New York, 1854; M. Eldridge, June, 1854; William Ryan, New York, 1854; S. J. Edmonds, winter of 1854; Mrs. A. Kirkpatrick, May, 1854; William Cattron, May, 1854; B. M. Amsden, New York, spring of 1854; Justin Healy, Vermont, 1854; H. P. Duffy, Ohio, spring of 1854; E. Healy, Canada East, May, 1854; J. B. Robertson, Prince

Vol. 12