A Biographical Sketch of the
HON. JAMES GEDDES
From Onondaga; or Reminiscences of Earlier and Later Times, Vol. 2, by Joshua V. H. Clark, A.M., Stoddard and Babcock, Syracuse, N.Y., 1849, pp. 45-50
His father was a farmer in very respectable circumstances, and gave his children all the advantages of education that the country then afforded; and every means at the command of the subject of this memoir, was made the most of, in storing his mind with useful knowledge.
While a youth, following the plow, he carried in his pocket a book; and when his team stopped to rest, he perused its contents. In after life he frequently observed, that this reading in the field was of great advantage to him, as he had full time to digest all that he read while holding the plow, and later in life could draw from these stores treasured up in his juvenile years, with pleasure and profit. He studied mathematics under the charge of a Mr. Oliver, who was a thoroughly educated man.
Languages he studied without masters, and he became a belles letter scholar of the first order. In fact few men ever acquire a knowledge of the English language that equalled his.
At an early age he visited the State of Kentucky. It was then necessary
to cross the Alleghany Mountains in large companies for protection against
the Indians; and unburied human bones were seen at various places along
the path they followed.
In Kentucky, slavery had already established itself; and having an
insuperable repugnance to that institution, he determined not to locate
himself where it appeared that this evil was long to exist. From the time
of arriving at his majority until the age of thirty, he employed himself
in teaching school, travelling, and improving his mind.
In the year 1793, the fame of the salt springs induced him to visit the county of Onondaga, (then Herkimer.) So well was he pleased with the prospects this region offered, that he returned home and organized a company for the manufacture of salt; and the next year 1794 came by the way of Seneca Lake, with the necessary kettles, and early in the spring commenced the manufacture of salt at the place now known as the village of Geddes. He lived there four years. In 1798 he moved to lands he had purchased of the State, in the present town of Camillus, where he lived the residue of his life.
In May, 1799, he married Miss Lucy Jerome, daughter of Timothy Jerome, Esq., of the Town of Fabius, who survives him.
Soon after his coming into this country, he was employed by the Surveyor General, as one of his assistants, and he devoted himself to the profession of surveying and engineering, until the age disqualified him from the fatigue of outdoor labors. His maps, plots and field books, deposited in the Surveyor General's Office, showed him to be a man of great accuracy, and his accompanying remarks, the sagacity and penetration of his mind.
It was as an engineer that he became most known to the public, and it was such that he did the State most service.
The project of connecting the waters of Lake Erie with the Hudson River, became an important one. Mr. Weston, a celebrated engineer from England, had examined the Oswego River, and other water courses, with a view to improving their navigation; and among men of enlarged views the scheme became an engrossing topic. Mr. Geddes, at an early period, enlisted in the matter, and commenced with ardor the gathering of facts. In 1804, the Surveyor General said to him, that Gouverneur Morris had mentioned to him the project of "tapping Lake Erie." The Surveyor General considered this "a romantic thing."* but not so the man to whom he communicated the crude, undigested thought. He knew that Mr. Weston had reported the Oswego River, from the falls to Lake Ontario, as "hardly susceptible of improvement, by means of canaling," and if there was a way that the waters of the upper lakes could be led across the country without going down to the level of Ontario, and then rising to the summit again at Rome, that vast results must grow from it, and at once his untiring industry and energy was put in requisition.
Maps were examined, surveyors were enquired of, and every means within his reach resorted to, to ascertain the topography of the country through which, since has been constructed the Erie Canal.
In 1807, Judge Joshua Forman was elected to the Legislature from this county, upon the express understanding that he would try to procure the appropriation of money to make examinations of the country. No man could have been better qualified than was Judge Forman to succeed. A man eloquence, ardent, and peculiarly calculated to make men think as he himself though upon any subject, he did succeed, and as was understood, the Surveyor General, who had the selection of the man to make the surveys, (if he did not himself do it.,) appointed Mr. Geddes. He "entered with enthusiasm upon the task assigned him by the Surveyor General,” and made surveys, not only of the Oneida and Oswego Rivers, and around the Falls of Niagara, but he reported a route, which was, in the language of the Surveyor General, in his letter to Mr. Darley, of February 25th, 1822, “almost precisely in the line, which, after repeated, elaborate and expensive examinations, has been finally adopted.”
To quote further from Mr. De Witt's [sic Darley's] letter, “the favorable light in which the report of this year’s work presented the projected enterprise, after encountering prejudices from different sources, and oppositions made for various reasons, induced the Legislature, in 1810, to organize a board of commissioners, with powers and means to prosecute the business.”
This survey furnished the necessary information to justify prudent men to commit themselves in favor of a canal; and Mr. Clinton, grasping with his powerful intellect at once the vast advantages of the scheme, embarked in it with uncompromising zeal, and by his elevated position in the State, was enabled to render himself assistance as ensured success.
After the war with England was ended, the Canal Commissioners sent to that country to secure its services of Mr. Weston, or some other engineer of reputation, to take charge of and lay out the canals, but they failed entirely, and it became necessary to rely upon their own inexperienced countrymen. In 1816, they appointed five principal engineers, placing Mr. Geddes at the head of the list, who throughout the progress of the work, maintained a high standing as a civil engineer, and whose labors and opinions were most favorably estimated by the Canal Commissioners, as their report. in various instances wi1l show.
In 1822, the State authorities of Ohio applied to Governor Clinton to select a proper person to make the necessary explorations for their canal from the Ohio River to Lake Erie; and he, in the most flattering manner, recommended Mr. Geddes as the most competent man in the service of the State. Mr. Geddes accepted proposals from Ohio, and assumed the responsibility of Chief Engineer of the Ohio Canal. This duty he discharged to the perfect satisfaction of the authorities of the State of Ohio.
In 1827, Mr. Geddes was employed by the general government, (associated with Mr. Roberts,) in the location of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In 1828, he was engaged in locating the Pennsylvania Canals, and in the same year he was appointed by the general government, to examine the country in reference to the connection of the waters of the Tennessee, Altamaha Rivers, in the States of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. This appointment he declined, on account of distance from home, and his advanced age.
In 1809, Mr. Geddes was appointed an associate Justice, and in 1812, a Judge of Onondaga County Common Pleas. In 1818, he was elected a member of the 18th Congress, and in 1821 he was again elected a member of the Legislature of this State. He was elected to Congress by the Federal party, but belonged to that branch of the party who favored the vigorous prosecution of the then existing war, and it is proper to say, that he voted for every appropriation that was made during his term, for carrying on the war with vigor.
The infirmities of age crept upon him apace, and during the last year of his life, his constitution gave way rapidly, and he closed his earthly career at his residence, in the town of Camillus, on the 19th of August, 1888, being a little more than seventy-five years of age. He was the father of seven children, only one of them surviving him—all the rest having died without issue. The Hon. George Geddes, of Fairmount, now a member of the Senate of this State, is the survivor.
Perhaps it is safe to say that no man who has been as much in public service, and who had come in contact with so great and conflicting interests, represented by men so different in capacity and character, ever died, leaving fewer enemies. His reputation for integrity, probably was never questioned, even by those whose opinions differed from his own. To be just in all his ways, was apparently a part of his nature, and the least lack of moral integrity, once detected by him in a man, destroyed his confidence in that man forever. It was his good fortune to live to great age, and enjoy almost uninterrupted good health. All his time was most dilligently improved; and such was the extent of his knowledge, that he was greatest in the estimation of those who saw him most, and who had the best means of observing him critically. Integrity, industry, perserverance and sound judgment, were prominent traits of his character.
Although a self educated man, relying entirely oo his own resources, without the aid of artificial helps, he became eminent in the profession of his adoption, and by his talents and zeal for the public welfare, secured for himself a reputation that might well be envied.
He early stood forth among the hardy and honorable pioneers of our county, as one of the main pillars of its support, and by his acts has largely contributed to its advancement and prosperity.
His name will ever be associated with the noblest works of the age, and his fame will descend with admiration to those who shall succeed.
FOONOTE:
* See Canal Laws, vol. 1, page 39.
Submitted 14 August 1998