Sexton, J: Letters of Uncle Jonas Lawrence

Excerpt from Letters of Uncle Jonas Lawrence: Upon a Partial Early History of Southern, Central, Western New York, and Northern and Northwestern Pennsylvania

After you left Elmira, Uncle Jonas, your old friend, E. Jones, kept the hotel for several years, entertaining some of the most dis tinguished lawyers and jurists in the state, as well as many others less distinguished. He was succeeded by Silas Haight and Mathew mcr. Sly, who enlarged the building and made many improvements. After a few months this hotel was destroyed by fire and upon the same site this building was erected by a stock company, consisting of such gentlemen as the late William Maxwell, Samuel Gr. Hath away, J r., Silas Haight, William T. Reeder and others, and Silas. Haight and William T. Reeder installed as landlords. You must recollect Silas Haight, Uncle Jonas Oh, yes, Harry, I recollect him as a merchant, hotel-keeper, superintendent of the Chemung canal, an energetic business man. Mr. Reeder, Uncle Jonas, was a son of one of your old Big Flats friends, the late William H. Reeder. He was for many years constable and collector in the town of Big Flats, canal collector at Horseheads, deputy sheriff and sheriff of Chemung county. Messrs. Haight and Reeder purchaseth a majority of the stock and controlled the house'for several years, Since the above was written the. Venerable citizen has died.making'it one of the most popular hotels in the southern tier. They finally sold out their interests to C01. Samuel G. Hathaway, jr., and it was for some time known as the Hathaway house and con sidered as the headquarters of the democracy of the city and county. The Hon. John G. Mcdowell, presented the ship of state you see suspended in the vestibule, to the house, and where it has since remained. The Advertiser association is the outgrowth of the Advertiser founded by the late Charles G. Fairman, in the year 1853. It has increased in strength and usefulness, merging into a strong financial stock association, known as the Advertiser associa tion in the year 1870, which now owns the entire building. At some future time Uncle Jonas, I will give more extended history of the Advertiser.

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