Delay in Completion of the Pelham Region's First Telephone Circuit in 1882

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Like so many other American inventions, the telephone changed life in the little Town of Pelham in the 19th Century.  Indeed, United States Patent No. 174,465 for "Telegraphy" was issued to A. G. Bell on March 7, 1876.  Within only a few short years, residents of Pelham began telephone installations throughout the region.

The telegraph, of course, pre-dated the telephone.  It was developed by Samuel Morse during the 1830s and 1840s.  Despite the earlier development of the telegraph, Pelham seems to have remained cut off from the rest of the world regarding electronic communications until June, 1878, when financier William Belden had a telegraph line installed by the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company to an office in his home on Belden's Point, City Island in the Town of Pelham.  The telegraph was manned by a private telegrapher employed by Mr. Belden.  See City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], May 31, 1878, Vol. IX, No. 454, p. 2, col. 5 (reporting that "Mr. Wm. Belden is having the A. & P. Telegraph wire extended as far as his house, and has an operator and an office of his own at his private residence.").  In 1882, the telegraph system was expanded when the Western Union Telegraph Company installed telegraph lines between Williamsbridge and City Island to connect with the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.  See Fri., Nov. 27, 2009:  Telegraph Wires Connected Pelham to the Outside World in 1882.  The same year (1882), a telegraph office began operating in Pelham Manor daily (except Sundays) from 6:00 a.m. until 8:45 p.m. each day.  See Tue., Aug. 11, 2009:  News of Pelham Manor and City Island Published on July 14, 1882.

A Morse Telegraph from 1872-73 of the Type Likely

in Use at About the Time William Belden of City Island

Had a Telegraph Line Extended to His Residence There.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons. NOTE: Click to Enlarge.

I have written on numerous occasions of the histories of telegraph and telephone communications in the Town of Pelham.  See, e.g.:

Tue., Mar. 29, 2005:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham Manor? 

Tue., Aug. 11, 2009:  News of Pelham Manor and City Island Published on July 14, 1882.

Fri., Nov. 27, 2009:  Telegraph Wires Connected Pelham to the Outside World in 1882.

Mon., Dec. 21, 2009:  More on What May Have Been the First Telephone Installed in Pelham. 

Mon., Mar. 24, 2014:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham? When and Where Was it Installed?

Mon., Mar. 02, 2015:  The Telegraph in Pelham: Pre-Telephone Communications with the Outside World.

Tue., May 03, 2016:  More on the Earliest Installations of Telephones in the Town of Pelham.

By 1882, it seems, Pelham and the entire region were clamoring for installation of telephone lines and telephones.  There was talk of the creation of a telephone circuit through installation of telephone poles and wires throughout the City Island, Pelham, New Rochelle, and Larchmont region with a central office ("general office") to be located in New Rochelle.  The concept was to have merchants and residents in the region who wished telephone service to pay "monthly dues" to fund installation of the poles and wires as well as creation of the telephone circuit.  

By late summer of 1882, however, it became clear that the initiative would not proceed that year.  Residents of the lovely summer resort community of Larchmont did not want "ungainly" telephone poles erected along their streets.  Instead, they wanted telephone wires to be laid underground.  Additionally, the entire summer resort was more seasonal than residential.  Because most in Larchmont at the time closed their resort homes for the winter and departed to other locations including New York City until the spring, Larchmont residents did not want to begin paying "monthly dues" until the following spring season when they would return to their vacation homes.

New Rochelle merchants who wanted phone service raised similar concerns.  They noted "now that the season is so far advanced, [they] would rather commence paying the monthly dues for the same in the spring."

Given such concerns, on August 26, 1882 the New Rochelle Pioneer reported that "telephone managers at present are not making arrangements to erect poles about New Rochelle, Larchmont, Pelham and City Island, with a general office at New Rochelle."  It also reported that "From the present outlook the telephone circuit will not be perfected before the winter sets in."

Pelham would have to wait a little longer before its residents could install the latest technology:  the telephone.

1884 Telephone, From a Newspaper

Advertisement Published that Year.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"The telephone managers at present are not making arrangements to erect poles about New Rochelle, Larchmont, Pelham and City Island, with a general office at New Rochelle.  The Larchmont people do not care to have the ungainly poles erected about their streets, and there is a strong possibility that the wires will be laid under ground.  This will delay the work until late in the fall, and by that time Larchmont will be deserted.  We understand that a number of the New Rochelle merchants, now that the season is so far advanced, would rather commence paying the monthly dues for the same in the spring.  From the present outlook the telephone circuit will not be perfected before the winter sets in."

Source:  [Untitled], New Rochelle Pioneer, Aug. 26, 1882, Vol. XXIII, No. 20, p. 3, col. 2.  

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Miss Flora Seaman, 19th Century Telegraph Operator at the Pelhamville Depot

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The first telegraph in the Town of Pelham was installed in early 1878 in the home of millionaire banker, broker, and financier, William Belden, located at Belden's Point on City Island.  See Mon., Mar. 02, 2015:  The Telegraph in Pelham:  Pre-Telephone Communications with the Outside World.

During the late 19th century, a telegrapher was stationed in the old Pelhamville Depot to send and receive, via Morse code, messages.  Despite the deployment of a limited number of telephones in Pelhamville by that time, telegrams remained an important way to communicate.  Indeed, use of the telegraph was so prevalent that Pelham businessmen of those days would send a telegram back to the Pelhamville Depot to be delivered to their families when they were delayed at work in New York City and needed to let the family know they would be late.  

The position of "telegraphist" was a coveted technology job of the late 19th century.  According to one source:

"Telegraphist was one of the very first 'high-technology' professions of the modern era. Many young men and young women left their farms and fishing communities in the late 19th century to take high-paying jobs as professional telegraph operators. In those early days telegraphers were in such demand that operators could move from place to place and job to job to achieve ever-higher salaries, thereby freeing them from subsistence lives on family farms."

Source:  "Telegraphist" in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Sep. 9, 2017).  

Pelhamville's telegraphist during the early 1890s was a young unmarried woman named Flora Seaman.  Despite extensive research efforts, little can be found regarding Flora Seaman.  Today's Historic Pelham article will document what is known in the hope that more can be found.

During at least the early months of 1893, Flora Seaman served as the telegraph operator in the Pelhamville Depot, the old train station that once stood where today's Pelham National Bank Building stands at One Wolfs Lane.  At the time, she was employed, and paid, by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company station agent at the Pelhamville Depot.  His name reportedly was Charles H. Seaman (see below).  

Flora Seaman is referred to as "Miss Flora Seaman" in at least one reference at the time, suggesting that she was unmarried.  Thus, it would seem likely that she was related to Charles H. Seaman, the station agent who paid her.  No records yet have been located, however, reflecting either a Flora Seaman or a Charles H. Seaman residing in Pelham or the surrounding region.  (There is evidence in a number of sources of a man named "Charles T. Seaman" living in Mount Vernon at the time.  This may be the station agent with a mistaken "H" for a middle initial or, of course, an entirely different person.)

Flora was paid by the station agent as follows.  She received a base salary of $35 a month.  In addition she received one half of the receipts for the telegrams she transmitted, received, and delivered.

In early 1893 (or late 1892) a dispute erupted between Flora Seaman and Charles Seaman over what she was owed as her pay.  Flora Seaman brought a lawsuit against Charles Seaman in the Westchester County Court and Court of Sessions.  A jury trial was held in the case on Monday, February 6, 1893 before the Hon. Isaac N. Mills.

According to a rather error-ridden account of the trial, attorney David Swits represented plaintiff Flora Seaman.  He provided evidence that she was employed by the station agent for "a salary of $35 per month and one half of the receipts for telegraph messages."  He also introduced evidence that she had not been paid the amount due her and that the balance due her was $52.00 (about $1,772 in today's dollars).  

The attorney for station agent "Charles H. Seaman" was Henry Ernst.  He offered a general denial of the plaintiff's allegations and pursued a counterclaim against her on behalf of the station agent.  According to Ernst, the station agent agreed to pay Flora Seaman only $30 a month and, thus, had overpaid the telegraphist by $35.  Thus, the counterclaim sought return of the alleged over-payment.  Additionally, Ernst asserted that the station agent also had "allowed [Flora Seaman] for carriage hire" (whatever that meant).  

At the close of evidence, the jury returned a verdict for telegraphist Flora Seaman in the amount of $53.04.  Only a few days later, a local newspaper reported that "Miss Flora Seaman, formerly telegraph operator at this station, will leave for Chicago about March 1st, where she will reside."

Flora's time as a telegraphist at the Pelhamville Depot apparently ended with the advent of her successful lawsuit.  No more yet has been found regarding her.  

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"COURT PROCEEDINGS.
-----

The county court and court of sessions convened on Monday, Judge Isaac N. Mills on the bench. . . .

The following cases were tried: . . . 

Flora Seaman vs. Charles H. Seaman.  -- The plaintiff and defendant reside at Pelhamville in this county and this action was brought to recover $52, for the balance claimed to be due for his [sic] salary as telegraph operator at Pelhamville depot.  The defendant is the station agent for the New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. Co.  The evidence upon the part of the plaintiff was that he [sic] was employed by the defendant as telegraph operator as a salary of $35 per month and one half of the receipts for telegraph messages, and that balance due her was fifty-two dollars.  The defendant put in a general denial and a counter claim.  The evidence upon the part of the defendant was that the plaintiff was to receive $30 per month and that he [sic] was over paid $35, and that he allowed him [sic] for carriage hire.  The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff $53.04.  David Swits for plaintiff, Henry Ernst for defendant."

Source:  COURT PROCEEDINGS . . . Flora Seaman vs. Charles H. Seaman, The Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Feb. 11, 1893, Vol. XLVIII, No. 46, p. 2, col. 3.  

"Pelhamville.
-----

Judge Karbach and Michael Donlon are about to open a real estate office in The Pelham [sic].  A good combination.

Miss Flora Seaman, formerly telegraph operator at this station, will leave for Chicago about March 1st, where she will reside.

William Donlon, of Pelham Manor, is reported to be seriously ill."

Source:  Pelhamville, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Feb. 21, 1893, Vol. I, No. 275, p. 1, col. 5.

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The Telegraph in Pelham: Pre-Telephone Communications with the Outside World

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"What hath God wrought!" were the words tapped out by Samuel F. B. Morse from the United States Supreme Court chambers in Washington, D. C. to his colleague, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore on May 24, 1844.  With those now-famous words, Morse made clear to the world that the telegraph was a viable means of virtually instant communication throughout the nation if not the world.  Within two years, the first commercial telegraph line was completed between New York City and Washington, D. C.  Soon, telegraph lines criss-crossed the entire United States.

The sleepy little Town of Pelham had little need for the new invention.  The area was not yet a business suburb of New York City.  The New York and New Haven Railroad did not reach Pelhamville until a single track was laid through the area in late 1848.  Likewise, the Harlem River branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad did not reach City Island and the Pelham Manor area along the Sound until 1872.  Most residents of the Town were oystermen, seamen, shipbuilders or local merchants on City Island or were farmers and local merchants on the mainland.  Despite a number of grand country estates owned by businessmen, artists, and financiers along the Sound, for the most part Pelham residents were perfectly content having no instantaneous communications with the outside world.

Things seemed to change shortly after the so-called Branch Line came to the area in 1872.  Efforts began to develop an area on the mainland as an exclusive suburban enclave for affluent business commuters who wished to live in a suburb of New York City.  Additionally, the City Island and Pelham Bridge areas of Pelham were becoming a regional tourist destination.

In 1878, millionaire banker, broker, and financier, William Belden, had a residence on City Island in the Town of Pelham.  Belden was one of the most colorful characters of 19th century Wall Street.  He is remembered as one of the three principal financiers, together with Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, who manipulated the price of gold upward until the bubble burst and caused the "Black Friday" stock market crash of September 24, 1869.  Thereafter bad business deals and years of prosecution for his misdeeds forced Belden into bankruptcy in the late 1880s.  In 1878, however, Belden had residences in Manhattan and City Island and continued to dabble in high finance.  According to one account, Belden was responsible for the first telegraph line ever strung to the Town of Pelham when he had the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company extend a private line to his house where he operated an office and had his own telegraph operator to man the line.  See City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], May 31, 1878, Vol. IX, No. 454, p. 2, col. 5 ("Mr. Wm. Belden is having the A. & P. Telegraph wire extended as far as his house, and has an operator and an office of his own at his private residence.").  When Belden had the A&P telegraph line extended to his residence on City Island in 1878, the company was controlled by Belden's fellow financier and acquaintance Jay Gould.  (See below.)

In early May, 1882, the Western Union Telegraph Company seems to have run another telegraph line from Williamsbridge to City Island and connected the line with the more extensive lines of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.  Only a few years before, in 1875, financier Jay Gould had acquired sufficient shares of the company to take control and initiated a rate war with competing telegraph companies including Western Union.  By 1878, Gould sold the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company to Western Union at a profit, thereby enabling Western Union easily to arrange connection of its City Island telegraph line to the lines of its affiliate, Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company in early May, 1882.  See Fri., Nov. 27, 2009:  Telegraph Wires Connected Pelham to the Outside World in 1882.  See also COUNTY MATTERS, New Rochelle Pioneer, May 6, 1882, Vol. XXIII, No. 5, p. 2, col. 3 ("The Western Union Telegraph Company are putting up a wire between Williamsbridge and City Island, to connect with the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.").

A Morse Telegraph from 1872-73 of the Type Likely

in Use at About the Time William Belden of City Island

Had a Telegraph Line Extended to His Residence There.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons.  NOTE:  Click to Enlarge.

It is not certain precisely when the tiny settlement of Pelham Manor was first connected to the local web of telegraph lines.  It certainly seems to have been at about the same time as the extension of the public line to City Island in early May, 1882, about two years before the first telephones were installed in Pelham Manor and on City Island.  A local newspaper reported on July 14, 1882 as follows:

"PELHAM MANOR.

The telegraph office at Pelham Manor will be open hereafter daily (Sundays excepted) from 6 A. M. till 8.45 P. M.

Messrs.  Cochran & Mulvey, the former the telegraph operator, have opened a grocery in the depot building.  The young men have put in a nice stock of selected groceries, and are deserving of liberal patronage. . . ."

Source:  PELHAM MANOR, The Chronicle [Mt. Vernon, NY], Jul. 14, 1882, Vol. XIII, No. 669, p. 2, col. 4. 

Thus, it would appear, by July, 1882, Pelham Manor had a telegraph office that likely was in the Pelham Manor Depot and was operated by one of the two men who operated a grocery in the same depot building.  

At the time these telegraph lines were run in 1878 and 1882, telephones were not yet available within the Town of Pelham.  Only a few years later (by mid-1884), however, telephones were beginning to be installed in the town.   See:

Mon., Mar. 24, 2014:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham? When and Where Was it Installed?

Tue., Mar. 29, 2005:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham Manor?

Mon., Dec. 21, 2009:  More on What May Have Been the First Telephone Installed in Pelham.

Soon, with widespread installation of telephones, the days of the telegraph and its utility within the Town of Pelham were numbered.

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The Earliest Telephone in Pelham? When and Where Was it Installed?

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United States Patent No. 174,465 for "Telegraphy" was issued to A. G. Bell on March 7, 1876. For many years, however, the American population seemed largely unaware of the possibilities of the new-fangled telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell who was forced to lecture about his invention for pay as he fought -- and eventually won -- an expensive legal battle against inventor Elisha Gray. Gray claimed that he had invented the telephone and, indeed, lost the race to the patent office for his own invention by a matter of hours.

Residents of the Town of Pelham seemed to recognize the importance and value of the new invention very early.  In fact, I have tried, many times, to establish when the first telephone was installed in the Town of Pelham.  I have written on this topic twice.  Each time I have focused on what seems to have been the earliest telephone installed in Pelham Manor.  See, e.g.:

Tue., Mar. 29, 2005:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham Manor?

Mon., Dec. 21, 2009:  More on What May Have Been the First Telephone Installed in Pelham.

Had I thought more critically, however, I would have focused on the broader area of the Town of Pelham during the late 1870's and early 1880's.  That area, of course, included City Island, Bartow Station, and the area along what we know today as "Shore Road."  

Interestingly, by analyzing whatever I could find on the subject, it turns out that there seems to have been a wave of telephone installations during the summer of 1884.  Indeed, in the Town of Pelham in 1884, it suddenly became fashionable (actually, a "fashion" as described in the press) to install the latest technology that we now know as the "telephone."  Members of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club on the mainland of the Town of Pelham decided on June 2, 1884 to install a community telephone inside the Pelham Manor Depot.  That was the Branch Line train station that no longer exists but once stood near the end of the Esplanade).  

Residents of the Town of Pelham who lived on the mainland in the area then known as "Pelham Manor" were known as "mainlanders."  Residents of City Island (then also within the Town of Pelham) were known as "islanders."  There was a constant competition between the mainlanders and the islanders.  

In the early 1880's, the new-fangled telephone was sweeping the nation.   City Island residents (the islanders) were feeling the heat of competition.  A tiny report in a local newspaper clarifies the situation.  It reported:

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

-- Several of the tradesmen of City Island concluded that they may as well be buried alive as be out of the fashion, so they have put in telephones in order to keep pace with the times. . . . "

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, New Rochelle Pioneer Supplement, Vol. XXV, No. ?, Jul. 19, 1884, p. 4, col. 6.  

On the same newspaper page, under "LOCAL INTELLIGENCE," a related report provides a little more precision as to when the first telephone was installed on City Island.  Clearly it was installed between July 13 and July 19, 1884.  The related report states:

"--City Island has been connected with the outside world by the telephone during the week.  Manager Deveau has been quite active the past few days in putting up telephones."

Source:  LOCAL INTELLIGENCE, New Rochelle Pioneer Supplement, Vol. XXV, No. ?, Jul. 19, 1884, p. 4, col. 2. 

A further report narrows the range of dates during which telephones were first installed on City Island to the six-day period from July 13 to July 18, 1884.  The brief reference states:

"City Island is connected with the outside world by telephone.  Among the subscribers are von Liehn, Hawes, Booth, E. Leviness and others."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jul. 18, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 774, p. 3, col. 4.  

1884 Telephone, From a Newspaper Advertisement Published that Year.

It seems that the mainlanders may have won the competition to install the first telephone.  Although the issue cannot be determined with certainty, it appears that the community telephone installed in the Pelham Manor Depot may have been in place shortly before City Island tradesmen "put in telephones in order to keep pace with the times."  

First, as noted in my Historic Pelham Blog posting nearly ten years ago on March 29, 2005 entitled "The Earliest Telephone in Pelham Manor?", on June 2, 1884 the members of the Pelham Manor Protective Club authorized the Westchester Telephone Company to install a telephone in the Pelham Manor Depot on the Branch Line near the end of today's Esplanade.  On July 9, 1884, the Club authorized payment of the first bill from the telephone company in the amount of $20.20.  Although the bill likely was for use of the telephone, admittedly it is unclear precisely what the bill was for and whether, for example, it was for installation of the telephone at a later date.  

Second, a newspaper reference from the period strongly supports the same conclusion.  It states:

"The Protective Association of Pelham Manor, have connected themselves with the outside world by telephone."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], July 4, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 772, p. 3, col. 5.  

While Pelham Manor may have installed the first telephone in the Town of Pelham, it seems that the honor of installing the first telegraph line and telegraph communication system belongs to City Island.  According to one report, in June 1878, financier William Belden was involved in the installation of a telegraph line to an office in his home manned by a telegrapher:

"Mr. Wm. Belden is having the A. & P. Telegraph wire extended as far as his house, and has an operator and an office of his own at his private residence."

Source:  City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], May 31, 1878, Vol. IX, No. 454, p. 2, col. 5.  

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A transcription of the complete news article from which the excerpt quoted above is taken appears immediately below:

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

--Several of the tradesmen of City Island concluded that they may as well be buried alive as be out of the fashion, so they have put in telephones in order to keep pace with the times.

--The industrial school at Pelham bids fair to be a success, and the boys and girls of that vicinity will have an opportunity to learn something to help themselves during the coming winter.

--Thieves stole a horse and buggy from the stable of Dr. Burnett, at Mount Vernon physician, at half past 10 o'clock Monday night and the thieves were known to have made for New York with their plunder.  The rig was recognized by officer Conroy, proceeding down Third avenue, New York, and after repeatedly calling the driver to stop, he shot one of them in the back which had the desired effect.  The bullet did no other damage than raising a big lump, and the prisoners were locked up on a charge of theft."  

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, New Rochelle Pioneer Supplement, Vol. XXV, No. ?, Jul. 19, 1884, p. 4, col. 6.  

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Telegraph Wires Connected Pelham to the Outside World in 1882

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A very brief reference contained in the May 6, 1882 issue of The Pioneer published in New Rochelle, New York, reflects the date that City Island in Pelham was first connected to the communications grid of telegraph wires that were beginning to cross the country.  The reference is quoted below, followed by a citation to its source:

"COUNTY MATTERS . . . The Western Union Telegraph Company are putting up a wire between Williamsbridge and City Island, to connect with the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company."

Source:  County Matters, The Pioneer [New Rochelle, NY], May 6, 1882, p. ?, col. 3 (no page number reflected on newspaper page).

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