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 7
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* An acre commonly yields 200 bushels of ashes, which are worth 8 cents the bushel.
t St. Mitchel. His daughter married Marselle, and afterwards De Zotelle.
54
Account of the French Settlement.
clearing of a tract of 1200 acres, which two sisters, French ladies, have entrusted to him, and to which he has given the name of Sister's Grove. He has already cleared more than 100 acres, erected a durable house, and enclosed a garden, in which he labors with assiduity, truly edifying. He has two Canadians, of whom their ancestors were originally from the same province with himself. Far from his country, the most trifling events become at times a cause of fellow feeling, of which those who have never felt it, can have no idea. As for cattle, those raised that only bring $9 a pair, at the end of the year, are worth $70 when they are four years old. Fat cattle, which commonly weigh 7 to 900 lbs., sell at therate of $5 per hundred. Swine living almost always in the woods, the settler can have as many as he can fatten in the fall. It should not be omitted to give them from time to time an ear of corn each, to attach them to the clearing, and prevent them from becoming wild, for then there is no mastering their wills, for they pining for their wandering life will not fatten on whatever is given them. Butter is as dear with us as in old settled countries, and sells for a shilling a pound. We have no fear, as some think, that the vicinity of the Canadian establishments will withdraw our settlers. The lands in Canada are all in the hands of Government of the Seigneurs. Both give gratuitously, I admit, but they give no titles,* from whence numerous difficulties arise in selling and transferring. Besides they are burdened with a considerable quit rent, the fees of transfer and removal, of escheats to the domain in default of heirs, of banalité,t tithes, or reservations for religion, and reserves of mines, and oak timber, restrictions, unknown in the United States, where the lands are franchises and freeholds. It is therefore probable, that sensible settlers will always prefer to so precarious an advantage, a sure possession which can be transferred without fees or formalities.
This country being bounded by the St Lawrence and the Ontario, its population will increase more rapidly than that where men can spread themselves ad infinitum, as in certain districts of Pennsylvania, upon the Ohio, Wabash, &c. What is here called the American Katarokouy, or I, II, III and IV of Macomb's great purchase, will always be the last stage, the Ultima Thule, of this part of the state of New York, and we ourselves, the last but one round of the ladder. On this account, lands, which in 1792 were valued at from $2 to $3 per acre, have now become from $3 to $4.
The banks of our great river are not the only ones where our popula- tion tends. IAlready those of Swan's Creek begin to fill up. Were it not for the death of Mr. P. we should have been much more advanced, for it was necessary to await the arrival of another engineer to complete the great surveys and subdivisions. Our winters are cold, but less than those of New Hampshire, and the snows of this climate are beneficial in preventing the frost from injuring our grass and wheat. It is truly wonderful to see with what rapidity vegetation is developed a few days after the snows are melted. I have placed your habitation not far from the great falls, but far enough distant not to be incommoded by the noise, or rather uproar, which they make in falling three different stages. The picturesque view of the chain of rocks over which the waters plunge their tumultuous commotion, the natural meadows in the vicinity, the noble forests which bound the horizon; the establishments on the opposite bank; the passage of travellers who arrive at the ferry I have formed, all contribute to render the location very interesting, and it will
* This applies only to Lower Canada.
t The right of obliging a vassal to bake in one's oven and grind at his mill.
55
Survey of Great Tract No. IV.
become more so when cultivation, industry, and time, shall have embel- ished this district, still so rustic and wild, and so far from resembling the groves of Thessalia. The house is solid and commodious, the garden and farm yards well enclosed.
I have placed a French family over the store and am well pleased with them. I think, however, they will return to France where the new government has at length banished injustice, violence and crime, and replaced them by the reign of reason, clemency and law. The fishery of the great lake (Ontario) in which I am concerned, furnishes me an abundance of shad,* salmon, and herring, and more than I want. What more can I say? I want nothing but hands. You who live in a country where there are so many useless hands and whose labors are so little productive there, why don't you send as some hundreds of those men? The void they would occasion would be imperceptible ; here they would fill spaces that need to be animated and enlivened by their presence. What conquest would they not achieve in ten years! and what a differ- ence in their lot! Soon they would become freeholders and respectable heads of families. The other day a young Frenchman, my neighbor seven miles distant, and established some years upon the bank of the river, said to me: " If it is happy to enjoy repose, the fruit of one's labors and of ease after having escaped the perils of the revolution, how much more so to have a partner of these enjoyments? I am expecting a friend, a brother; it is one of those blessings which nature alone can bestow. What pleasure shall I not enjoy in pointing out to hitn the traces of my first labors and in making him count the successive epochs of their progress and the stages of my prosperity ! but above all to prove to him that his memory has been ever present to mne. The objects which surround me I will tell him are witnesses to the truth of this: this hill upon the right, covered with sombre pines, is designated upon my map under the name of Hippolites Absence, the creek which tra- verses my meadow under that of Brothers Creek, the old oak which I have left standing at the forks of the two roads, one of which leads to my house and the other to the river Union Creek,t the place of my house Blooming Slope. Soon he will arrive from St. Domingo, where Toussant L'Ouverture has allowed him to collect some wreck of our fortune."
On the 27th of March 1800, Tillier was succeeded in the agency by Gouverneur Morris who appointed Richard Coxe, Nov. 13th, 1801, his attorney. On the 5th of Feb. 1802, Chas- sanis executed a trust conveyance for $1 to James D. LeRay of 220,500 acres as surveyed by Wm. Cockburn and Son, and by other instruments for nominal sums .¿ The lands were mostly sold to actual settlers by Mr. LeRay as agent or principal but the details would be unintelligible without a map. Chassanis died in, Paris Nov. 28, 1803. David B. Ogden, G. Morris§ and many others were at an early period concerned in these titles.
Macomb's Tract No. IV was surveyed by C. C Brodhead in 1796, assisted by Jonas Smith, Timothy Wheelor, Joshua Nor- throp, Elias Marvin, John Young, Isaac Le Fever, Jocob Cham-
* White Fish? F. B. H.
t An apparent omission in the original MSS. F. B. H.
¿ Oneida Deeds 9. 517 to 525.
§ Jeff. R. 253.
56
The Antwerp Company's Purchase.
bers, Elijah Blake, Samuel Tupper, Eliakim Hammond, and Abraham B. Smede, each with a few men as assistants, and the whole having a general camp or rendezvous at Hungry Bay, on the north side of Pillar Point at a place called Peck's Cove near where the Chassanis line crosses the bay. The early settlers here found huts standing, and the remains of an old oven are still visible. The journals of these surveyors, show that they suffered much from sickness. Some of their supplies were derived from Canada, but the most from the Mohawk settlements. A few troops were stationed on Carlton Island, and thither some of their sick were sent. This tract, excepting the east corner conveyed to Chassanis, was divided into 1000 lots of 440 acres each (ex- cepting those around the border), which were numbered continu- ously. Evert Van Allen, had been employed in 1795, in survey- ing the boundaries of tract No. IV.
A proposition was entertained from Lord Poultney, in 1792, for the purchase of a million of acres of Black River land, at a quarter of a dollar per acre, of which £5000 were to be paid down, £20,000 in one, and the same in two years, and the re- mainder as soon as the surveys were made. Constable was to guaranty against claims from the native Indians, and all other parties, and to give immediate possession. The location was to be determined by Col. Wm. Stephens Smith of New York. This bargain failed, and Poultney afterwards became largely concern- ed in lands in the Genesee Country. On the 3d of October, 1792, Jane, the wife of A. Macomb, released her right to the lands previously conveyed .* On the 12th of April, 1793, Con- stable sold in London, with the consent of Chassanis, who had previously held a preemption claim, to Charles Michael De Wolf of the city of Antwerp, tract No. IV, for 300,000 florins, money of exchange,t and in June following, of the same year, De Wolf succeeded in negotiating his purchase at a great ad- vance, viz: for 680,000 florins, to a company of large and small capitalists, of the city of Antwerp, who subscribed to the stock in shares of 1000 florins each, and organized under the name of the Antwerp Company .. The stock was divided into 680 shares. Like most other operations of foreigners in a distant country, this company eventually proved unsuccessful, and a loss to the stockholders. Gouverneur Morris became their first agent in America, and on the 2d of January, 1800, a deed of half the tract, or 220,000 acres,¿ passed to him from Constable on account of the company, for $48,889, and on the day following the other half, of equal extent, for $46,315.12 to
* See Office Deeds 39, p. 332.
Equal to $125,356.
Į Oneida Office Deeds 7, p 612.
57
Conveyances by Le Ray.
James Donatianus Le Ray de Chaumont. Tract No. IV was found by Van Allen's survey, to contain 450,000 acres, including the state reservations. A former deed from Constable to De Wolf, was canceled upon the new one's being made. The division line between Morris's and Le Ray's conveyances com- menced at the N. E. corner of Penet's Square, and run on a line parallel with the county line, to the south line of No. IV. Mor- ris took all N. E. of this, and Le Ray the remainder. August 15th, 1802, a new division line* was agreed upon, commencing near the S. E. corner of Penet's Square, running thence to the S. corner of lot 512, thence to the W. corner of the present town of Antwerp, and along the S. W. line of that town to the S. corner of lot 337, and thence to the S. line of No. IV. A tract of 30,000 acres in the E. corner of No. IV was not included in these conveyances having been sold to Chassanis. In 1809, Morris retired from the business, his expenses and commissions absorbing 26,840 acres of land. On the 23d of December, 1804, he had sold for $62,000 to Lewis R. Morris, 49,280 acres in the present town of Antwerp.f Mr. Morris subsequently con- veyed 41 lots to Silvinus Hoard in the western part of Antwerp,# adjoining Theresa, and since known as the Cooper Tract. Abraham Cooper, from Trenton, N. Y., became interested in this tract in 1817.§ The remainder of Antwerp, excepting three ranges of lots on the S. E. side, was purchased of Morris, by David Parish, in 1808. The tract amounted to 29,033 acres, and has been settled under agents of the Parish estate. Moss Kent succeeded as agent of the Antwerp Company, and June 15th, 1809, the remainder of their unsold lands, 143,440 acres,|| were conveyed to him. He was soon succeeded by Mr. Le Ray, and September 17th, 1810, the company sold to him for 145,000 florins, money of exchange, all their interests in lands in America. The lands with Moss Kent were reconveyed to Le Ray, June 24th, 1817,T except 3250 acres sold to Wm. H. Harrison and T. L. Ogden in Lewis Co., December 16th, 1811.
Mr. Le Ray is said to have been the owner of 126 shares in the Antwerp Company, and G. Morris of 26. The former having acquired a title to No. IV, and the Chassanis tract, removed to Le Raysville, where he opened a land office and proceeded to sell land to actual settlers, to a very large extent. He also effected with several Europeans, sales of considerable tracts, among whom were to Louis Augustin De Caulincourt, duc de
* Oneida deeds b. 10, p. 464. Jefferson deeds A, p. 358.
t Jefferson deeds C, p. 63. ¿ Ib. L, 153. § Ib. L, 68.
I/ Comprising 3 ranges of lots (ex. 772) on E. side of Antwerp, and all the company's land in Diana. Jefferson deeds, rec. Nov. 1, 1809.
T Jefferson deeds, rec. Aug. 13, 1817.
5
58
Purchase of Count Survilliers.
Vincence, October 8th, 1805, a tract of 4,840 acres near Mil- len's Bay, being 11 lots which were conveyed January 28th, 1825, to Peter Francis Real, known as Count Real, chief of police under Napolen; to Emanuel Count De Grouchy, to General Desfurneaux and to others, considerable tracts. Several citizens of New York became afterwards concerned in these tracts, on their own account, or as agents, and extensive convey- ances were made; but as many of these were trusts not expressed, and referred to considerations not explained in the instruments of conveyance, or on record, an intelligent history of them can not be at this time obtained, with sufficient conciseness for pub- lication, should they be deemed of sufficient general interest. Among the lands conveyed were the following:
To William and Gerardus Post, June 3d, 1825, for $17,000, 11,880 acres ( with 3503 acres excepted) in the present towns of Wilna and Diana ;* 6,500 acres were conveyed by one, and the ex'rs of the other of these, to T. S. Hammond of Carthage, Oct. 2, 1837, by two deeds for $18,000.+ To Herman Le Roy, and Win. Bayard, for $50,000, February 9, 1820, the interest of J. Le Ray, in numerous contracts to settlers on Great Tract No. IV.Į
To Francis Depau for $23,280, and, $15,000 by two con- veyances, a large tract in Alexandria, adjoining St. Lawrence County,§ now held by L. J. Goodale of Watertown.
To Cornelia Juhel, October 9th, 1821, numerous lots, TT and to many others, which without a map would be unintelligible.
In 1818, Joseph Bonaparte, who in the United States assumed the title of Count de Survilliers, was induced to enter into a bargain with Le Ray, by which he agreed to receive in trust, with a warranty, the conveyance of 150,000 acres of land, in- cluding 74,624 acres of the Antwerp Company lands, to be taken in the most remote and unsettled portions, and at the same time Mr. Le Ray received certain diamonds and real estate, the whole rated at $120,000, and to be refunded in 1830, unless he should agree to accept before that time, the title of a part of these lands. A trust deed, with covenant and warranty, was accordingly passed, December 21, 1818, to Peter S. Duponceau, || the confidential agent of the count, for 150,260 acres with the exception of such tracts not exceeding 32,260 acres as might have been conveyed or contracted to actual settlers. This deed in- cluded the greater part of Diana, two tiers of lots from the S. E. side of Antwerp, the whole of Wilna and Philadelphia, a small piece south of Black River, where it makes a node across the
* Jefferson deeds, X. 108.
Ib. B. 3, p. 311.
į Ib. O. p. 37.
§ Ib. O. p. 209, 211.
|| Jeff. mortgages A, 626, deeds N, p. 1. TIb. Q. p. 383.
**
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59
Conveyances by Le Ray.
Chassanis line into No. IV, a tract of four lots wide and seven long from Le Ray, and nine lots from the easterly range in Theresa. It was recorded with a defeasance appended, in which it is declared a security for $120,000 as above stated, and it provided for an auction sale of lands, to meet this obligation .* Diamonds having fallen to half their former price, the fact was made a subject of complaint; and in 1820, the count agreed to accept 26,840 acres for the nominal sum of $40,260. These lands lay in the most remote portion of No. IV, and Mr. Le Ray, in a letter to one of the Antwerp Company, dated April 9th, 1821, complimented the count upon his taste in selecting a "tract abounding with picturesque landscapes, whose remote and ex- tensive forests, affording retreat to game, would enable him to establish a great hunting ground; qualities of soil, and fitness for settlers were only secondary considerations. * *
* He regrets notwithstanding that thus far he has been unable to find among the 26,000 acres of land, a plateau of 200 acres of land to build his house upon, but he intends keeping up his researches this summer." The count subsequently commenced an establishment near the present village of Alpina in Diana, where a small clearing was made, but this was soon abandoned.
On the 29th of October 1823, Le Ray conveyed to Wm. H. Harrison, in trust for the Antwerp Company, for $50,000, two ranges of lots in Antwerp next to Lewis County, subject to the mort- gage to Duponceau with a large amount of lands in Lewis County. Meanwhile an act was procured Nov. 27 1824, allowing Charles Joseph Xavier Knyff, Charles Joseph Geelhand Delafaille, Jean Joseph Reinier Osy, Pierre Joseph De Caters, and Jean Joseph Pinson, as trustees of the Antwerp Company, to take and hold lands, and to them Harrison conveyed the above tracts. Du- ponceau and Bonaparte subsequently released a large tract,+ and took a title of 81,180 acres.t The history of these trans- actions may be traced in the recorded conveyances.§ James Le Ray, on the 31st of Dec. 1823,|| conveyed to his son Vincent, all his lands in Jefferson County, and by a similar conveyance, his lands in Lewis County, T for the benefit of his creditors.
Duponceau executed July 16, 1825, to Joseph Bonaparte, (who by an act of March 31 1825, had been empowered to hold lands), a deed of all the rights he had required in the above conveyances .** Bonaparte by an instrument dated July 14 1832, made Joseph Raphineau his attorney, to deed lands contracted by Joseph
* Lewis clerk's office. 1 Jeff. Deeds, V, 434. June 22 1825.
# Jeff. Deeds, W, 174. § Ib recorded Nov. 7, 1845. || Ib T, 305. T Lewis Co. Deeds rec. April 13, 1824.
** Jeff. Deeds, W, 181, Lewis Deeds, I, 16.
60
Subsequent Sales in Tract IV.
Boyer his land agent .* In June 1835, he sold to John La Farge,t for $80,000 all the interest of Count Survilliers, in lands in this, and Lewis Counties.
It has been said with much probability, that Count Survilliers hastened to dispose of this estate, that he might be the better prepared to take advantage of any fortune which the revolutions of Europe might turn up, and the political aspect of the continent at that time, apparently favored the hopes of the Bonaparte family who have but recently regained the scep- tre of France. The Count first urged the sale upon Judge Boyer, his agent, and came within a few thousand dollars of closing a bargain. Mr. La Farge, is said to have cleared a large profit in this purchase.
In October 1824, the Antwerp Company appointed J. N. Rot- tiers, their agent, to receive and convey lands, and he was directed by parties interested in claims, to commence a prosecution against Le Ray, which was done. The extreme depression in the price of land and total stop of sales which followed the completion of the Erie Canal and the opening of the western states to emigration, operated disastrously to all parties who had based their plans upon expectation of receipts from land sales; and notwithstanding the estates of Mr. Le Ray were both ex- tensive and valuable, he could not at that time encounter the combination of circumstances which bore so heavily upon all landholders throughout the northern counties, and he found him- self compelled to apply for the benefit of the insolvent act, and to surrender his estates to his son, in trust for his creditors. As a justification of his course, he published for distribution among his foreign creditors a statement,į in which he vindicated in a satisfactory manner the course he had adopted, and set forth the kind and quantity of property at his disposal to meet his liabili- ties. He had at that time the following lands in this state:
In Franklin county, 30,758 acres, valued at $22,500
" St. Lawrence " 73,947 66 66 106,000
" Jefferson " 143,500
574,000
" Lewis " 100,000
66 133,000
Of his Jefferson lands, one-eighth were subject to contracts of settlers, upon which were three grist mills, three saw mills, and various clearings, with buildings. At Le Raysville, were a grist mill, store houses, &c., valued at $26,000, and in Pennsylva- nia, Otsego County, and in France other properties of large amount. In closing up this business, a large amount of land was confirmed
* Jeff. Deeds, rec. Feb.11, 1833.
t Jeff. Deeds U, 2, 43.
¿ Acte de Transmission, par. M. Le Ray de Chaumont, a son fils de ses propriétés, &c., 4to, Paris, pp. 70.
* +
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61
Lands South of Black River.
to Vincent Le Ray, and the settlement of the affairs was so man- aged as to satisfy in full, the claims of American creditors. Our account of these transactions has been necessarily brief and im- perfect, yet the attention we have given it, has convinced us that there is nothing in the matter but that will bear the closest examination.
A considerable amount of the Antwerp Company's lands, re- maining in scattered parcels, was sold in 1828, by the agent to John La Farge, but this sale was subsequently set aside by the court of chancery,* and Feb. 15. 1836, 24,230 acres, being most of the remaining lands of the company, and situated in Theresa, Antwerp, Alexandria and Orleans, were sold to Samuel Stock- ing, of Utica, and Norris M. Woodruff, of Watertown, for $1 per acre.f Wm. H. Harrison acted in the latter sale as the agent of the company, and the tract has been nearly all sold off by Jason Clark, Esq., of Plessis, agent of the proprietors.
Mr. La Farge, on the 28th of July, 1846, sold to Chas. L. Faverger, for $48,513, a tract embracing the two eastern ranges of lots in Antwerp, and 122 lots in Diana, excepting parts pre- viously conveyed, amounting to 48,513 acres, and a great por- tion has since been sold in large and small tracts to settlers. There is at this time but a comparatively small part of Great Tract No. IV, in this county, but that is under cultivation, and held as freeholds by the occupants. Dr. John Binsse, of Pamelia, is the present agent of La Farge.
Wm. Constable, on the 18th of Dec. 1792, conveyed to Samuel Ward, for £100,000, 1,280,000 acres, it being the whole of Ma- comb's Purchase, in Nos. V, and VI, out of which was except- ed 25,000 acres sold to Wm. Inman.§ Samuel Ward, Dec. 20, 1792, conveyed to Thomas Boylston (of Boston) for £20,000, a tract, commencing at the extreme southern angle of Lewis County as now bounded; running thence to the mouth of Salmon River, and along the lake to Black River, and up that stream to the north bounds of the present town of Leyden, and thence to the place of beginning TI the course of Black River was then supposed to be nearly direct, from the High Falls to the lake, and this tract was believed to contain about 400,000 acres, but when sur- veyed around by Wm. Cockburn & Son, 1794, it was found to include 817,155 acres! Ward also sold 210,000 acres to John Ju- lius Angerstein, à wealthy merchant of London, which, the latter afterwards sold to Gov. John Brown, of Providence, R. I., and which has since been commonly called Brown's Tract, and is yet
* Paige's Chancery Reports, 1, p. 574, where a rehearal is declined,
t Jefferson Deeds, Z 2, p, 455.
į Jeff. Co. Deeds, 81. p. 532.
§ Sec. office Deeds 39, p. 6. T Ib. 39, p. 15.
62
Titles South of Black River.
mostly a wilderness. He also sold 50,000, and 25,000 acres to Wm. Inman, who afterwards figured largely in the titles ofLewis County ;* with the exception of the 685,000 acres thus conveyed, to Boylston, Angerstein, and Inman, he reconveyed Feb. 27, 1793, the remainder to Constable .;
On the 21st of May 1794, Boylston gave a deed of trust of eleven townships to George Lee, George Irving, and Thomas Latham, assignees of the firm of Lane, Son and Fraser, of London, and they conveyed them to John Johnson Phyn, of that place,} (June 2, 1794) in whom, by sundry conveyances and assurances in the law, the title became vested. On the 10th of April, 1795, Phyn appointed Wm. Constable his attorney, to sell and convey any or all of the Boylston Tract, § who accordingly sold, July 15, 1795 (at $1 per acre, one quarter paid down and the balance in five installments, with mortgage) to Nicholas Low, Wm. Hen- derson, Richard Harrison, and Josiah Ogden Hoffman, a tract of 300,000 acres, since known as the Black River Tract. This purchase comprised Houndsfield, Watertown, Rutland, Champion, Denmark, Henderson, Adams, Rodman, Pinckney, Harrisburgh, and Lowville. On the 1st of April, 1796, Phyn confirmed this title.|| The tract was found by measurement to contain 290,376 acres, to make up which deficiency, Constable in 1796, conveyed town No. 2 ( Worth) excepting 948 acres in the southeast corner, which he reserved to himself. On the last mentioned date, Phyn conveyed to Constable, 401,000 acres, being the remainder of the Boylston Tract. The present town of Lorraine is in this conveyance.
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