USA > New York > Jefferson County > A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 27
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These savages were instigated to maurauding and murderous expeditions by the bounty offered by the British for scalps. They entered the house of Mrs. P., with two of her neighbors already captured and bound, and made enquiry for her husband, who was fortunately absent at the time. After having ate, plundered and rioted as they pleased, they went in quest of Mr. Poor, and with- out her knowledge found him, and on his refusing to become their prisoner, shot him, and took his scalp in their sacks. Mrs. P. fled from her house with her children, and waded the Andros- coggin at as great a depth as she dared, in order to avoid being traced by the Indians, and at night lodged in the forest. Mean- while, her husband had been discovered and taken up, and in the first house she dared approach, she beheld his mutilated and bloody corpse. This was a heart-rending scene; and yet it was met with Christian fortitude. She was soon composed, and sat down to her Bible, which she had not forgotten to take along with her, and opened the 46th Psalm, and when she came to the 10th verse she responded in her heart, "I will be still." She buried her husband, then took her children with her upon a horse and started for her friends. The road was, at best, only a foot- path, winding through a dense forest, over hills and across bridgeless streams. The journey was made as fast as possible by
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day, and through the night she composed herself as well as she could, being compelled to lodge upon the ground with no cover- ing but the dense branches of the woods. There were beasts of prey to seek her life, and none to preserve and defend her but her Maker.
She afterwards married Mr. William Parkinson, with whom she moved to Sharon, in this state. They were indigent in cir- cumstances, and, as usual in new countries, Mrs. P. endured pri- vations, and labored hard to assist her husband in maintaining the family. She earned some money by weaving, and on Satur- day of each week would travel on foot five and eight miles with the articles she had woven, receive her pittance for her work, and return to her family. She afterwards removed to Rutland, where her husband soon died, and where herself finally rests from her labors."
These facts were taken from an extended obituary notice, pub- lished in the New-York Observer, December 10, 1842. The first child born in the town of Rutland, among the families of set- tlers, was in the family of Charles Kelsey. The first school was taught by Miss A. Porter, in 1803. The early incidents of this town do not possess sufficient interest to particularize from those in the country generally.
In the newly settled district embraced in townships 2 and 3, the men were mostly in the prime of life, fond of athletic games, and, at their gatherings, would often indulge in amusements that are now nearly obsolete. Among these, wrestling at "square hold," was esteemed as a sport that afforded the fairest test of personal strength and agility, and a successful wrestler would, in those days, acquire distinction wholly unknown at present. On a certain occasion, about 1803, a bet had been made by a No. 1 man, " that his town (Rutland) could throw every thing in No. 2" (Watertown), and as this challenge was too direct to be evaded, about a hundred men assembled, by appointment, at G. Tuttle's, in the edge of Rutland, to settle the question, the vic- tors, besides the consolation of beating their adversaries, being promised all they could eat and drink. After various prelimina- ries and much discussion, it was agreed that each town should choose a man, and that they would abide by the result of this sin- gle contest. David Coffeen was chosen by No. 3, and Turner by No. 2, but after a long trial neither succeeded, and night put an end to the contest. The parties separated, with the agreement that they should settle the question when they next met, which accidentally happened some days after, and the question of su- premacy was decided in favor of Rutland.
During the war, a company of Silver Grays, consisting of about forty, mostly revolutionary soldiers, whose age exempted
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them from militia service, was organized under Timothy Tamb- lin as captain, and Levi Butterfield as lieutenant. They were at Sackets Harbor for several weeks, and erected near the site of Madison Barracks, a defence, which was named Fort Volunteer.
Judge Ethel Bronson continued in the agency of his brother's estates in this county till his death in 1825, and in September, Major George White, an active and prominent citizen, who had lived in town almost since its first settlement, was appointed, and continued till the lands were sold, and accounts settled with the proprietor. On the 13th of April, 1846, the last of the lands were sold, it being an island near the village of Black River. Most of the settlers enumerated in the previous list, came in and commenced improvements immediately. Dr. Hugh Henderson was the first physician; the first death was the wife of Francis Towne.
The first inn was kept by Levi Butterfield, near the centre of the town, at what is now generally called Rutland Village. The county map of Burr gives the name of this place as Brooksville, from Curtis G. Brooks, an early and prominent settler, but it has never been known by this among the inhabitants.
The first grist mill in town, and in the county, was erected in 1800 by David Coffeen, who had received a gift of ten acres (to be confirmed when the mill was finished) at the present village of Felt's Mills, and on Mill Creek near its mouth. This prim- itive mill was indeed rude and humble, but very useful for the settlements throughout the county. It was got in operation in March 1801, and was resorted to from great distances. The millwright was Samuel Parker, and the first pair of mill stones was made from boulders of gneiss, found in the vicinity. This mill opened a new era in the business of milling, which had been previously accomplished by pounding in stump mortars rudely scooped out.
This was the first improvement in this place, and the next season a saw mill was erected. Coffeen, subsequently sold to Wolcott Hubbel, and the latter to Barnabas Eldridge. The property passed from him to Barnabas La Grange, and in 1813, to John Felt, from whom the place derives its present name.
In 1808, a bridge was built to the Island, and soon after another to the north bank, which was swept off in 1811. In 1821, a dam was built across Black River, and the present stone grist mill was erected the year after. In 1823-4, a saw mill was built on the island, and in 1842 another and larger one lower done, since which time a very extensive business of lum- bering has been carried on at this place, from two to three millions of feet of pine having been sent to market annually. The Pine Plains which are immediately adjacent on the north bank of the
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river furnished for many years the logs for supplying these mills, but this source having been mostly exhausted, they are now principally derived from the forests in the eastern part of Lewis County, being floated down in the spring flood. This business at this place may be said to have nearly ended.
Felt's Mills is a place of considerable business, having besides three saw mills, a grist mill, and a variety of manufacturing establishments with water power, an inn, several stores, a Union Church, and about fifty dwellings. The church belongs to Methodists, Baptists, and Universalists, and was erected in in 1848. This place is by plank road eight miles from Water- town and two from the Great Bend.
By an act of April 1st, 1841, the island at Felt's Mills was taken from Le Ray, and annexed to Rutland. The Felt's Mills Burial Ground Association was formed March 29th, 1852, with Oliver A. Tooker, Henry W. Chapman, Elijah Graves, Samuel Felt, Hugh Roberts, and Joshua Roberts, trustees.
Tylerville (East Rutland P. O.), is situated in a narrow val- ley, on Sandy Creek, and at an early day it acquired some im- portance from its being the seat of a small woolen factory, that was erected by The Rutland Woolen Manufacturing Company, formed September 25th, 1811, with a capital of $25,000, and the following parties as signers of the articles, the first three being trustees. Ethel Bronson, Daniel Eames, Josiah Tyler, Thomas Hill, Abel Doolittle, Eber Ingalsbe, and John Oaks.
The first settlement at this place began in the spring of 1805, by Erastus Lathrop and Nathaniel Frink, from Norway, N. Y., the former of whom erected a grist mill, and the latter a saw mill. Josiah and Frederick Tyler were early settlers, and from them the village derives its name. Joel Webb, Abel Doolittle, and others settled here at an early period. The woolen factory established here was the first in the county. A building for carding and spinning by water, and another for hand looms were built at this place in 1812, and got in operation during the fol- lowing winter. High prices were necessarily paid for wool, which embarrassed their operations, and on the 13th of April, 1814, an act was passed allowing $5,000 to be loaned from the state treasury to Ethel Bronson, in behalf of the company, secu- rity being given. September 19, 1817, the machinery was sold at auction to Daniel Eames for $400, and it has since been used as a cloth dressing works, until within ten years. About eighty per cent of stock was paid in, and most of those concerned lost money in the business. Since the discontinuance of these opera- tions the place has not grown, and it has but about thirty families.
Black River village and post office, locally known as Lock-
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port, is situated two and a half miles below Felt's Mills, on both sides of Black River, in Rutland and Le Ray. Improvements commenced here in 1806, by the erection of a saw mill by Isaac and Harvey Cleveland. The mill being destroyed by the flood of 1807, was rebuilt the same season. There was at this place, in 1818, but one house. About 1815, Andrew Middleton and Christopher Poor erected a mill at some distance below the pres- ent village, where a branch of Black River issues from a subter- ranean passage, and affords a mill privilege. About 1810 there was erected a grist mill, and the place being one that affords an extraordinary amount of water power, has become the centre of considerable business, having at present three saw mills, a grist mill, two butter tub factories, a chair factory, a tannery, two shingle factories, a wagon shop, a machine shop, two inns, &c. There are several very available, but at present unoccupied water privileges on Black River, the whole of which could be repeatedly used below the village. This town deserves honora- ble mention, for the interest that has been manifested in support- ing district schools. In 1836, school district No. 4, erected on a road between the middle and south roads, the elegant school house represented in the accompanying engraving, at a cost of about $1,000. The project was originated and mostly sustained by Moses Eames, Cliff Eames, Gardner Towne, Alexander Warner, Horace im Tyler, and B. F. HOFFMAN Hunt, who were The Model School House .; subsequently joined by H. Hopkins. This district has found it for their interest to employ well qualified teachers, and the school has for several years been under the supervision of Miss C. M. Johnson (a grad- uate of the State Normal School), to whom it owes much of its popularity. The trustees have also taken care to provide appa- ratus, and all those appendages that tend to the promotion of the health, comfort, and mental improvement of scholars. The ex- ample has been followed by several other districts, and has ex- cited an emulation in the highest degree beneficial. The repu- tation of these schools has drawn students from a distance, and the enlightened policy with which they have been conducted is worthy of general imitation.
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Rutland is one of the best dairying towns in the county, if not in the state. It is situated on the summit of the Trenton limestone formation, and although to one entering it from Watertown, it appears elevated, it is less so than the country further east and south, and one cause of its peculiar fitness for grazing, is, doubtless, in the abundance and excellence of its springs of water. From the brow of the hills that overlook the country north and west, to great distances, the most magnifi- cent prospect is presented, the country below being quite level, in one direction bounded by the lake, and in the other it extends off towards St. Lawrence County, until lost in the distance. The traces of ancient works which this town affords, indicate that it was formerly inhabited by the native Indians in considerable numbers, but their cabins had nearly or quite disappeared from this, in common with most other parts of the county, before the present settlements commenced.
There are several deeply interesting geological features in this town, which are due to the latest, and, indeed, almost the last, of the agencies which have modified the earth's surface. Across the northern part of the town, nearly parallel with Black River, and about two miles distant, is Rutland Hollow, a remarkable valley, worn in the limestone, like the valley of a river, but en- tirely destitute of any running stream that could have produced it. Near the middle is a marshy spot, from which the water flows off in both directions, and then appears to be continued across Watertown, Houndsfield, Adams, and Henderson, to the lake, although in some places interrupted, and scarcely perceptible.
Along the edge of the terrace of limestone which underlies the town, and at an elevation of nearly four hundred feet above the lake, is distinctly to be observed the trace of an ancient beach, proving that the lake once washed these bluffs, and covered the low country north and west. Both of these features in geology will be again noticed.
Near the south-west border of this town, are the Burrville Cas- cades, which consist of four separate falls, leaping into one basin, from the elevated table land above. The first two descend a per- pendicular distance of forty-five feet, and the last two a distance of twenty to thirty feet, by a gradual descent, over shelving lime- stone rock. These streams, uniting at this point, form the North Sandy Creek. Standing at the foot of the fall, the semicircular basin, fringed with foliage of varied hues, and resounding with the music of the waterfalls, the scene in summer is one of sur- passing loveliness, and when swollen by spring floods, one of singular grandeur. The spot is much resorted to, and is said by tourists to excel, in quiet, yet majestic beauty, any scenery in the state. It is narrated that a Mr. Lampson fell from the top of the highest fall to the bottom, and escaped uninjured.
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On the farm of Dr. C. P. Kimball, near Burrville, is a remark- ably copious spring, the same that is mentioned by the Rev. John Taylor, in an early missionary tour through the country .*
The Rutland Farmers' Library was incorporated Nov. 11, 1806, the first trustees being, Ethel Bronson, Hugh Henderson,, Abel Sherman, Daniel Eames, and Curtis Mallory.
Religious Societies .- Meetings for religious worship were first held at the house of Raphael Porter. The first Congrega- tional church was organized Jan. 12, 1808, by the Rev. - La- throp, a missionary, from Vermont, consisting of ten members, viz., David Tyler, Amos Mallory, Thomas Converse and wife, Timothy Tamblin and wife, Samuel Porter and wife, and Wil- liam Parkinson and wife, Amos Mallory and David Tyler, were afterwards chosen deacons. The whole number received as communicants up to Nov. 6, 1853, has been 320; present num- ber 100.
The First Religious Society of Rutland was formed Feb. 8, 1808, and Ethel Brunson, Timothy Tamblin, John Read, Thomas Converse, and Ebenezer Hayward, were elected trustees.
It may be mentioned as indicative of the strict Puritanism of the early fathers of the church, that Amos Mallory was objected to for the office of deacon, on account of not having a wife, a de- ficiency which is contrary to the letter of the law. We are not in- formed whether they required him to qualify for the office by com- plying with the scriptural advice on this subject. The first pruden- tial committee was formed Oct. 26, 1815, consisting of David Tyler, Amos Mallory, Ethel Bronson, Jonas Bronson, Levi Hall, and Rev. Daniel Banks, the latter of whom became the first pas- tor, and was ordained over this church and that of Watertown, October 26, 1815. Previous to him, the clergy had been, the Rev."Messrs. - Lathrop, 1808, Enos Bliss, 1810, -Leaven- worth, 1813. On the 20th Jan., 1824, the Rev. Adams W. Platt was ordained, and remained till July, 1829, when he dis- solved his connection with the church. On the 24th of Feb- - ruary, 1824, the church numbered 87 members, the total up to that time having been 116, of whom 23 had united by letter, and 77 by profession. Of the latter, 30 joined in 1817, and 18 in 1822-3. On the 22d December, 1823, it was resolved to unite with the Presbytery, retaining the former plan of government, but placing themselves under their watch and care. This was done Jan. 20, 1824.
In 1835, July 5, the Rev. David Spear was employed for a stated time; in 1838, Rev. - Morton; and in 1839 the Rev. J. H. Rice. On the 25th of November, 1841, the Rev. Hiram Doane was installed over the church. Rev. James Douglas was
" Documentary History of New-York, vol. iii., p. 1144.
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in September, 1850, employed for one year, at the end of which time he left to fill a professorship to which he had been promoted in Genesee College, Lima, N. Y. In his absence, the Rev. Hen- ry Budge was employed for one year, and in May, 1853, Prof. James Douglass, having resigned his chair as professor, received a unanimous call from the church and society to become their pastor, and in September, of the same year, was ordained and installed over the church.
For a series of years, meetings were held in a school house, until the first church was erected in 1819, opposite the residence of Henry Hopkins. The old site was exchanged for a new one, upon which the present edifice was erected, in 1841. It has a bell, a good in- strument for the choir, and an am- ple session room in the basement. There is a flour- ishing sabbath school connected with the church, numbering about 100 scholars, and A J HOFFMAN SO ALB a library of 500 Congregational Church. volumes. The Ladies' Sewing Circle contributes about $50 per year to char- itable purposes, and contributions to other benevolent objects, during the past year, have amounted to $150. We are indebted to Mr. Charles Hopkins, of Yale College, for most of the above statistics.
The North Rutland Baptist Church was formed from one that had been disbanded July 22, 1837; reorganized by a council September 27, following, with twenty-eight members. In June, 1836, they were received by the Black River Association, under the charge of Elder Alvah D. Freeman, who remained till Sep- tember 14, 1839. In December, 1839, Justus Taylor succeeded, and May 7, 1840, was dismissed. Elder Sardis Little begun June 20, 1840, and continued till January 6, 1842. Elder John Wilder remained from May 21, 1842, till May 1, 1847, when Elder Sylvester Davis supplied the desk occasionally until April 29, 1848, when Elder D. D. Reed succeeded till March, 1850. In the summer of 1850, Elder Hartshorn was employed, and since August 1st, 1850, Elder Lorenzo Rice. Total number up
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to the present time, 138; dismissed by letter, 65; excluded, 8; restored, 1; died, 11; present, number 56. A church was erected near the residence of Dea. Fuller, in the north part of the town, in 1821, at a cost of $1200, and on the 6th of January, 1842, by the advice of a council, adopted by the church, it was voted unanimously to remove the location to the Great Bend, which was accordingly done, and a new church, derived, so far as prac- ticable, from the old, was erected at the latter place, as stated on page 135 of this work.
The Baptist Society of South Rutland was formed November 11, 1833, James Brown, Steven Brainard, and Milo Maltby, trustees. This society, in concert with the Methodists and Uni- versalists, in 1843 erected a union church, the only one in the village of Tylerville.
A Baptist church was formed at Lockport, in 1837, and the next year joined the association and reported thirty-nine mem- bers. It never had a meeting house, and has ceased to report. The Methodists erected, several years since, a church in Rut- land Hollow, but we have not been able to procure its statistics. The Methodist Episcopal Society of Black River was formed April 9, 1845, with Thomas H. Scott, Bildad Woodward, Henry Scott, William P. Treadway, and David Dexter, trustees.
THERESA.
This town was erected by an act of April 15th, 1841, from Alexandria, with its present limits, the first town meeting being directed to be held at the house of Marcius B. Ashley, in the village of Theresa. An election was held May 11th, to fill vacancies occasioned by the act, those elected at the last meeting in Alexandria, being still the incumbents in the towns in which they resided, till the expiration of their terms.
Supervisors .- 1841, Alexander Salisbury; 1842-3, John D. Davison; 1844-5, Archibald Fisher; 1846, Jesse Kelsey; 1847-8, Zalmon Pool, Jr .; 1849-50, Anson Ranney; 1851, P. D. Bullard; 1852-3, A. Ramsey.
This town was named after the daughter of J. Le Ray, who married the Marquis de Gouvello, and resides in France.
The Falls on Indian River in this town, were early marked as an eligible point for à village, and about 1810, Mr. Le Ray caused several " jobs" to be cleared in town, one of one hun- dred acres on the James Shurtliff farm, a mile and a quarter south of the falls, another of forty acres, nearer the falls, at the forks of the roads near Mr. J. Fayel's residence, and one or two others in this town, and Alexandria. He also caused a saw mill to be erected at the Falls, at which many thousand feet of lum- ber were made, and sent down to Rossie and Ogdensburgh.
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The war which soon ensued checked these improvements, and left a large quantity of lumber on the premises, much of which rotted on the ground. The clearings having been seeded with grass, were occupied in the summer of 1813, as pasturage for a herd of sixty cattle, twenty horses, and about four hundred and fifty sheep, of which Capt. John Hoover, and a hired man (John A. Evans) were employed as keepers. The hazard attending the trust may be inferred from the fact that the clearing was surrounded by a dense forest, which extended to the St. Law- rence, and to a great distance to the east, west, and south, the nearest neighbor being at Evans' Mills, 9 miles, and Friends Settlement, 7 miles distant, to the former of which, a blind path led through the woods. Should the enemy make an incursion in force, the only chance of safety was in a strongly built log house, which had been erected for the storage of wheat, and which they had fitted for hasty barricades, should these be necessary; nor was this frontier station without incident. On the occasion of the affair of Goose Creek, in July, 1813, which we have more fully detailed in its place, Capt. Hoover rallied his com- pany in Le Ray, and took part in the action, which for the number engaged, conferred as much honor upon the American name as any that occurred in the war. The prisoners were marched past the little camp on their way to Sackets Harbor, and Capt. H. resumed his lonely vigil with no society but his wife, and hired man, a few trusty guns, and a plenty of ammu- nition. A few days after, near sunset, being out a short distance in the border of the woods that separated the two clearings, in which were the stock he was watching, he noticed five of the enemy cautiously approaching, who, without noticing him, crept into a barn on the premises, to spend the night. Not doubting but that they had come to spy out the weakness of the place, he returned, and securely fastened himself in his house, and at dawn crept out with his gun to watch their movements, and perhaps attempt some achievement if circumstances favored. Having taken a station a few rods from the clearing near the present corners of the roads, at the house of Mr. Fayel, he soon perceived the five soldiers approaching, and challenged them after the manner of a sentinel, demanding who they were, to which they replied "friends." He then ordered them to ad- vance, and lay down their arms, upon which two approached, and the others fled. These two he assured " should not be mo- lested by his regiment," if they continued orderly and quiet, and having disarmed them, and mounted them upon horses, him- self fully armed, riding behind on a spirited horse, he conducted them to the camp at Sackets Harbor.
In 1814, a bridge was built at the High Falls (Theresa), and
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